The Constitutional Court has rejected former president Jacob Zuma's attempt to proceed with his private prosecution against his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Zuma, who now leads uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, launched his private prosecution bid against Ramaphosa in 2022 ahead of the African National Congress (ANC)'s 55th elective conference.
The former president has accused Ramaphosa of being implicated in the alleged leak of his confidential medical documents to the media.
Ramaphosa rejected this as abuse of legal processes. Since taking over from Jacob Zuma in 2017, Ramaphosa has served as the leader of the ANC.
The ConCourt ruled that Zuma failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for the delay in filing his application.
Additionally, the Court determined that there were no reasonable prospects for success in the appeal.
The order reads: “The Constitutional Court has considered the application for condonation and the application for leave to appeal and has concluded that there is no adequate explanation for the applicant's delay in bringing the application for leave to appeal and there are no reasonable prospects of success on the merits of the application for leave to appeal.
“Condonation must be refused and, as a consequence, the application for leave to appeal fails."
The Court also decided not to award costs to the matter.
The Johannesburg-based Gauteng High Court previously dismissed the case after concluding that Zuma's legal action was pursued with ulterior motivations and would not lead to a conviction.
Additionally, Zuma's appeal was denied by the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Court.
After that, he appealed to the Constitutional Court, which finally denied his request.
Meanwhile, last week Zuma's Duduzile Zuma-Sombudla appeared on charges of incitement to commit terrorism and two counts of incitement to commit public violence - in relation to the July 2021 riots that ravaged the economy and left more than 300 people dead.
IOL Politics