Judgment reserved in Zuma’s legal fees appeal

FILE | Former president Jacob Zuma in court.

The High Court in Pretoria has reserved judgment in former president Jacob Zuma’s application to appeal a ruling that ordered him to repay R 28.9 million in state-funded legal fees.

Zuma’s legal team told the court that the payments were authorised by state officials at the time and he should not be held personally liable.

The court will deliver its decision later, which will determine whether he must personally reimburse the state for his legal costs.

Zuma’s legal counsel Adv Thabani Masuku SC says, “So if we’re looking at whether the full court had of this it would have been reflected in the order itself or at least in the reasoning of the court, but here what the court says, if you’re correcting Mr. Zuma’s use of public resources, all you do is stop the payment, that’s what you do, and the pair who was the decision maker in this case was the president and the state attorney.”