The JACOB ZUMA FOUNDATION ’s spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi has called out the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and its lawyers for seeking a second medical observation for the former president.
Former president Jacob Zuma underwent a medical procedure this weekend, with others set to follow within the next few days.
This comes after the High Court in Pietermaritzburg agreed to postpone Zuma’s corruption case to 9 & 10 September and ordered his legal team to submit a medical report on his condition no later than 20 August.
“In terms of medical care, the country must relax and accept he is in the best care possible, which is why it is objectionable that we have lawyers of the NPA that would second guess a military type hospital that deals with heads of state [and] subject president Zuma to a second opinion from their private doctor. We think this is quite concerning. It’s uncalled for,” said Manyi in an interview with SABC News.
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Former president Jacob Zuma underwent a medical procedure this weekend, with others set to follow within the next few days. He is currently serving a 15-month prison sentence at the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) but had to be taken to hospital earlier in August.
Zuma’s hospital admission posed a delay to his arms deal trial as another date had to be set for resumption. The NPA has lawyered up and is challenging the former president’s bid to have the prosecutor in the case, Billy Downer recuse himself.
Manyi is not happy with the scrutiny of Zuma’s health condition, including the doctors and facilities.
“President Zuma is not in some spaza shop medical environment. He is in a government run hospital. We cannot have a situation in this country where a hospital that is state run, when it pronounces that somebody is not well, some private individual who’s got some mysterious agenda to come and second guess that, is insulting the professional integrity of the doctors that are dealing with president Zuma.”
The High Court ruled that a state doctor could be roped in to examine Zuma’s health condition and determine whether or not he is fit to stand trial.
Zuma faces 16 charges of fraud, corruption, racketeering, and money-laundering related to the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal in the late 1990s. The former president is alleged to have received 783 suspicious payments to the tune of R1.2 million from French arms manufacturer Thales, through his disgraced former financial advisor Shabir Shaik.