Zuma ordered to pay costs for his State of Capture application
Jacob Zuma’s conduct in the case was unreasonable
In an unprecedented move, President Jacob Zuma has been ordered to personally pay costs for an application he brought to interdict the release and finalisation of the public protector’s State of Capture report. Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo read out the unanimous judgment by a full bench in the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday. Zuma’s conduct in the litigation was described as "unreasonable’. In a cost order ahead of the main judgment, the court said the president persisted with litigation and fought the intervening parties when this could and should have been avoided. The judges found that the application was based on self-created urgency. Mlambo said the president’s overall conduct had resulted in him being held personally liable for the costs in the interdict application, adding that a punitive costs order would not have been enough, as it would have burdened the taxpayer. The president was ordered to pay costs after he dropped his interdict application at a late stag...
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