‘There is no case against me and there never will be. They failed for 15 years to charge me and they can’t. It’s clear this is politically motivated’. With these words, former President Jacob Zuma offered his take on the first day of proceedings at the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) in his application to secure a permanent stay of prosecution on a host of corruption charges he claims he always wanted to deal with, yet spent years trying to avoid, notes Legalbrief. Earlier, Zuma's legal team played what it believes is its trump card: an exceptional and extraordinary circumstance created by the NPA. Acknowledging that the delay in bringing Zuma to court was not enough in itself to secure a permanent stay of prosecution, his lawyer, Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, explained that an extraordinary circumstance, which has to be taken into account, did in fact exist. He said it was exceptional and extraordinary for an organ of state ‘as powerful as the NPA’ to discuss a prosecution with political players. ‘It is spectacular,’ said Sikhakhane, who wrapped up the day's proceedings by claiming that the NPA was guilty of prosecutorial misconduct in its action against Zuma.

The Zuma trump card is the so-called ‘spy tapes’, the recordings of phone conversations between then NDPP Bulelani Ngcuka and former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy discussing the timing for prosecuting Zuma in order to boost the chances of Thabo Mbeki winning re-election. ‘If you find that it's not unlawful ... to do what we say Leonard McCarthy and Bulelani Ngcuka did (and) is not against the spirit and provisions of our Constitution, I must lose this case,’ said Sikhakhane, according to the TimesLIVE report. ‘If you find that the NPA, from today and going forward, in pursuit of someone who's accused ... can do what Leonard McCarthy was doing – they can take instructions from the DA and the ANC and everybody in order to time things to suit political players – you are free to take that decision. I must lose this case, if this court does not find that violation extraordinary.’ Zuma faces 16 charges, including fraud‚ corruption and racketeering. These relate to 783 payments he allegedly received as a bribe to protect French arms manufacturer Thales from an investigation into the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal.

Sikhakhane argued South Africans were too ‘blinded by hatred’ for Zuma to understand just how deeply his rights have been compromised by the NPA. He suggested that the belief that Zuma was ‘scum’ had prevented many from acknowledging the ‘egregious’ way he had been treated – which Zuma himself maintains was the worst violation of rights experienced in democratic SA, notes a Business Day report. He said Zuma had been deeply ‘dehumanised’ and stigmatised by the way the NPA had pursued its case against him, which had left him ‘synonymous with corruption’. Judge Thoba Poyo-Dlwati asked Sikhakhane when Zuma’s name would ever be free of the stigma against him, ‘because he has said he wants his day in court’. Sikhakhane responded that ‘your order condemning the unconstitutional conduct towards him will go some way towards curing the stigma’. ‘While Zuma will have scars, the respect of the Constitution would be upheld,’ he said.