Cameras ready for Zuma ruling

2009-01-12 09:37

Bloemfontein - The Supreme Court of Appeal rules on Monday on the validity of the decision to re-charge ANC leader Jacob Zuma.

Deputy Judge President Louis Harms is expected to read the judgment from 10:00 to 11:00 in an appeal lodged by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP).

The NDPP is appealing against a Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling which effectively halted Zuma's corruption prosecution.

Outside the Bloemfontein court, journalists outnumbered security officials and members of the public, with a handful of men singing pro-Zuma songs while some ANC supporters were setting up a stage at Hertzog Plein opposite the court building.

Live broadcast

No fewer than five television cameras had been set up inside the court room where at least four channels are expected to broadcast the judgment live.

Three black luxury vehicles plastered with "Vote Zuma" stickers and a photo of Zuma sped past the court building at around 08:30.

Zuma and his lawyers were not expected to attend the judgment.

African National Congress spokesman Carl Niehaus denied a local radio report that Zuma was in Bloemfontein for the judgment.

"That is nonsense. Mr Zuma has a meeting at Luthuli house in Johannesburg this morning [Monday morning]," said Niehaus.

He added that Zuma's lawyers would have only a representative in court.

Judge Nicholson ruling

The NDPP lodged the appeal last year after Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Chris Nicholson's ruling in September.

Nicholson found that Zuma, the ANC's presidential candidate in the upcoming general elections, should have been offered the opportunity to make representations before the NDPP decided to re-charge him for corruption in December 2007.

This finding effectively halted Zuma's prosecution.

Nicholson added that he could not exclude the possibility of political interference in the decision to re-charge Zuma, a finding that ultimately led to the axing of president Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki has also lodged an appeal against Nicholson's finding.

A bench of five judges heard the case last November.

The Bloemfontein court must rule on mainly two aspects in the appeal.

The first is whether Zuma was entitled to make representations before the NDPP decided to re-charge him with corruption and fraud in December 2007, ten days after Zuma beat Mbeki in the ANC leadership race.

The second is whether Nicholson was correct in implying in his September 2008 judgment there was political meddling by Mbeki in the decision to charge Zuma.

The top leadership of the ANC used the judgment to recall Mbeki as president, exposing Zuma-Mbeki factionalism in the ruling party which ultimately led to the birth of a breakaway party.

- SAPA