Former president Jacob Zuma is back in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in connection with his long-running arms deal corruption trial, seeking leave to appeal a judgment that dismissed his attempt to quash the case.

Zuma appeared on Thursday alongside representatives of French arms company Thales, his co-accused, as both seek permission to challenge an earlier ruling that refused to halt the prosecution.

Zuma faces multiple counts of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering linked to South Africa’s multibillion-rand 1990s arms procurement programme.

Thales is accused of agreeing to pay him bribes through a stream of payments allegedly channelled via his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, who was convicted of fraud and corruption in 2005 for his role in the scheme.

Zuma faces charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering, while Thales stands accused of bribing him through a series of payments allegedly facilitated by his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.

Thales’ legal team has argued that the deaths of two former executives, Pierre Moynot and Alain Thetard, have severely undermined the company’s ability to mount a fair defence.

Both men were central figures in the company’s dealings during the arms procurement process, and their absence, the defence has said, makes it impossible to fully test key aspects of the state’s case.

Prosecutors have countered that the matter has already been delayed for years and that the public interest in seeing the arms deal allegations ventilated in open court outweighs the defence’s objections.

The National Prosecuting Authority has insisted the matter must proceed to trial.

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The National Prosecuting Authority has described former president Jacob Zuma’s application to be acquitted of his corruption charges if his co-accused Thales is acquitted as unpersuasive, saying it should be dismissed.

Zuma has filed a conditional application for a stay of execution if French defence company is successful in its application to have its charges dropped.

The company, which is a co-accused in the Zuma corruption trial for allegedly agreeing to pay the former president a bribe for political protection, wants the charges dropped citing unfair advantage.

Thales legal representative Advocate Barry Roux submitted to Judge Nkosinathi Chili in the Petermaritzburg High Court on Thursday that the death of two Thales employees has rendered the company’s defence in the trial insurmountable.

Alain Thetard and Pierre Moynot were considered crucial to the case since they were the representatives of the company in the country when the alleged bribe was solicited. Roux argued that with their deaths, the company would never get a fair trial since their involvement gave rise to the charges.

Also, Thales was unable to consult them for more information that would assist in its defence.

Similarly, Zuma’s lawyers led by Advocate Dali Mpofu, argued that their client would be prejudiced if the trial went ahead because they were unable to cross-examine the deceased, and wanted the former president acquitted if the charges were dropped against Thales.

Advocate Andrew Breitenbach, who represented the NPA, said if Zuma had not continuously delayed the trial, which he referred to as a Stalingrad strategy, it would have completed one way or the other before the witnesses died.

Breitenbach said both the accused had been involved in prolonged litigation. The state was ready for trial by 2016 and could have wrapped it up by 2019.

Breitenbach said Zuma’s problems with his application were compounded by the fact that he has used delaying tactics, including his application to have prosecution leader Advocate Billy Downer removed from the trial among other court challenges related to the case.

He further submitted that some of the ill-fated court challenges affected the investigation and the start of the trial.

“For years Mr Zuma has been engaged in implementation of Stalingrad defence strategy. In short, the state alleges that Mr Zuma’s Stalingrad litigation constitutes an abuse of the process of this court because it’s main includes ulterior one of delaying the start of the criminal trial.”

Breitenbach said since Zuma’s first appearance in 2009, he has launched six ill-fated litigations to avoid his criminal trial.

“Mr Zuma’s joining Thales in seeking what will amount to his pre-trial acquittal and all of the charges against him due to the passing of Mr Manot and Thetard, is yet another instance of implementing his Stalingrad defence strategy.

“Simply put, instead of standing trial in the coming court term, Mr Zuma has decided to take his chances with yet another dilatory trial proceeding so as to delay yet again the start of hearing of evidence against him,” argued Breitenbach.

Judgement has been reserved for 3 June 2025.

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