'Zuma will now be charged'

2007-10-03 07:39

Philip de Bruin

Johannesburg - A trial on charges of corruption has become inevitable for Jacob Zuma, the deputy president of the ANC and possible candidate for its leadership and the presidency of South Africa.

That's according to Professor Tom Coetzee, criminal law expert and professor of Criminal Law at the University of North West, following the unanimous decision on Tuesday of 11 Constitutional Court judges to dismiss Schabir Shaik's application to appeal against his conviction on charges of corruption and fraud and his 15-year jail sentence.

'Made certain payments to Zuma'

The judges ruled that Shaik's application to appeal did not have a reasonable chance of succeeding and that it would therefore not be in the interests of justice to hear it.

The judges referred in particular to Shaik's relationship with Zuma as regards the corruption and said it centred on the high court's finding that Shaik and his companies had from October 1995 to September 2002 "made certain payments in a corrupt way to Zuma, with the intention of influencing him to use his name and political influence to benefit Shaik and his undertakings".

At one stage the judges did not mince words: "It's clear that the charge of corruption relates to benefits that accrued to Zuma over a period of time, from before to after the amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act."

Coetzee said the decision meant that from a legal point of view a prima facie case against Zuma "clearly exists" and that it was a matter that Zuma ought to respond to in court, "regardless the massive political impact" that this would have.

"Remember that the finding that Shaik paid money in a corrupt way to Zuma is now the finding of three courts: the High Court, Appeal Court and Constitutional Court.

"I'm not saying that Zuma is guilty. What I am saying is that it's inevitable that he'll now have to be charged to put his side of the case."

Advocate Billy Downer of the National Prosecuting Authority and head of the State's team against Shaik and Zuma said on Tuesday that he welcomed the finding.

Decisions stand over to November

"Shaik and I have reached the end of a very long road.

"For us the verdict of the highest court in the land is an indication that we're on the right track with our corruption inquiries - indirectly also as regards Zuma, of course."

He said any further decisions on Zuma would now stand over to November, when the Appeal Court would deliver its verdict on three appeals involving Zuma in connection with the investigation against him.

As regards Shaik's sentence, the Constitutional Court judges said that there was no reason to interfere with the 15-year jail sentence.

The Constitutional Court did order on Tuesday that he should be allowed to appeal against the forfeiture of multi-million rand assets belonging to him and his companies.

The judges found that if the seizures were arbitrary, they would be unconstitutional and they wanted to hear full legal argument on the matter.

- Beeld