Former President Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution case against President Cyril Ramaphosa has been postponed to May. 

Zuma and his legal team briefly appeared in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) yesterday despite Ramaphosa being granted an urgent interdict this week. 

Zuma's lawyer, Dali Mpofu SC, told Judge Ismail Mohamed that his client had instructed his lawyers to appeal Monday's order. The Citizen reports that he hinted that Zuma could go straight to the Constitutional Court.

‘If, as we are inclined, it goes directly to the Constitutional Court, then we will seek leave from that court. Of course, if we want to go to the SCA, we must seek leave from the High Court itself. We have 15 days to make those decisions, but in principle there will be an appeal,’ Mpofu told the court.

With part B of the application set to be heard in May, it is not clear what Zuma will be appealing.

As previously reported, a full Bench of the same court on Monday interdicted Zuma from proceeding with his case against Ramaphosa, pending the President's application to have the private prosecution invalidated as an abuse of the legal process.

On Wednesday, High Court Judge Roland Sutherland set down Ramaphosa's review application for 17 and 18 May.

Full report on The Citizen site

Although Monday's order meant Ramaphosa was not required to appear in court yesterday for the private prosecution, this was not the case for Zuma.

News24 reports that Zuma had to be present in court to avoid the matter being struck off the court roll or dismissed. This was the submission Mpofu made before the judge.

Mpofu argued that in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, if the private prosecutor – in this case, Zuma – does not physically appear on the day the matter is in court, the charges against the accused must be dismissed unless the court is presented with reasons for the private prosecutor's failure to appear.

If the failure was out of the private prosecutor's control, the court can adjourn or postpone the proceedings. Mpofu also argued that they disagreed with Ramaphosa's interpretation that Monday's order exempted him from appearing in court yesterday.

The private prosecution case has been postponed to 26 May 2023. 

Spokesperson of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi, was at pains to explain to the media what Zuma intended to appeal.

‘We are appealing the interdict. We are appealing the non-presence of the accused (Ramaphosa),’ he said.

He added that the foundation would also issue a statement explaining what the appeal was based on.

‘There are just too many things that the Bench misdirected itself on, and the lawyers will point all of those out,’ Manyi said.

Full News24 report

There is nothing personal in Zuma’s court challenge, Manyi said. A report on the IoL site notes that Manyi told reporters that their appeal seeks to set aside the interdict issued on Monday.

‘Once you set aside the interdict, it means that all the arguments that President Ramaphosa wants to have, he can have them in the criminal court. Right now, we have an unnecessary situation where we have two courts dealing with the same matter. If you appeal, and it (the interdict) is struck off, it means he cannot continue with his arguments in the criminal court, he can still do that and that is what we have been advising from day one. That these arguments can be made in a criminal court, there is no point in doing this confused process,’ said Manyi.

Full IoL report