Piet Koen recuses himself from Jacob Zuma’s arms deal trial

Pietermaritzburg high court Judge Piet Koen has recused himself from further hearing former president Jacob Zuma’s arms deal-related trial.

The judge said he had done so because he had previously expressed views about the merits of Zuma’s then-pending private prosecution of lead advocate Billy Downer, SC, for contravening the NPA Act for allegedly “leaking” Zuma’s private medical information to journalist Karyn Maughan.

In his ruling in 2022 dismissing Zuma’s special plea aimed at Downer’s removal, Koen made some “strong comments” about the disclosure of Zuma’s medical report and essentially said there was no merit to Zuma’s complaint that it was a breach of the act.

In a summary of his reasons for stepping out of the trial on Monday, he said the private prosecution had now been initiated and Zuma was arguing that Downer, who is being prosecuted by him, could not continue to prosecute in the arms deal trial.

Koen said whether Downer should be removed or not needed to be assessed properly and dispassionately, and must be perceived to be objectively evaluated.

“I have favoured a particular interpretation of these factual issues. A consequence might be that Mr Downer should continue — if that was to be my conclusion, then Mr Zuma would be reasonably justified to feel aggrieved that a decision was made in favour of Mr Downer, strongly influenced by my previous findings, in order to be consistent.

“It was not an easy decision that I have to recuse myself from the trial, but it is what the sound administration of justice, the constitution and my conscience dictate. The integrity of the judicial process must not be tainted.”

The matter has stood down for the new judge to take over the trial.

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