Judge Anthony Millar turned down former president Jacob Zuma’s bid for leave to appeal against the R28.9 million legal fees repayment order. Former President Jacob Zuma lost his Gauteng High Court, Pretoria bid to appeal the order that he has to pay back the R28.9 million bill for his private legal fees. Judge Anthony Millar on Thursday turned down Zuma’s application for leave to appeal the pay-back judgment before a full court {three judges} or the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Judge Millar said that he is not persuaded that another court would come to a different conclusion. “To keep the doors of the court open indefinitely to a litigant who refuses to accept the judgment on a particular matter, serves no legitimate purpose. All it does is serve to be a drain on scarce judicial resources and to strengthen the view that accountability can be deferred for so long as one has the means to do so,” the judge commented.
He added that it is destructive of the notion that all are equal before the law and confirmatory of the view that “there is far too much law for those who can afford it and far too little for those who cannot”. Judge Millar issued a range of orders in October ordering Zuma to pay back R28.9 million in respect of money advanced for his legal fees and associated expenses. Orders were also made for the payment of interest and for the State Attorney to report to the court on the steps taken to enforce the judgment.Zuma has applied for leave to appeal against the whole of the judgment and the orders granted.
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Orders were also made for the payment of interest and for the State Attorney to report to the court on the steps taken to enforce the judgment. Zuma has applied for leave to appeal against the whole of the judgment and the orders granted. One of his grounds for appeal is that neither the Full Court nor the SCA previously explicitly ordered that he personally be responsible for the repayment of the costs expended on his behalf for his legal expenses.
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