New charges against Zuma loom
2006-09-24 13:23
Johannesburg - South African prosecutors are drawing up fresh charges against former deputy president Jacob Zuma after his graft trial was thrown out of court last week, the Sunday Times reported.
The newspaper cited officials close to South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority as saying no formal decision had been taken yet but that the NPA is considering "extending charges against Zuma".
The NPA was not immediately available for comment.
Zuma, who is immensely popular among trade unionists, rank and file members of the ANC and communists, denied on Friday that he has renewed a campaign to become South African president, following the collapse of the corruption case against him.
Zuma's supporters want him to replace Thabo Mbeki as South Africa's president in 2009.
The ANC will elect a new leader next year. The winner is virtually certain to be South Africa's president, given the ANC's total dominance of the country's politics.
Zuma, a hero of South Africa's liberation struggle, had been seen as frontrunner to succeed Mbeki until the latter fired him as deputy president last year, when a judge found he had a "generally corrupt" relationship with a financial adviser.
High Court Judge Herbert Msimang threw out the corruption charges on Sept. 20. This followed his acquittal in May on separate charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend.
Msimang rapped prosecutors over the knuckles for failing to properly prepare the fraud case against Zuma but he stopped short of dismissing the case outright.
Prosecutors hinted they intended to file fresh charges against the 64-year-old Zuma at a later date.