Time to face the music, Zuma told

The DA has urged National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams to desist with frivolous litigation, and give President Jacob Zuma his court date to face 783 corruption charges. A BDlive report says the party made the comment following Friday’s Gauteng High court (Pretoria) judgment‚ which refused applications by the President and the NPA for leave to appeal against its April ruling setting aside the decision taken by then acting NDPP‚ Mokotedi Mpshe‚ in April 2009 to discontinue the prosecution because he believed Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy had manipulated the timing of when to serve the indictment on Zuma. DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said Friday’s judgment was a victory for the rule of law and due process‚ and upheld the principle that no person was, or should be, above the law. ‘The charges are, in fact, automatically reinstated and the NPA must give President Zuma a date by which he is to appear in court,’ said Selfe, adding that although Zuma and the NPA were within their rights to petition the SCA and the Constitutional Court‚ ‘such attempts would be a waste of taxpayers’ money’. COPE said the NPA's belief it would receive leave to appeal was ‘naive and arrogant’. ‘Common sense made it clear that the decision was indeed irrational. We knew that it was irrational. Threequarters of the country knew it was irrational. Even so, the time of the court and scarce national resources where wasted in trying to make the obvious convoluted and complicated,’ COPE national spokesperson Dennis Bloem said.