Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma v William John Downer and Another

Jacob Zuma, former President of South Africa, faces longstanding criminal charges including corruption and fraud. After failing in multiple attempts to remove the lead prosecutor, Advocate William Downer, Zuma instituted a private prosecution in 2022 against Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan, alleging unlawful disclosure of confidential medical information. The KwaZulu-Natal High Court set aside the private prosecution as an abuse of process and interdicted Zuma from pursuing it, granting a punitive costs order. Downer and Maughan then applied under s 18 of the Superior Courts Act for the High Court’s order to operate pending appeal. The High Court granted this execution order. Zuma exercised his automatic right of appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) against the execution order.

The appeal was dismissed with costs, including the costs of two counsel, on an attorney-and-client scale.

The case affirms that courts must actively prevent abuse of process and may order judgments to operate pending appeal where suspension would perpetuate unlawful or oppressive litigation. It clarifies the application of s 18 of the Superior Courts Act in circumstances involving abusive private prosecutions and underscores judicial intolerance of litigation strategies designed to delay criminal trials, often referred to as the ‘Stalingrad’ strategy.