Shaik, Zuma decision 'bizarre'

2008-09-12 13:30

Pietermaritzburg - It was bizarre that African National Congress president Jacob Zuma was not charged alongside his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik, if it was true that there was prima facie evidence against him, Judge Chris Nicholson said on Friday.

"It was bizarre to say the least," he told the Pietermaritzburg High Court while handing down judgment in an application to have the decision to prosecute Zuma declared invalid.

He said the crimes of bribery that former prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka spoke of, were "bilateral" - they involved another person - and it was "most strange" not to charge Zuma as a bilateral offence cannot be done alone.

The failure to prosecute Zuma with Shaik "brought the justice system into disrepute", Nicholson told the court as Zuma, dressed in a dark pin-stripe suit, listened attentively.

Sacking unfair, not illegal

He said President Thabo Mbeki's decision to fire Zuma after the Shaik corruption conviction was unfair and unjust, but not illegal given his powers to appoint his Cabinet and his deputies.

Nicholson said that Zuma believed his sacking was part of rivalry for the ANC presidency and was a strategy to stigmatise him as corrupt.

Nicholson noted that early into the investigation, Ngcuka said he would take representations on the case and he never withdrew this offer.

Zuma's legal team did approach the acting national director of public prosecutions to find out whether the case was under review and were told that it was an ongoing investigation.

Zuma has requested the court to declare the decision to prosecute him on fraud and corruption charges invalid, because the State did not consult him before going ahead with the prosecution.

- SAPA