Zuma is the victim, says lawyer as State wants R28m paid back

LAWYERS representing ex-president Jacob Zuma believe the State officials who unlawfully granted him the money for his legal fees should be held accountable.

- ZELDA VENTER [e-mail]

The Presidency and State Attorney seek to recover more than R28 million spent on Zuma's legal fees.

However Advocate Thabani Masuku for Zuma told the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that his client was not granted the money through corruption, but that the legal fees were paid from the State coffers following wrong legal advice to the state.

He said while Zuma did benefit from the money, it was not his doing that it was given to him. Those officials who allowed the State to pay for his legal fees up until the court in 2019 put an end to this, should be held liable to pay the money back as it was irregular expenditure, Masuku told Judge Anthony Millar.

Masuku did not dispute the legal bill standing at R28 million, but he maintained that Zuma is the victim in all of this as he is not the one who acted unconstitutionally.