Riyaz Patel
Former President Jacob Zuma’s corruption case has been adjourned for a holding date on 4 February.
In the interim, his motion to appeal the High Court judgment that dismissed his application for a permanent stay of public prosecution in his case will be heard on 22 November.
He was briefly back in the Pietermaritzburg High Court Tuesday where his legal team told the judge that they will appeal Friday’s judgment.
Zuma, in office from 2009-2018, had applied for a permanent stay of prosecution on 18 charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering linked to the multi-billion rand arms deal in the ’90s.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it would oppose the application, adding that it was convinced there were no reasonable prospects of success.
Prosecutor Billy Downer said: “The State is really serious in getting this trial running as soon as practically possible, which is at the earliest date possible date next year.”
On Friday, the High Court dismissed Zuma’s application for a permanent stay of prosecution, saying he failed to prove to the court that there were no reasonable and probable grounds for his successful prosecution.
He previously argued for the case to be struck off the roll, saying the charges were politically motivated and that the unreasonable delays in prosecuting him have prejudiced him.
Some netizens appear to agree with this assertion.
The 18 charges against Zuma date back to 2005 and relate to 783 payments, totalling just over R4mn, which Zuma received from his then-financial adviser Schabir Shaik and his Nkobi group of companies between 1996 and 2005.
Shaik was found guilty in 2005 of fraud and corruption for the same transactions, which led many to believe Zuma, then the deputy president, would suffer the same fate.
Zuma was fired by then-president Thabo Mbeki, but executed a stunning comeback to secure the ANC presidency, and subsequently the SA Presidency, at the party’s Polokwane conference in 2007.
