Court opens way for new Zuma charges

Make a decision based on untested allegations? Isn't that exactly what they did when they recalled Mr Mbeki?

My comments are not going to be based on Zuma's personal circumstances but rather on the judiciary.

Those that listened to the judgement will surely agree that the judgement was a scathing attack on Nicholson's ruling. One will no be wrong if they called it "Judge Bashing". Whether Nicholson was right or wrong is an issue I am not qualified to comment on. What has struck me though is that justice in SA is becoming an animal normal South African are unable to understand. If Nicholson was unable to apply law like the SCA said today I can only sympathise for people that he has found guilty and for people that were offended by people he acquitted as most of them did not have the financial resources like the NPA to take the matter to the SCA or even the Constitutional Court.

I think that today, the judiciary has unintentionally shot itself in the foot by taking one of its own to the cleaners and the Hon Harmse stopped short of calling Nicholson incompetent. It is quite certain that all is not well in the judiciary and may be a mechanism of preventing such an embarassing situation is needed because personally I just do not have confidence in that institution anymore.

I believe that we should just let the law take its course and also allow the ANC to pursue all its legal options and if comrade is to be charged then so be it.

I hope that this is helping our young democracy and grow the indipendance of our judiciary. These are good news for South Africa.

For people like me who are not versed in the intricacies and technalities of our legal system it must be nothing short of bewildering to hear a senior judge like Judge Nicholson be taken to task in the way Judge Louis Harms did. The man was humiliated to the point that one fell sorry for him. What confidence can ordinary people still have in our legal system? Is Judge Nicholson, who had an unblemished reputation until his PMB judgment, now out of a job? And were his previous judgments that did not go to the appeal court also tainted by "incomprehensible" conspiracies, errors and the like? incomprehensible

The judgement of today shows a view held by many that some of our learned man in the judiciary can be very lethal to your future as a individual it favours those that have money and resources to take them to task. i concure with the question, what about those convicted and dont have money to appeal.

One commentator said today's judgement proved how difficult it was to prove conspiracy theories. Incidentally, it was Judge Harms who could not find any link between the apartheid hit squads and FW De-Klerk, Magnus Malan and Adriaan Vlok. Vlok later confessed and washed Frank Chikane's feet. Should we wait for Mbeki and Lekota to wash Jacob Zuma's feet first, before we could see that there was conspiracy against him (Zuma)?

Comrade J.Z is still our choice for president. He's innocent till proven otherwise and I believe that one day that all those that have conspired against him will be exposed starting with the former president himself. Zuma WILL rule this counrty. Leth'umshini Wami, uyang'bambezela!

What a trimph for the court system in SA. If you want to find out more about the "guilt" of many including Zuma, the ANC, Frene Ginwalla, Joe Modise, Yengeni and the whole top echelon of the ANC, including Lekota, just read Andrew Feinstein's book "After the Party".

The ANC is a disgrace and disappointment to many of us, who once supported it!

Derek James

Nicholson DID overstep the mark; his job was to decide whether NPA had a legal case against JZ, not to make guesses as to the potential reasons for the charges (whether the charges are eventualy proved or otherwise). I'm glad common sense has prevailed........for today.

JZ will appeal again, and perhaps escape justice at the last minute. For a man who wants his day in court, he does a great act of looking as though he doesn't.

Of the 700 odd charges laid against him, if only 1 is found correct, and he is found guilty of corruption (ssems a fairly safe bet - 1 in 700........especially when his financial advisor is currently serving jail time for soliciting bribes......on JZ's behalf)then we really can't have this man as our president. Mbeki had his faults, but none so blatent as JZ......

Please let sanity prevail, and ANC choose a wiser candidate; I'm actually starting to like Motlanthe even though he's a lame duck. A sense of didnity is required in a president, and JZ has none left.

Maybe justice will finally catch up with him (after another appeal to stay out of the court that the claims he wants to attend)

I'm not holding my breath, but a glimmer of hope for a sane resolution here is still welcome!

Viva the republic, not JZ!

It would now be logical and seemly for Judge Nicholson to resign. This would also settle those emotional arguments about the justice system making itself look foolish.

Zuma is likely to strike a deal with the NPA, that's how politics work. High court rules against NPA, SCA rules against Zuma........ blah blah blah. Someone help....... now that Zuma will be the state president, how will the NPA nail him because he will use all powers vested upon him to sweep his little nightmare just like mbeki on selebi saga. Can't Zuma give up his ambitions and let South Africa grow,

I agree with Mfundo, there's something fishy about today's judgement and the manner in which it was presented. But then, were'nt both Judge Msimang and Judge Nicholson equally scathing of the NPA>

What a pleasure to read! Judge Harms' reasoning is exquisite and his explication of the points of law governing the court's judgment is an education in itself.

