A full bench of the High Court reviewed and set aside the decision of the Acting National Director, dated 1 April 2009, to discontinue the prosecution of the criminal case against Mr Zuma in accordance with the indictment served on him on 28 December 2007.
Democratic Alliance v Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (19577/2009) [2016] ZAGPPHC 255 (29 April 2016) per the Court [full bench]
Excerpts without footnotes
- Having regard to the conspectus of the evidence before us we find that Mr Mpshe found himself under pressure and he decided to discontinue the prosecution of Mr Zuma and consequently made an irrational decision. Considering the situation in which he found himself, Mr Mpshe ignored the importance of the oath of office which demanded of him to act independently and without fear or favour. It is thus our view that the envisaged prosecution against Mr Zuma was not tainted by the allegations against Mr McCarthy. Mr Zuma should face the charges as outlined in the indictment .
- The respondents further argued that since the charges against Mr Zuma were formally withdrawn in court on 8 April 2009 after Mr Mpshe decided to discontinue the prosecution the order sought in the notice of motion may be of no consequence. We are constrained to state that said technical argument was not raised in the papers and it cannot render the order we are to make herein inept and ineffective.
- This Court, for the reasons stated above, finds that the decision of 1 April 2009 by Mr Mpshe to discontinue the prosecution of the case against Mr Zuma is irrational and should be reviewed and set aside.