Former president Jacob Zuma is expected to appear before the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday on charges of corruption, money laundering and fraud.
Supporters of former president Jacob Zuma started arriving at the Pietermaritzburg High Court in the early hours of Friday, to show support to the former president, who is set to appear before the court later on Friday morning.
Zuma faces 16 counts of charges; one count of racketeering, two counts of corruption. One count of money laundering and 12 counts of fraud. These charges emanate from the 1900s, during Zuma’s time as a provincial economy minister and then deputy African National Congress (ANC) president. Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French arms maker Thales over a contract worth R30 billion during that period.
The appearance is expected to be brief, although quite important for how the case takes shape. Zuma is said to appear before the court with a new legal team, this he fired his long-time attorney Michael Hulley. It is anticipated that the new legal team, led by Lungisani Daniel Mantsha, will apply for a postponement to give the new legal team sufficient time to go through all the documentation and familiarize themselves with the case.
The NPA has alleged there was an illegal “common purpose” relationship between Zuma, his convicted financial advisor Schabir Shaik and Thales South Africa (Pty) Ltd to pay and accept bribes for “political protection”
Last month, the French company facing charges of fraud and corruption applied for a postponement as they wanted to make representations to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as to why the company should not be prosecuted; the representations were rejected by the NPA.
Zuma supporters have come out in numbers to support the former president. Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said the security for the court appearance will be done in consultation with all role players and security agencies. “We plan on jointly taking into account all and every eventuality. It is not our policy to make public our security plans, deployment of manpower and resources,” he said.
Abenathi Gqomo
a.gqomo@politicalanalysis.co.za
