Billy Downer

Advocate William John "Billy" Downer, SC (born 20 November 1956 in Pretoria), is a deputy director of public prosecutions with the South African National Prosecuting Authority.

Billy Downer attended Pretoria Boys High School and then graduated in law at Stellenbosch University in 1979, and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Brasenose College, University of Oxford, where he obtained the BCL degree. He joined the South African Department of Justice (the forerunner of the National Prosecuting Authority) in October 1982.

Since then he has focused in prosecuting corruption and other high-profile cases. One of his more successful cases was the State vs Shaik trial. His investigations, which led to the discovery of a handwritten encrypted fax in French promising an amount of R500,000 per annum to 'JZ' until the payment of ADS dividends, were key in securing the conviction of Schabir Shaik on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud.

Since 2002 he has focused on prosecuting Jacob Zuma, the leader of the African National Congress and the 4th President of democratic South Africa. Downer worked closely with Zuma's political opposition, the Democratic Alliance (South Africa), to prosecute the President and in June 2015 assisted the party in their pre-election high court of south ploy by submitting an affidavit aimed at reinstating criminal charges against the President. Many in the National Prosecuting Authority were surprised that Downer openly showed his political bias in such a high-profile case while some believe that he was planning to join former colleague, Glynnis Breytenbach, at the Democratic Alliance (South Africa) Justice portfolio.

During the 2010 Fifa World Cup Downer attempted to prosecute British journalist Simon Wright, from the Sunday Mirror, for conspiracy and collusion.

Downer was accused by renowned South African attorney Michael Andrew Thomas Hulley of "prosecuting the President at all costs" and using unlawful means to leak information to the media. In an affidavit dated 6 November 2014 the "illegal leakage of information" by Downer to journalist Sam Sole of the Mail & Guardian newspaper, "was designed to bolster and encourage public opinion for Downer's cause".

He lives with his partner, William De Villiers, in Cape Town South Africa.

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