Judge tells Jacob Zuma to pay back the money
The high court in Pretoria finds that the agreement between Zuma and the Presidency for the state to cover legal costs incurred in his personal capacity was invalid
Former president Jacob Zuma will have to pay back millions of rand of taxpayer money spent on him fighting corruption charges for more than a decade. The high court in Pretoria on Thursday found that the agreement between Zuma and the Presidency for the state to cover legal costs incurred in his personal capacity was invalid and set it aside. It is a devastating blow for Zuma, whose decade in power was mired in allegations of corruption and weakening of state institutions. The ruling means his Stalingrad approach of using court applications to avoid charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering will be harder to sustain without state funding. The state was not liable for the legal costs incurred by Zuma in his personal capacity "in criminal prosecutions instituted against him, in any civil litigation related or incidental thereto and for any other associated legal costs", deputy judge president Aubrey Ledwaba said. Ledwaba ordered the state attorney to calculate the legal costs ...
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