South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has given his predecessor, Jacob Zuma until Monday to withdraw the private prosecution summons he served on him.
A letter from the State Attorney to Zuma’s lawyers questions the former president’s timing of serving a summons on Ramaphosa a day before the beginning of the ANC’s national congress.
It also labels the summons as invalid and accuses Zuma of abusing legal processes.
The State Attorney says he may take further steps should Zuma fail to act on the demand by Monday.
Zuma on Thursday said he is prosecuting Ramaphosa privately.
He is accusing the president of being an accomplice in breaching provisions of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act.
It’s in relation to a private prosecution Zuma is currently pursuing against prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.
He accuses them of leaking his medical records but the president says Zuma is abusing legal processes and that he requires a certificate of non-prosecution from the NPA in order to initiate private prosecution.
Ramaphosa has also responded to assertions that he failed to act in the Downer matter.
He said he referred the matter to the Justice Minister, who has oversight of the NPA.