Pretoria – Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille arrived at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday to an excited crowd of DA supporters present for the handover of the controversial “spy tapes”.
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Zille was surrounded by the singing supporters and escorted to a truck with speakers outside the court.
She was helped on to the truck where she addressed the crowd and sang the national anthem.
Zille then went into the court.
eNCA reported just after 12:30 that Zille had been handed the spy tapes, and was due to emerge from the court. Other reports indicated the NPA was en route to hand over the tapes.
Zuma charges
Conversations on the recordings were cited as a reason to drop fraud and corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma, shortly before he was sworn in as president in 2009.
Last week the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that within five days the National Prosecuting Authority had to comply with a previous order, in an application brought by the DA, to release the tapes.
President Jacob Zuma had opposed the move.
The tapes allegedly reveal collusion between the former heads of the Directorate of Special Operations, the now defunct Scorpions, Leonard McCarthy, and the NPA’s former head Bulelani Ngcuka, to manipulate the prosecutorial process before the ANC’s Polokwane conference in 2007. Zuma was elected ANC president at the conference.
At the time, acting NPA boss Mokotedi Mpshe said they showed there was a political conspiracy against Zuma and so the case could not continue.
– SAPA