National Jacob Zuma’s legal fees have cost us a bit more than we thought President Cyril Ramaphosa has written to Baleka Mbete to correct the previously stated amount of R15.3m since 2006, after investigations by the justice department BL PREMIUM

Former president Jacob Zuma’s legal fees have cost taxpayers R16.8m since 2006, a letter sent by President Cyril Ramaphosa to National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete reveals. The previously confirmed sum was R15.3m, with the additional R1.4m being discovered in investigations by the department of justice. Ramaphosa’s letter to Mbete said the sum of R16.78m was confirmed by director-general in the presidency Cassius Lubisi, in an affidavit submitted to the Gauteng High Court. The president was correcting a reply he had given in the National Assembly in March that the legal costs amounted to R15.3m. The DA has launched an application to review and set aside the agreements between the presidency and Zuma to cover the legal costs incurred by him for his criminal prosecution. The case will be heard in the High Court in Pretoria on November 6-7. "Over the last decade, Zuma has exploited our justice system with numerous court proceedings that had the intention of avoiding or delaying crimin...