Constitutional Court confirms R28.96 million owed by Zuma
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Business Day (South Africa), TimesLIVE and Sowetan
South Africa’s Constitutional Court refused former president Jacob Zuma permission to appeal over the repayment of 28,960,774 rand in state-funded legal costs. The Jacob Zuma Foundation disputes some of the grounds for the decision issued on 12 November, according to Business Day.
South Africa’s Constitutional Court on 12 November refused former president Jacob Zuma permission to continue his appeal against the repayment of 28,960,774 rand in legal costs paid by the state. The decision included an order for costs in the case involving Zuma, the South African presidency and other parties, according to Business Day.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation said it respected the decision while challenging the Court’s reasoning on its jurisdiction. It notably argues that Zuma did not personally authorise the expenditure and had only accepted the state’s undertaking to fund his defence costs, Business Day reports.
The case dates back to a decision by the Pretoria High Court in December 2018, which invalidated public funding for Zuma’s legal costs. According to the foundation, the funding agreement was concluded in 2006 under the presidency of Thabo Mbeki and maintained by successive governments.
The foundation considers that the appeal raised a constitutional question about whether an individual can be required to repay expenditure unlawfully incurred by the state. The Constitutional Court nevertheless refused Zuma permission to appeal, according to Business Day.
