Pre-election court date for Zuma?

2008-08-05 08:18

Pietermaritzburg - Ruling party leader Jacob Zuma will be back in court on Tuesday in a bid to have the corruption case against him scrapped.

It will be his second day before Judge Chris Nicholson in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, where his lawyer, Kemp J Kemp, argued on Monday that the decision to prosecute him was unlawful.

Zuma faces a charge of racketeering, four charges of corruption, a charge of money laundering and 12 charges of fraud related to a multi-billion rand government arms deal. If convicted he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years.

Kemp said the state did not give Zuma the opportunity to make representations when it made an about-turn on an initial decision not to prosecute him.

But state advocate Wim Trengove told the court that his legal bid was "besides the point".

He said the fairness of the decision to prosecute should be dealt with within the criminal trial.

Charges related to government arms deal

The court has set aside two days for the application that started on Monday.

Meanwhile, The Star newspaper reported on Tuesday that the state was trying to secure a trial date in April, which would be just before general elections expected to elect Zuma as president of South Africa.

Zuma is claiming that the decision to prosecute him was a reversal of a decision taken by the former NDPP, Bulelani Ngcuka. He announced in August 2003 that the National Prosecuting Authority would not prosecute Zuma, because it did not believe that it had a "winnable case".

But after Zuma's financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, was found guilty of corruption in 2005, the state decided to charge Zuma after all.

The charges related to a government arms deal where Zuma allegedly used his influence to get lucrative arms contracts for Shaik's Nkobi Holdings, in return for payments totalling more than R4 million.

Nkobi Holdings and Thomson-CSF Holdings owned African Defence Systems, which won arms deal contracts.

The two South African subsidiaries of French arms manufacturer Thales International (formerly known as Thomson-CFS) - Thint Holdings (Southern Africa) Pty Ltd and Thint (Pty) Ltd - are co-accused and each face a charge of racketeering and two counts of corruption. Their case has been postponed until December 8.

Zuma further allegedly agreed to protect Thint Holdings (Thomson-CSF Holdings) from an investigation into alleged corruption in the arms deal, in return for a R500 000 a year bribe.

So far, Zuma has been mostly unsuccessful in attempts to block the state's case.

Last week, a Constitutional Court challenge by Zuma failed. He contested the lawfulness of search and seizure operations by the state.

His case has had a ripple effect on politics in South Africa. Zuma is the front-runner to be elected as president next year and the ongoing uncertainty over his legal fate has cast a shadow over his election campaign.

Ngcuka, the first man to publicly mention Zuma's alleged involvement in the corruption charges, eventually resigned from office after a leak in the media accused him of being an apartheid spy.

His predecessor, Willem Heath, who was also investigating the arms deal, resigned in 2001. This came after the justice minister at the time, Penuell Maduna, announced that he would disband the Heath unit.

Around the same time, Zuma told Parliament's standing committee on public accounts that there was no need to probe the arms deal.

After Ngcuka's departure, Vusi Pikoli was appointed as chief prosecutor but he has since been suspended by President Thabo Mbeki in a separate matter.

Media reports have also pulled Mbeki into allegations of bribery in the arms deal.

Since Zuma's election as ANC president at Polokwane last December, the ANC, who has repeatedly said that Zuma was being persecuted, has announced that it would disband the Scorpions.

- SAPA