All hail to the new king - Pres Zuma of Arsezania

Ah well, we all knew this was going to happen, not so? What a total rotten banana republic this has become!

Jacob Zuma's prosecutors won't say whether they will ever publicly explain the reasons behind the mooted discontinuation of his corruption trial.

Stressing that the National Prosecuting Authority was still "urgently" considering whether or not to drop the fraud, corruption and racketeering charges against Zuma, NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said the State "would still have to consider" whether the reasons behind the decision should be made public.

The NPA is understood not to be under any legal obligation to disclose publicly the reasons behind its decisions to discontinue prosecutions.

Tlali also declined to confirm that Zuma's legal team had recently handed over a new set of representations, which allegedly contained claims of serious misconduct against high-ranking justice officials, to the NPA.

"We have also maintained that we would not comment on the content of the representations made to us by Mr Zuma and his legal team," Tlali said.

After a meeting between the Zuma prosecution team, acting prosecuting head Mokotedi Mpshe and high-ranking NPA officials, Tlali said yesterday: "We have recently been supplied with additional information by Mr Zuma's lawyers which has necessitated further investigation, verification and careful consideration.

"The NPA is treating this process with utmost urgency. We will communicate the outcome of this process of consideration to Mr Zuma's lawyers as soon as a decision is in place."

Tlali yesterday denied claims that the agreed deadline for the NPA to have made its decision on Zuma's representations to the State, which have not been made public, was on Monday.

"There was never a deadline - the representations process is not a court process; it involves interaction between the parties and that interaction determines how the matter progresses," he said.

Meanwhile, the Pretoria News has confirmed that Zuma's Mauritian legal team yesterday appeared in the Mauritian Supreme Court in Port Louis to appeal against a ruling stopping Zuma from intervening in the NPA's bid to obtain evidence against him.

The Supreme Court reserved judgment on Zuma's appeal application, which relates to the handing over of the originals of 13 documents used to convict Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik of fraud and corruption.

Zuma has claimed he should be allowed to challenge the handing over of the documents because they would be used as part of a politically motivated prosecution. He is facing 16 graft, fraud and racketeering charges stemming from his allegedly corrupt ties with Shaik.