Jacob Zuma suffers fresh blow as top advocates leave case against NPA
Former president Jacob Zuma's battle to avoid spending about a quarter of a century behind bars for alleged corruption was dealt a fresh blow after losing two of his best legal brains. Business Day has established that neither senior advocate Mike Hellens nor advocate Dawie Joubert will continue acting for Zuma in his ongoing battle with the National Prosecuting Authority. He is is seeking permanent stay of prosecution to avoid corruption charges linked to the arms deal of the 1990s. Zuma has been struggling to maintain his expensive team of lawyers since losing access to state funding. He fired his long-term confidant and attorney Michael Hulley in July 2018. Prior to the withdrawal of state funds, Zuma was accused of using a so-called “Stalingrad” defence, which involves deploying legal diversion to stop his prosecution on charges of corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to payments that landed his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik in jail. Hellens re...
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