Zuma cornered over R28.9m bill

A court has ordered Jacob Zuma cough up the millions the state paid out in legal fees for his defence in the arms deal case but the former president is being coy about whether he will do it

- Lunga Mzangwe

GIVE IT BACK: The state paid former president Jacob Zuma's legal fees in the arms deal corruption trial from 2004 until 2019. Photo: MK Party

(MK Party)

Former president Jacob Zuma says he will consult his lawyers about his response after the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ordered him to repay R28.9 million of state money used to fund his defence in the longstanding arms deal case.

At a briefing by his uMkhonto weSizwe party on Thursday, a day after the ruling, Zuma said he had been abroad when the matter was heard in the high court last week.

“I am going to be meeting with my lawyers to say where we are.

“So, I can’t answer [whether I will pay back the money] because I was not there. We have made an arrangement to meet with my lawyers to take that matter forward, and that matter will be handled, and you will get to know ... what our approach to that matter is,” he said.

The court ordered Zuma to pay back the money within 60 days or risk his assets, including his presidential pension, being seized.

“The first respondent, Mr Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, is ordered to make payment to the second applicant, the state attorney, of the sum of R28960774.34 being in respect of monies advanced for his legal fees and associated expenses,” it ruled.

“In addition to payment of the sum of R28 960774.34, set out above, the first respondent is ordered to pay interest as calculated at the rate prescribed by section 1 of the Prescribed Rate of Interest Act 55 of 1975, to the second applicant, the state attorney.”