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Zuma Ordered to Personally Pay for State Capture Court Costs

Zuma Ordered to Personally Pay for State Capture Court Costs

(Bloomberg) -- South African President Jacob Zuma should personally pay for the costs of an interdict in October last year that sought to stop the release of a report on alleged undue influence of the Gupta family on his government.

Zuma showed “flagrant disregard” for the constitutional obligations of the Public Protector in his litigation and pursued the case despite evidence that the report had been finalized, High Court Judge Dunstan Mlambo said Wednesday in Pretoria, on behalf of a full bench.

The decision marks the first time a president has been ordered to personally pay for court costs in South Africa and further embarrasses Zuma after he was forced last year to repay 7.8 million rand ($570,000) of taxpayers money spent on his private residence. Zuma is due to step down as leader of the ruling African National Congress this weekend and as national president in 2019.

“This is unprecedented but it also reflects the extent to which the courts might have taken a dim view of the president’s abuse of legal process,” Phephelaphi Dube, director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, said by phone. “This also has implications for how in future people who exercise public power conduct themselves.”

The report by then graft ombudsman Thuli Madonsela released in November last year ordered a judicial inquiry into allegations that the Guptas may have influenced the appointment of cabinet members in Zuma’s administration and received special treatment for a coal business linked to the family and Duduzane Zuma, the president’s son. Zuma and the Guptas have denied wrongdoing.

Madonsela said Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng should set up the inquiry, rather than Zuma, as the president had a conflict of interests. The court is due to rule later on Wednesday on whether the president can set the terms of the investigation.

To contact the reporters on this story: Amogelang Mbatha in Johannesburg at ambatha@bloomberg.net, Alastair Reed in Johannesburg at areed12@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Gordon Bell, Rene Vollgraaff

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.