Judge postpones Zuma's corruption trial
The corruption trial of would-be South African president Jacob Zuma was postponed today until September, and prosecutors may request for an even longer delay.
Also today, 25 politicians and four travel agents were to go on trial in Cape Town, accused of defrauding Parliament of up to 24 million rands (€2.6m) by using vouchers intended for official travel to pay for luxury holidays, meals and car rentals. The two cases highlight South Africa’s struggle to clean up government corruption.
Zuma, whose support has surged since he was acquitted of rape in May, is charged alongside the local subsidiary of a French weapons company accused of bribing him to deflect investigations into a 1999 arms deal with the South African government. The ex-deputy president’s trial was to have started in Pietermaritzburg today.
Prosecutors want the case postponed until next year. They argue that a series of defence appeals, including ones challenging the legality of key raids, and the need to get evidence from Mauritius have delayed investigations.
Zuma’s lawyer, Kemp Kemp, argued that any further delay in the year-old case would hurt his client’s chances of a fair trial. He asked Judge Herbert Msimang to order that the trial go ahead or that charges be dropped altogether. Lawyers for arms manufacturer Thint Holdings supported Kemp’s applications.
Prosecutor Wim Trengove asked the judge to give him until October to review defence objections to his application for a delay. Kemp countered with a proposal that the court reconvene on September 5 to if the trial will begin and, if so, when. The judge granted Kemp’s request.
Zuma – who retains strong support among the governing African National Congress rank and file, as well as its trade union and Communist Party allies - was long considered the most likely to succeed President Thabo Mbeki when he completes his second and final term in 2009. But Mbeki axed Zuma in June 2005 and prosecutors filed charges after he was implicated in the corruption conviction of his friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.
The judge in that case found Shaik had made payments to Zuma totaling some 1.2 million rands (£93,000) to fund a lavish lifestyle. He also found that Zuma was aware of Shaik’s efforts to facilitate a yearly payment of 500,000 rands (€57,000) to the ex-deputy president from French arms manufacturer Thint Holdings – formerly Thomson CSF.
Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in jail but is appealing his conviction. Zuma denies any wrongdoing.
The local City Press newspaper reported yesterday that prosecutors might add additional tax fraud charges and increase the amount Zuma allegedly received to 3.9 million rands (€444,000).
Armed police blocked off roads surrounding the Pietermaritzburg High Court, where thousands of Zuma supporters held an overnight vigil.
About 500 remained this morning, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Zuma’s image and singing an old anti-apartheid song that has become his anthem: “Bring Me My Machine Gun.” The turnout was far less than the tens of thousands promised by organisers.
Yesterday, Zuma received a hero’s welcome at the 85th anniversary rally of the South African Communist Party in the southeastern city in his native KwaZulu-Natal province. The event quickly turned into a campaign rally for Zuma, with speakers shouting out slogans of support for the former guerrilla leader with no formal education.
Zuma made no reference to today’s trial in a lengthy speech, devoted mainly to praising the role of the Communist Party in the fight against apartheid. He did, however, point out that it was wrong to “jockey and fight for positions” – an apparent reference to a bitter power struggle between his supporters and those of Mbeki within the ANC.
Defence lawyers and supporters claim the charges against Zuma, who remains the ANC’s deputy president, are part of a political vendetta and have warned the case could bring down other senior business and political leaders. Even Mbeki could be summoned to the witness box.
Others say South Africans should be proud of a clean-up effort that is setting their country apart from the corrupt norms evident in much of Africa.
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