NATIONAL NEWS - Former president Jacob Zuma has been ordered by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to repay R28.96m in public funds spent on his private legal battles, including those linked to his corruption prosecution.

The Witness reports that delivering judgment yesterday, Judge Anthony Millar ruled that Zuma must pay back R28 960 774.34 to the state attorney, with interest, after years of litigation over who should foot the bill for his personal legal defence.

Court enforces repayment order

The case stems from a 2018 High Court ruling which found that the state’s decision to fund Zuma’s private legal costs was unlawful and that the money must be recovered. That ruling was later upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2021.

Millar’s latest ruling enforces those earlier decisions, marking the first time a court has formally ordered Zuma to repay the money.

“It is readily apparent that the order made relating to repayment was intended to apply to Mr Zuma personally,” Millar said, rejecting Zuma’s argument that government officials who authorised the payments should be held responsible instead.

Zuma’s defence dismissed

Zuma’s lawyers argued that the former president had not personally received the money — and that the ‘constitutional delinquents’ in the state attorney’s office who approved the payments should be pursued instead.

However, Millar dismissed this, saying both the 2018 and 2021 judgments made it clear that Zuma personally benefited from the unlawful funding and that repayment was necessary to ‘vindicate the rule of law’.

“There is simply no other rational interpretation that can be ascribed to the order in question other than that it was intended that Mr Zuma personally be ordered to repay the R28.9 million,” the judge said.

Interest and repayment conditions

The court ordered that interest be calculated on two tranches:

• R18.26m from October 22 2021, and
• the full R28.96m from January 25, 2024 until payment is made.

Zuma has 60 days to settle the debt. If he fails to do so, the state attorney may seek to attach and sell his assets — including, if necessary, his presidential pension, though any such attachment would first need to be authorised by a court.

The DA, which joined the case alongside the state, also sought supervision of the recovery process. The court granted this, ordering the state attorney to file progress reports every three months until the money is recovered.

No punitive costs

While the state sought a punitive cost order, Millar declined, saying the state had itself delayed in quantifying and recovering the debt. Zuma will, however, have to pay ordinary legal costs, including those for two counsel representing both the state and the DA.

The judgment closes a protracted legal battle over the state’s funding of Zuma’s private defence — a controversy that has cost taxpayers millions over nearly two decades.

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