Durban - Former president Jacob Zuma on Wednesday was granted leave to appeal against the North Gauteng High Court ruling that he must pay personal costs for unsuccessfully challenging former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture report.
Sources close to Zuma said the Supreme Court of Appeal in Pretoria had granted the former president leave to appeal against the Pretoria High Court’s ruling that he should pay personal costs.
Madonsela’s report implicated him and led to the formation of State Capture Commission.
In its December 2017 ruling that Madonsela’s recommendations on her report were “wise, necessary, rational and appropriate”, the court also added that Zuma should personally pay for the legal cost. This was despite the fact that he had challenged the report in his capacity as the head of the state.
“He now has won the application for leave to appeal, which means on March 26 he will be dealing with the merits of the appeal itself,” said the source.
After the high court had ruled that he should personally pay the costs, Zuma returned to the same court to argue against the judgement, and was unsuccessful.
The source also said Zuma was waiting for a date for the hearing of his appeal application against the ruling that he should pay from his own pocket for the criminal charges in relation to the arms deal.
“He filed the court papers (for an application for leave to appeal) last year.
“The appeal for the permanent stay of prosecution is still also coming and it is still early as he has not yet filed the heads of arguments."
Attempts to get hold of Zuma’s attorney, Dan Mantsha, were unsuccessful as his phone went unanswered.