"The decision by the Constitutional Court nullifying former president Jacob Zuma’s appointment of the country’s prosecutions boss three years ago closes an unhappy chapter in the country’s recent past. It undoes a wrong that threatened a key institution and the functioning of the criminal justice system in the fledgling democracy," writes Pierre de Vos in a News24 article, 14th August 2018.

"The court declared invalid the attempt by Zuma to terminate the appointment of National Director of Public Prosecutions, Mxolisi Nxasana. It ruled that Zuma had abused his power by offering Nxasana a golden handshake of more than R17m to get him to leave office. He eventually accepted the offer.

The court ordered Nxasana to pay back the money. And the majority of the judges ruled that he couldn’t return to the position because he’d accepted the hugely inflated – and unlawful – golden handshake as the price for leaving office.

The Constitutional Court also confirmed that Zuma’s subsequent appointment of Advocate Shaun Abrahams was unlawful and invalid. It ruled that when Abrahams was "appointed", there was no vacancy in the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions. That’s because Nxasana was legally still serving in that position. As one cannot validly be appointed to a position that’s not vacant, Abraham’s appointment was thus unlawful and invalid."

Read the full article here