The chairperson of the DA's federal executive, James Selfe, said the fact that Zuma would now personally pay the legal fees incurred when he sought to stop the release of Thuli Madonsela's "State of Capture" report, which delved into the relationship between the Gupta family and state-owned companies. The official opposition estimates the cost at R10 million.

The Presidency confirmed on Friday that it had decided not to pursue an appeal, launched by Zuma before he was forced to resign in February, against the North Gauteng High Court's dismissal of his challenge to Madonsela's directive on the appointment of a judicial commission of inquiry to probe state capture.

The court had ruled that his application had been ill-advised and that he should personally pay the legal costs. President Cyril Ramaphosa's office confirmed that the appeal against this part of the judgment also fell away.

Selfe said Zuma should also be made to pay back an estimated further R15-million spent to fight the reinstatement of corruption charges against him in the long-running legal battle dubbed the "Spy Tapes" case.

The former president spent more than eight years opposing the DA's application for review of the 2009 decision to drop charges stemming the country's 1999 arms deal and lost in the end, on Friday appearing in the Durban High Court on fraud, corruption and racketeering charges. 

"While this is a victory for ordinary South Africans who have been made to pay for the ANC’s mistakes for far too long, the question of who will pay the R15.3 million in legal fees pertaining to the ‘Spy Tapes’ decade-long saga, still remains," Selfe said.

African News Agency