The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that former president Jacob Zuma should pay back the R15.3 million the state used on him to fight his corruption trial, which returns to court in May.
Zuma yesterday lost an appeal to set aside a North Gauteng High Court ruling that stripped him of state funding for the trial that emanates from the arms deal of the late 1990s.
The ruling was sent out electronically to all parties involved yesterday morning.
“In the result the appeal must fail and it is accordingly dismissed with costs, including those of two counsel, to be paid on the attorney and client scale,” ruled the judgment signed off by Judge VM Ponnan.
The legal battle over the funding started in early 2018 when the DA and later the EFF demanded President Cyril Ramaphosa stop funding the Zuma trial, as it was “unlawful”.