The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants former President Jacob Zuma to pay back the millions of rands the state incurred in legal costs for the Spy Tapes case.

The party has also called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to join them in recovering the money, saying that “Ramaphosa can’t talk tough on corruption and wasteful spending, yet turn a blind eye to what the DA describes as blatant abuse of taxpayers money”.

A letter from the Justice Department to the DA revealed that taxpayers paid over R15 million for Zuma’s legal costs in that case.

The party argues that the legal action was in his personal capacity for crimes he allegedly committed before he was President of the country.