FILE: President Jacob Zuma. Picture: Reinart Toerien/EWN
PRETORIA - The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has argued that the ruling which set aside the decision to stop the prosecution of President Jacob Zuma interferes with a prosecutor’s legally protected discretion.
This was among the arguments in a leave to appeal application being heard in the High Court in Pretoria.
The court ruled last month that former acting prosecutions boss Mokotedi Mpshe’s decision to stop prosecuting Zuma was irrational.
The NPA’s advocate Hilton Epstein argued the finding that Mpshe should have let the court decide on whether Zuma’s matter should proceed or not undermines prosecutorial discretion.
He says the ruling sets a precedent that infringes upon the principles of the separation of powers.
But Judge Aubrey Ledwaba says they did not make such a ruling and that their findings related specifically to the facts of this application.
Ledwaba says Mpshe made his decision based on untested allegations of misconduct against then Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and, under those circumstances, he ought to have approached the courts.
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