The JG Zuma foundation announced on Twitter minutes after Ramaphosa finished his address at the gala dinner on the eve of the ANC’s national conference that corruption-accused former president Jacob Zuma will bring a private criminal prosecution against Ramaphosa of “being accessory after the fact to crimes committed by among others Adv Downer” in alleged breaches of the NPA Act.
Advocate Billy Downer is the state prosecutor in Zuma’s arms deal-related corruption trial.
According to the foundation’s statement, Zuma “duly instituted” the private prosecution in the Johannesburg High Court, where the “accused person” – Ramaphosa – must appear on 19 January.
The statement further reads: “The serious crimes for which Mr Ramaphosa has been charged with in a court of law carry the sentence of 15 years imprisonment.”
BREAKING
President Ramaphosa criminaly charged pic.twitter.com/W8HIL00sHP— JGZuma Foundation (Official) (@JGZ_Foundation) December 15, 2022
Zuma, who is a delegate at the ANC national elective conference in Nasrec this weekend, received mixed reactions from delegates, with some singing pro-Ramaphosa songs as he went to register.
The registration took place at the UNISA Exam Centre in Ormonde, Johannesburg.
Delegates in attendance on Thursday evening sang “Ramaphosa re tsamaya Le wena” (Ramaphosa, we walk with you) as the former president entered and exited the registration venue.
Zuma skipped Ramaphosa’s gala dinner, which serves as a warm-up for the ANC’s national elective conference, which begins tomorrow