Judge’s order on Mauritius papers still stands – Zuma

The documents pertain to an alleged meeting between Zuma, businessman Schabir Shaik and Alain Thetard of French arms company Thint. Zuma contends the court could not issue a letter of request to the Mauritian Attorney-General in terms of the International Co-operation in Criminal Matters (ICCM) Act. In March last year the NPA had attempted to obtain a similar letter of request, but Judge Pete Combrinck ruled that any letter of request would have to be granted by a trial judge. In his affidavit filed on Monday, Zuma said: ‘As far as I am aware, the State has never withdrawn its application, which was adjourned by Combrinck J, to a date to be arranged between the parties by the court seized of the trial.’ Zuma argued that because the State had refused to withdraw the charges, it meant there was in effect still a criminal case against him and that Combrinck\'s order still stood. Referring to the ICCM Act, Zuma said he was of the opinion that the Act only facilitated a request prior to the institution of criminal proceedings. ‘The application is an attempt to secure the original document, copies of which have long been in the possession of the prosecution, in the hope that the original documents will render their contents admissible against me in evidence at trial.’ Full report on the Mail & Guardian Online site

Zuma also challenged the State to ‘positively state’ whether a decision has been made to prosecute him on corruption charges – and, if not, when it will be made. ‘I am entitled to know this,’ he said in his court papers, according to a report in The Mercury. Zuma, whose case was struck from the roll of the Pietermaritzburg High Court last year after Judge Herbert Msimang refused to grant the State an adjournment, indicated that should the case go ahead, he intended to apply for a permanent stay of prosecution. Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)