Former President Jacob Zuma has launched a Constitutional Court appeal application aimed at ensuring his prosecutor Billy Downer’s removal and his acquittal on Arms Deal corruption charges – days before his trial is due to resume.

Late last month, the apex court unanimously dismissed the former president’s arguments that then Supreme Court Appeal President Mandisa Maya had grossly misdirected herself by refusing to reconsider his failed legal bid to force Downer’s removal.

Maya had found there were no exceptional circumstances justifying her reconsidering her court's previous dismissal of Zuma's attempted challenge to Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Piet Koen’s ruling that Downer had the title (legal standing) to prosecute him.

Zuma has since launched a private prosecution against Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for allegedly violating the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act through the sharing of court documents submitted by his own lawyers and the prosecution, which contained a note from one of his doctors.

Maughan received the documents from advocate Andrew Breitenbach SC, who was acting for the NPA.

Zuma contends that his medical information was leaked, despite the fact that he failed to claim confidentiality when he filed the letter to the court. Koen found that the letter was submitted to Downer “without any specific restrictions as regards confidentiality”.

The judge further held that the letter was vague and general and did not disclose anything that could be said to amount to a violation of Zuma’s rights.

Zuma is now seeking to challenge that ruling.

He argues that Koen failed to consider “the impact of the alleged criminal acts and prosecutorial misconduct by the prosecutor in conjunction and in concert with those associated [with] the institution assigned to conduct the prosecution on behalf of the State, the National Prosecuting Authority on the requisite title to prosecute and my guaranteed constitutional rights”.

Should he convince the apex court that Downer lacks the title to prosecute him, Zuma argues, “then I would be entitled to demand an acquittal”.

“The implications of this application and/or appeal upon my rights are therefore far-reaching."