Jacob Zuma's decade long arms deal case is far from over. This is after the former president's legal team filed another court application to have state prosecutor Billy Downer removed from the arms deal case. The case has been postponed more than twenty times since 2005.

NEW COURT APPLICATION 

On Monday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court heard that Zuma filed another application on Sunday night to have Downer removed from the case. The case was heard before Judge Nkosinathi Chili, who took over from Judge Piet Koen who recused himself from the case. Zuma's legal team led by Advocate Dali Mpofu served the state with a new application where they raised the same plea to have Downer removed after their failed attempt. 

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PRIVATE PROSECUTION 

Zuma is privately prosecuting Downer over allegations that he illegally leaked the former president's confidential medical information to the media in 2021. The new application has been set up for hearing over two days in August  this year. This has forced the trial proceedings to be on ice as the trial got under way in May 2021. Zuma was linked to the deal through his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik, who was convicted of corruption and jailed to 15 years in 2005. Zuma faces 16 charges including, corruption, fraud and racketeering. He allegedly received R500,000 annual bribe through Shaik from a French arms deal manufacturer. At the time, Zuma was the former MEC for Economic and Tourism.