Zuma's fight over R28.9m legal fee

Ex-president chosen to foot bill because he was an easy target, argues advocate

- ZELDA VENTER

FORMER president Jacob Zuma is attempting to appeal an order to pay back R28.9 million in legal fees or face his assets being sold to recover the money.

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THE Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, was yesterday confronted with the question as to why former president Jacob Zuma should be held liable to repay the R28.9 million bill for his private legal fees, while he was an innocent party and the real wrongdoers are the State officials who authorised the payments.

In asking for leave to appeal the judgment ordering him to pay back the money, Zuma's advocate, Thabani Masuku, argued that neither the full court nor the Supreme Court of Appeal's (SCA) orders ever said Zuma was the one liable for the legal bill.

Masuku told Judge Anthony Millar that he had erred in his judgment when he specifically pinpointed Zuma as the liable party.