A paper by two media companies in Mozambique concluded that the firm of Busani Mabunda, lawyer of former Finance Minister Manuel Chang, intends to make more money the longer it takes to find an outcome on Chang's extradition.

On Wednesday, the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng division, once again dismissed Chang's extradition request to Maputo, and in light of this Busani Mabunda said he will appeal the decision.

"I confirm that the Republic of Mozambique will file a petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal in this matter," the South African lawyer was quoted in one of the news outlets as saying.

This opens up space for the former ruler to remain cooped up in South Africa for longer, while a new extradition request is assessed.

"The case is far from the end of litigation. It may end up in the Constitutional Court, because that court has never considered its merits, he stressed.

According to our source, Mabunda's intention is to continue billing "the tax payers in Mozambique, who have already advanced him, through the PGR, $1,500,000 for his previous interventions in the case.

"This statement suggests that he has already obtained our OPG's acquiescence to appeal," the joint paper reads.

The judge of the High Court in Gauteng Margarete Victor, who in November 2021 ordered South Africa to extradite Manuel Chang to the USA, considered that the PGR of Mozambique "did not present any compelling reasons" for the request for appeal to be granted. In other words, the arguments presented by the lawyer representing the Mozambican state were considered weak.