IOL State prosecutor Billy Downer will be called to testify in former president Jacob Zuma's trial, his defence said. Picture: Independent Newspapers.
Image: File
Advocate Dali Mpofu said they would be calling State Prosecutor Billy Downer as a witness in Jacob Zuma's arms deal trial.
"We are going to call Mr Downer as a witness. It's not if, it's not a threat, It's a fact," Mpofu told the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday.
Mpofu said it was going to happen.
"You might as well remove him (Downer) now."
Zuma's attorneys applied for leave to appeal Downer's removal as state prosecutor on the case.
"We can't go to the end of the trial and decide at the end. That is madness. That is madness; to run the trial would be a waste of time and money."
He said: "I can assure you that, as certain as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, we are not going to leave this unchallenged."
The State is opposing the application, saying that an appeal should not be granted until the trial is completed.
The question was whether the involvement of Downer in the trial would infringe on Zuma’s right to a fair trial.
In March 2024, Zuma's application to have Downer recused was unsuccessful.
Zuma accused Downer of prosecutorial bias, in which he believed he would not get a fair trial.
He claimed Downer leaked his medical records to the media.
Mpofu further argued that a recusal was not a usual request.
"We are not asking to choose a prosecutor, we are saying anyone else."
He said they refused to go through the trial with a "compromised prosecutor."
Judgment was reserved.
IOL News
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