Trial blunder in Zuma case

2008-05-13 13:02

Johannesburg - A blunder by prosecutors could delay the corruption trial of ANC leader and presidential frontrunner Jacob Zuma due later this year, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Business Day said the National Prosecuting Authority, which had scheduled the trial to take place in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province in August, had failed to consult judicial authorities to appoint a judge to hear the case.

According to the daily, KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala wrote a letter to deputy director of public prosecutions Anton Steynberg saying "no arrangement" had been made for the scheduled court date.

It was clear that "the date you allocated was not by agreement with the other parties to the litigation," said Tshabalala.

Case is different

"This is a high-profile case and it is different to other cases. It cannot be set down for a day or two. One is looking at six months at least," the newspaper quoted Tshabalala as saying.

"Also I need to be consulted so I could check the court roll and see which judges are available to hear the case."

The NPA has repeatedly come under fire for its handling of the seven-year investigation, with Zuma's legal team arguing that the time lag has compromised the prospects of a fair trial.

Zuma, who toppled South African President Thabo Mbeki as leader of the ANC at a conference in December, is to stand trial on 16 counts of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering.

He was recharged shortly after his election, after his initial trial had been struck off the court roll in 2006.

Zuma was fired as deputy state president in 2005 after his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was handed a 15-year prison sentence for corrupt payments to Zuma.

Shaik was also found guilty of canvassing a bribe for Zuma from French arms company Thales' South African subsidiary, Thint, in return for which Zuma was to exercise his political clout and protect the company from an arms deal probe.

Thint stands accused alongside Zuma.

Zuma is favourite to take over as head of state from Mbeki in general elections in 2009, provided he is not convicted beforehand.

The country's constitutional court is currently hearing an appeal contesting the legality of warrants allowing searches of Zuma's property. Prosecutors are still engaged in a legal battle to secure evidence from a Mauritian court.

- AFP