Former president Jacob Zuma says he will consult his lawyers about his response after the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ordered him to repay R28.9 million of state money used to fund his defence in the long-standing arms deal case.
At a briefing by his uMkhonto weSizwe party on Thursday, a day after the ruling, Zuma said he had been abroad when the matter was heard in the high court last week.
“I am going to be meeting with my lawyers to say where we are.
“So, I can’t answer [whether I will pay back the money] because I was not there. We have made an arrangement to meet with my lawyers to take that matter forward, and that matter will be handled, and you will get to know … what our approach to that matter is,” he said.
The court ordered Zuma to pay back the money within 60 days or risk his assets, including his presidential pension, being seized.
“The first respondent, Mr Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, is ordered to make payment to the second applicant, the state attorney, of the sum of R28 960 774.34 being in respect of monies advanced for his legal fees and associated expenses,” it ruled.
“In addition to payment of the sum of R28 960 774.34, set out above, the first respondent is ordered to pay interest as calculated at the rate prescribed by section 1 of the Prescribed Rate of Interest Act 55 of 1975, to the second applicant, the state attorney.”
The judgment follows years of litigation, with both the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters pushing for Zuma to “pay back the money”.
The state paid the former president’s legal fees in the arms deal corruption trial from 2004 until 2019.
During the court proceedings last week, Advocate Thabani Masuku for Zuma, argued his client should not be held liable for repaying the money.
Masuku contended that the funds were not provided to the former president through corruption, but rather because of “wrong legal advice”.
Masuku said while Zuma benefited from the money, it was not his doing. The money was given to him, and the officials responsible should be held liable to repay it, as it was irregular expenditure.
This is not the first time that the courts have ordered that Zuma pay back the money.
In 2022, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg issued a default judgment for Zuma to pay over R7 million owed to the now defunct VBS bank.
The loan had been taken to pay for massive security upgrades at Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.
Last year, FNB said it had partially frozen Zuma’s bank account due to a court order obtained by VBS liquidator Anoosh Rooplal.
“FNB was instructed by the high court to place a hold on outgoing payments from [former] president Zuma’s FNB account.
“The account is not closed as incoming payments are unaffected,” the bank said in a statement.
“This instruction from the court resulted from the process now being managed by the VBS Mutual Bank liquidators and FNB was legally required to comply.
“President Zuma’s recourse now lies with the courts and VBS Mutual Bank liquidators.”
Rooplal confirmed at the time that VBS had received a default judgment against Zuma, following his failure to keep up with the monthly repayments of R70 000.
The liquidator wanted an execution order to recoup the money owed by possibly selling Zuma’s property, but the land on which Nkandla was built could not be attached because it was owned by the Ingonyama Trust.
It is not clear whether Zuma has paid the full amount owed to VBS.
A member of the VBS shareholders’ board told the Mail & Guardian they had only heard rumours that the former president had settled the debt.
The board member however could not confirm this.
“We are not aware of him paying the money but the rumours we have heard were that Zuma paid the balance he owed.
“The liquidator does not account to us and it then makes it difficult for us to know who has paid,” the board member said.
“He just said he deals with individuals. The system on the curator’s side is a legal concern, so now we can not be informed unless they are informing the public — they do not deal with us.”
A second source said it was not clear whether Zuma had paid back all the money owed to VBS but added that the liquidator was pursuing all of the defunct bank’s debtors.
The DA hailed the high court ruling as a victory for South Africa and the protection of taxpayer money.
DA national spokesperson Willie Aucamp said that, since 2018, Zuma has evaded repaying millions in legal fees that the state should not have paid on his behalf.
“For this reason, the DA joined the court case to ensure that, on top of repaying the public money, Mr Zuma also must repay interest on the money, and the court agreed with the DA,” he said.
“In every way possible, the DA continues to fight for the rule of law, protection of taxpayer money, and the rooting out of state capture. We look forward to seeing Mr Zuma repay what he owes South Africa, starting with this first amount of R28.9 million plus interest thereon. A report must be furnished to the court on the progress of the recovery, so that South Africans are kept abreast thereof.”
A court has ordered Jacob Zuma cough up the millions the state paid out in legal fees for his defence in the arms deal case but the former president is being coy about whether he will do it