Cape Town – The National Prosecuting Authority has filed its answering affidavit reviewing the decision to drop more than 700 charges of corruption and racketeering levelled against President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday.

The Democratic Alliance said that the contents of the NPA’s affidavit shows no substantive reason why the charges were dropped in the first place, and called for the charges to be reinstated without further delay.

The DA said that the NPA’s reason for dropping the charges against President Jacob Zuma was that “McCarthy manipulated the Zuma prosecution for an ulterior motive on the instruction of Ngcuka and others close to Mbeki” in order to help Mbeki to retain control of the ANC ahead of its Polokwane elective conference in 2008.

The NPA argues that this was an abuse of power by former president Thabo Mbeki, former NPA head Bulelani Ngcuka, and Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy.

The DA said that there was no new evidence that Ngcuka influenced McCarthy’s decision-making, or that Mbeki put pressure on Ngcuka, and that the NPA made their claims based on speculation and conjecture by not providing any evidence to support the allegations.

“In any event, it is not for the NPA to decide not to prosecute based on its own conclusion that this matter or any matter is fraught with undue political influence. The decision to prosecute was based on the facts, not the timing of the service of the indictment,” said senior DA MP James Selfe.

He said that it is up to the NPA to argue the merits of its case in court and that a judge has to decide whether political interference compromised the case.

The DA said that the President might not be guilty of corruption, but must, like any other citizen, have his day in court, and that the DA will proceed with its court action to declare the decision to drop the charges against Zuma be set aside.