The South African High Court in Pretoria on Friday set aside a 2009 decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to drop corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma.
The decision by NPA former head Mokotedi Mpshe was irrational as he acted "alone and impulsively", the court ruled.
Mpshe should have followed the legal processes on emergence of the "spy tapes" and allow the courts to decide if the charges should have been withdrawn, Judge Aubrey Ledwaba said.
The NPA and its current head Shaun Abrahams must now decide if it will recharge Zuma with the original 783 counts of corruption, the court ruled.
The application to set aside the decision to drop corruption charges against Zuma was submitted by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).
"The DA's application succeeds: The decision of first respondent in 2009 to discontinue prosecution is reviewed and set aside," the court ruled.
"This court finds there is no substance in submissions of respondents. We find that Mr Mpshe found himself under pressure, and consequently made an irrational decision," the court said.
"Mr Mpshe ignored the importance of his oath of office" and what he did "is a breach of law in not treating respondents equally before the law," the court concluded.
The spy tapes allegedly contain records showing why a decision was made for charges on over 700 counts of corruption against Zuma to be withdrawn, clearing the way for him to become president after the 2009 elections.
Zuma was facing corruption charges relating to the procurement of arms. There were allegations of bribery, corruption and fraud in the 1999 multi-billion rand arms deal.
Zuma's legal team had contested the charges through confidential representations submitted to the NPA in February 2009.
These included written and oral submissions, and recordings of conversations between the former heads of the Directorate of Special Operations, the now defunct Scorpions, Leonard McCarthy, and the NPA's former head Bulelani Ngcuka - dubbed the "spy tapes".
Chairperson of the DA's Federal Executive, James Selfe told Xinhua that they are happy with the High Court decision and will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.
Selfe said, "As DA we are pleased that the full bench concurred that the decision to drop charges against President Jacob Zuma was not born out of consideration based on law. We are happy with the decision. We want to see justice prevailing in this case."
Selfe said they will study the decision and see how to approach the matter.
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