Former president Jacob Zuma has fired his defence attorney
Daniel Mantsha and appointed well-known lawyer Eric Mabuza to represent him —
so that he “can focus more on the preparation” for his corruption trial.
In a statement released on Sunday morning, the J G Zuma
Foundation said the former president had retained the services of his advocate
Muzi Sikhakhane, who he had “briefed to assemble a multi-skilled legal team
that will advise and assist former president Zuma in preparing for the biggest
trial of his life”.
The foundation said this team would also “dispel the much
repeated and tired narrative that seeks to suggest that in previously
exercising his rights, former president Zuma sought to avoid his day in court
or was adopting what the state calls Stalingrad tactics”.
“To this end, Sikhakhane SC and his team will also be
advising and assisting former president
Zuma to decisively deal with the long-standing speculation about his
involvement in Arms Deal corruption,” the statement read.
Speaking on Sunday morning, Mabuza did not want to be drawn
on whether this statement meant Zuma intended to withdraw his latest bid to
appeal against the dismissal of his application for a permanent stay of
prosecution in the Constitutional Court.
“My mandate is to assist in preparation for the trial,”
Mabuza said.
Mantsha, who has been Zuma’s attorney of record since 2018,
could not be reached for comment. It is not known at this stage what led Zuma
to decide to terminate his services.
While the J G Zuma Foundation thanked Mantsha for his
services, it stated that the former president had “unfortunately come to the
conclusion that it is in his best interests to part ways with Mr Mantsha at
this stage so that he can focus more on the preparation for the trial”.
“Former president Zuma therefore welcomes the opportunity
that the upcoming trial will create for South Africans to get much-needed certainty about the bona fides of
the State’s case against him as well as shed light on the much-needed certainty
as to who exactly benefited from the alleged Arms Deal corruption,” the
statement read.
Zuma is due back in the Pietermaritzburg high court on May
6, and currently has a suspended arrest warrant hanging over his head because
of his failure to appear at his last court appearance because of alleged
ill-health.
Judge Dhaya Pillay refused to accept a “sick note”
presented by Mantsha as acceptable evidence that the former president was in
fact unwell. Times
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