Former president Jacob Zuma has suffered another legal setback after the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria dismissed his attempt to appeal the ruling ordering him to repay R28.9 million in state funds used for his private legal battles.
On Thursday, Judge Anthony Millar refused Zuma’s application for leave to appeal the “pay-back” judgment before either a full bench of three judges or the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), stating he was not convinced any other court would reach a different conclusion.
| “To keep the doors of the court open indefinitely to a litigant who refuses to accept the judgment on a particular matter, serves no legitimate purpose. All it does is serve to be a drain on scarce judicial resources and to strengthen the view that accountability can be deferred for so long as one has the means to do so.”
Judge Millar further warned that continued attempts to avoid compliance with court rulings undermine constitutional values.
| “It is destructive of the notion that all are equal before the law and confirmatory of the view that there is far too much law for those who can afford it and far too little for those who cannot.”
In October, Judge Millar ordered Zuma to repay the R28.9 million spent on legal fees and related expenses during his long-running corruption and criminal proceedings. The court also ordered interest to be paid and directed the State Attorney to report back on steps taken to enforce the judgment.
Zuma is seeking to appeal the entirety of that ruling. One of the grounds he raised is that neither the previous Full Court nor the SCA made an explicit order stating that he personally was liable for repaying the public funds used for his legal defence.
With Thursday’s ruling, Zuma remains liable for the multimillion-rand bill unless he succeeds in petitioning the SCA directly.
