South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma has launched a private prosecution against President Cyril Ramaphosa whom he accuses of being an “accessory” in the leaking of a confidential medical report to the media.
The case is linked to Zuma’s long running campaign to have prosecutor Billy Downer removed from a corruption case in which the former president is accused of receiving bribes in a 1990s arms deal.
Zuma has previously accused Downer of leaking his medical report to a journalist.
According to the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Ramaphosa neglected his duties by not acting after being informed of the leak.
“President Cyril Ramaphosa has been charged in a private prosecution with the criminal offence of being accessory after the fact in the crimes committed by, among others, Advocate Downer namely, breaching the provisions of the NPA Act,” JZF spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi said in a statement.
He added: “The serious crimes for which Mr Ramaphosa has been charged with in a court of the law carry the sentence of 15 years imprisonment.”
Ramaphosa’s office has, however, dismissed the allegations as “spurious and unfounded”, accusing Zuma of abusing “legal processes and perversion” of the private prosecution provision.
JN/APA