NEWS ANALYSIS: End of road for officials milking fiscus for endless litigation
The State Attorney Act has been used for years to justify the legal funding of officials implicated in wrongdoing
The high court has turned off the taps of former president Jacob Zuma’s previously untrammelled state funding of his corruption defence in a precedent-setting ruling that effectively blocks taxpayers from funding legal fees of allegedly corrupt state officials. “It is in the public interest that charges relating to the abuse of public office — corruption and fraud — are prosecuted to ensure public accountability, the promotion of good governance, the protection of the rule of law and the protection and advancement of the rights enshrined in the bill of rights,” three Pretoria high court judges ruled in a unanimous decision on Thursday. “If the state is burdened with the high legal costs of those public office-bearers who are charged with such crimes, the taxpayer bears that burden and poor communities continue to be denied access to essential services, as the state’s resources are being diverted in funding the defences of public office-bearers charged with such crimes, in this insta...
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