Johannesburg; South African President Jacob Zuma should personally pay for the costs of an interdict in October last year that sought to stop the release of a report on alleged undue influence of the Gupta family on his government.
Zuma showed “flagrant disregard” for the constitutional obligations of the Public Protector in his litigation and pursued the case despite evidence that the report had been finalised, High Court Judge Dunstan Mlambo said Wednesday in Pretoria, on behalf of a full bench.
The decision marks the first time a president has been ordered to personally pay for court costs in South Africa and further embarrasses Zuma after he was forced last year to repay 7.8 million rand (Dh2 million) of taxpayers money spent on his private residence. Zuma is due to step down as leader of the ruling African National Congress this weekend and as national president in 2019.
“This is unprecedented but it also reflects the extent to which the courts might have taken a dim view of the president’s abuse of legal process,” Phephelaphi Dube, director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, said by phone. “This also has implications for how in future people who exercise public power conduct themselves.”
The report by then graft ombudsman Thuli Madonsela released in November last year ordered a judicial inquiry into allegations that the Guptas may have influenced the appointment of cabinet members in Zuma’s administration and received special treatment for a coal business linked to the family and Duduzane Zuma, the president’s son. Zuma and the Guptas have denied wrongdoing.
Madonsela said Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng should set up the inquiry, rather than Zuma, as the president had a conflict of interests. The court is due to rule later on Wednesday on whether the president can set the terms of the investigation.
High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo said Zuma should be held personally liable for the costs of the court challenge.
The judicial inquiry was recommended a year ago in a report by the Public Protector, the country’s anti-graft agency, whose release Zuma had sought to block through the courts.
The president then filed another court application challenging the right of the report’s author, former Public Protector head Thuli Madonsela, to call for the inquiry.
Ordering Zuma to pay the costs of that challenge, Mlambo said the president’s conduct was “clearly objectionable ... and amounts to clear abuse of the judicial process.” It was not immediately clear if Zuma would appeal.
The report focused on allegations that Zuma’s friends, the businessmen and brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, had influenced the appointment of ministers. Zuma and the Guptas have denied all accusations of wrongdoing.
The High Court is due to rule later on whether Zuma can be legally compelled by the Public Protector to set up the inquiry.
On Friday, the same court ruled that Zuma’s appointment of a state prosecutor was not valid and should be set aside immediately. Zuma is appealing that ruling.
