NPA's Billy Downer sues Zuma for 'vexatious' statements
Some of ex-president's statements in his replying affidavit are reckless and aimed at damaging the public’s perception of the NPA's integrity, he claims
The lead prosecutor in Jacob Zuma’s corruption case is suing the former president for saying he was driven by his own hatred of Zuma and blinded by an obsession to see him behind bars. Advocate Billy Downer has asked the Pietermaritzburg High Court to strike out more than a dozen “scandalous and vexatious” and “untrue and unwarranted” statements Zuma made in his application for a permanent stay of prosecution. The statements were made in Zuma’s replying affidavit after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) responded to his application for a stay of prosecution. “First, without any substantiation, Zuma alleges that I hate him …I am blinded by an obsession with his conviction … I seem nostalgic about the manner in which apartheid prosecutions authorities deal with those they considered guilty or undesirable … and persons within the NPA may have apartheid withdrawal symptoms,” Downer states. He says Zuma’s claims prejudice the state, are completely untrue and defamatory, and shoul...
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