Johannesburg – Will former president Jacob Zuma ever see his day in court?
Zuma’s legal team has filed their intention to withdraw as his representatives with the High Court in Pietermaritzburg.
Zuma is expected to appear before the court in a month’s time on corruption charges.
One attorney said there could be a different reason why Zuma’s legal team dumped him.
“The common reasons would be, firstly a difference of opinion in the legal strategy that must be followed in providing a defence,” explained founder and director of Zikalala Attorneys, Advocate Mpumelelo Zikalala.
“They may differ where the client may say, “I’m not willing to follow the strategy that you have come up with, I believe there is another way in which we will be able to achieve the defence that you are looking for, hence I’ve [the client] lost confidence in the legal services or in the legal opinion that you [legal representation] is providing me.”
Zikalala said the second reason could be that of money.
“The client would then say, “I don’t have money to pay you any more” it’s quite expensive to have both [the] advocate and the instructing attorney be at court.
“If you look at the number of days in which the matter has been set, it can easily set you back between R15,000 and R20,000 per day. Now the question would be does the former president have that amount of money to spend on legal fees and if the answer is no, then definitely he would need a sponsor because even legal aid would not be able to come in under these circumstances. Legal aid has its criteria in which one has to qualify so it’s not a free-for-all kind of service.”
