Former President Jacob Zuma is considering refusing to be examined by NPA-appointed doctors because he is tired of his claims of ill-health being treated with distrust, according to his foundation.

Should he refuse to be examined, it would be in the face of an order by KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) Judge Piet Koen – with the agreement of Zuma’s counsel, Advocate Dali Mpofu SC – that the state ‘may grant a medical practitioner of its choice to examine Mr Zuma to assess his ability to stand trial for corruption and for that doctor to be a witness, if necessary’.

But, according to a News24 report by legal writer Karyn Maughan, JG Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi has now accused the state of ‘second guessing’ the medical report produced by the military doctors responsible for the former President’s care – as well as the care of all other heads of state – by seeking to have him examined by their own doctors.

Manyi reportedly told News24 that Zuma’s military doctors ‘had every right to be very aggrieved’ by the NPA’s insistence that its own doctors must be allowed to examine Zuma.

This, he suggested, amounted to one arm of the state disbelieving another.

‘They are saying (to the military doctors): "we don’t believe you… your professional integrity means nothing",’ Manyi said. ‘What nonsense is this?’

Zuma was hospitalised last month, while serving a 15-month jail term for defying a Constitutional Court ruling that he appear before the State Capture Inquiry.

The apex court is expected to rule on his application for a rescission of that judgment in the coming days.

Zuma’s lawyers were scheduled to begin arguing his application for a ‘special plea’, in which he contends that the entire NPA is too biased to try him for corruption and he should be acquitted of all the charges against him. That plea has now been put on hold – because of Zuma’s undisclosed medical issues.

While the state agreed to a previous postponement of Zuma’s trial following his hospitalisation, it has made it clear that it may oppose the former President seeking a longer postponement of his trial, notes the News24 report. 

Advocate Wim Trengove, for the NPA, also argued that it would be ‘in the interests of justice’ for the state to be able to have its own doctors examine Zuma. But Manyi now contends that the orders granted by Koen require the state to show it is necessary for its own doctors to examine Zuma, and does not mean that it is automatically entitled to compile its own medical report.

‘I haven’t heard the case from the NPA to say why this is necessary,’ he said, adding that the state ‘must show that they (the military doctors) are being dishonest’.

Manyi also explained the source of Zuma’s disquiet over the judiciary’s allegedly distrustful attitude towards his health issues.

He claims it was prompted by then-KZN High Court Judge Dhaya Pillay’s reluctance to accept a sick note presented as evidence of his ill-health during the preliminary stages of his corruption trial, says Manyi. 

News24 notes Pillay had issued a suspended order for Zuma's arrest after noticing that the note had been altered – a practice she stressed was normal in the criminal courts.

Her order was subsequently lifted after military doctors wrote a letter to the High Court confirming that he had been receiving medical treatment overseas.

Secondly, Manyi argues, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo disbelieved Zuma when he said he was unable to appear at the State Capture Inquiry because he was unwell. This, he said, was another incident where ‘his (Zuma’s) side of the story is not believed’.

Zondo has denied that he did not believe Zuma’s claims of ill-health. 

Full News24 report