What a week it has been so far for President Jacob Zuma. After the High Court delivered a series of telling blows to the president, his legal team filed an application to appeal one his earlier defeats in the courts –– the stripping of his power to appoint the head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
According to the Mail & Guardian, Zuma acted improperly in the removal from office from then-national director of public prosecutions (NDPP), Mxolisi Nxasana, hence the court's finding that the appointment of current NPA head Shaun Abrahams was invalid.
As a result, the court on Friday bestowed the power to appoint the NDPP on Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, while Zuma remains the president.
On Monday, Zuma's legal team sought to appeal the decision on two grounds:
That the court could not validly find that he was unable to perform his function as president in appointing an NDPP, "yet able to perform his other functions as president", according to the application for leave to appeal.
The other ground is that Zuma, and Zuma alone, is president.
"The court erred in law holding to be constitutionally permissible to have two presidents in the country at the same time and both exercising presidential powers," read the application.
This comes afterZuma's bid to set aside the recommendations of former public protector Thuli Madonsela's "State of Capture" report has failed.
Zuma has also been held personally liable for all costs (at least R1.5-million in terms of the DA's lawyers' fees alone) incurred in his bid to block the release of the former public protector's report.