The task of the Appeals Court was not an easy one. Obfuscation and deliberate misrepresentation of the facts had become something of a cottage industry for 'spin doctors'. That alone had made it dificult for the public to be clear about the merits or demerits of the Nicholoson judgment. Judge Harms' decision, although a challenging read, is admirably clear and leaves one feeling that the superfluous issues raised by Judge Nicholson (and the strange logic applied by him) have been thoroughly refuted and rendered inapposite.

Score one for the rule of law and judicial competence and 10 against dodgy defense strategies that rely on distortions, unsupported assertions, and irrelevancies to distract the courts, the media and the public.

The Zuma camp have paid a high price for the frivolous motions they have used to avoid their 'day in court'. This is going to cost a bundle!

And it had better not be paid out of taxpayers' money--unless the Zumalemas want another thrashing at the hands of an honest judge!

Congratulations to the independent judiciary and thank God for those of its members with integrity!

Give him his day in court.
Give JZ his day in court. The sooner the better. It amazing how far money can go in protecting people that are charged. If he was a normal person, maybe this whole saga would be over by now. Just go to court JZ, you are innocent after all. You have nothing to fear.

This judgement may be all very well, insofar as one side of this debate goes, however consider now that the 'Polokwanians' have all but neutralised the NPA, (via the Scorpions solution and recent senior appointments), there is a real possibility that the outcome may now be settled out of court, (and the public eye), meaning that the whole sad saga seems to be destined to the scrapheap, along with so many of our previously treasured moral standards.
The cynical use of the judicial system in this matter has proved to be incredibly dissapointing.
Those supporters of either side of this debate should also consider that this is not a sports competition where fans support their team blindly through thick and thin. It is a matter of national importance that the legal evidence and judgements should be considered by the citizens, before they faithfully go to the polls to pick their favourite personality, running a country should not be about personality, it should be about ability and integrity.
Insofar as the sporting analagy goes, it is finally the ref who decides, let the courts do their job, they are after all best qualified for it.

I feel Harmse's judgement is indeed fair and believe that finding loopholes in the law (such as Mr Zuma's claim of not being consulted prior to being recharged) are not sufficient means to clear one's name. This is a cop out of having the charges themselves looked into. A future president of South Africa should clear the charges he is facing on his actual innocence, and I am sure that Mr Zuma will be quite willing to have his day in court if he is indeed innocent. In the meantime I hope this game of volleyball in the judicioary will not continue, by Mr Zuma trying to appeal the judgement once again.

The Law,

The Supreme court of appeal, as it is known, has given the supreme Law and how it should be applied.

That, I believe, is the Sober Judge.

Question: Mr Zuma, did you accept money from any source linked to Shaik's business?

Zuma: No not at all...

Question: Mr Zuma, are you guilty of any of the charges brought against you?

Zuma: No, none of them.

Question: Can you prove that? We are all ears........

Just one more question. Mr Zuma, are you suggesting that every suspected criminal be contacted by phone, email or SMS to inform them about what they are charged with before they are arrested?

Gwede Mantashe was right when he said there were counter-revolutionary judges. Judge Louis Harms is one of these. In 1990 he was appointed by FW De-Klerk to investigate the existence of death squads. When he (Harms) ruled that there was no evidence of the existence of apartheid hit squads, he was rewarded with a position into the Supreme Court of Appeals, the same position that he now uses to pass the judgement against Zuma. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission proved that there were apartheid hit squads. Harms discredited the whistleblower, Dirk Cotzee, who had joined the ANC and instead praised hit squad mastermind, Eugen DeKok, as an "impressive witness". De-Kok is now serving 122 years for the crimes that Harms had cleared him for. This means that Harms had erred by persuading everyone that there were no death squads in South Africa. The question is why is he still part of our courts? He should have been shown the door long ago, not only because of his hostility to the ANC, but for misleading the country and the world. Harms has no credibility. His judgment should not be taken seriously. The government under Jacob Zuma must screen our judiciary and clean it of elements which are meant to undermine our gains.

Wow, in a world of professional careers, a sane professional would resign after Nicholson gets such a castigation by a senior judge. Yes Harms has that reputation of being blind to third forces and abuses under De Klerk regime, but the clarity of his decision, despite the De Klerk blemish, leaves many of us lawyers green with envy. By the way, he did not make the Zuma appeal decision on his own, but was assisted by four others including one black judge, and an indian judge, not that the other two white judge cannot be impartial. Harms just makes law romantic with his depth of knowledge. His reference material to the judgement is impressive! Whilst I am not au fait with matters of the ANC, any sane organisation would now literally reconsider its options in the light of image management as well as voter perception management. I guess the ANC does not worry after all, any way, most of its voters are naive, ignorant and at times, simply in denial to the future impact of bad decisions made today. To listen to the arrogance of someone like Matthew Phosa on Kaya FM yesterday simply confirmed to me that, these ANC leaders really are having their cake and eating it, thanks to fearful, naive and ignorant voters. Wow!