Jacob Zuma resumes on Monday
JOHANNESBURG – The dragging corruption trial of South Africa's jailed ex-president Jacob Zuma resumes on Monday despite the deadly violence that swept the nation after his imprisonment in an unrelated case.
Zuma faces 16 charges of fraud, graft, and racketeering
related to a 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats, and military gear
from five European arms firms when he was South Africa's deputy president.
He is accused of pocketing R4 million ($277,000) in bribes
from one of the firms, French defence giant Thales, which has been charged with
corruption and money laundering.
The trial started in May after numerous postponements and
delays, as Zuma's legal team worked fervently to have the charges dropped.
The 79-year-old Zuma appeared in person for the opening and
said he was innocent.
Thales also pleaded not guilty, and the next hearing was set
for 19 July.
But things took a nasty turn when on 29 June, Zuma was found
guilty of contempt of South Africa's top court for snubbing graft investigators
probing his tenure as president. He was jailed a week later.
The incarceration sparked protests in his home province of
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), which snowballed into a week of the deadly outbreak of
looting and arson that spread to the economic hub Johannesburg, claiming over
200 lives.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who came to office promising to
curb graft, said the riots were a "coordinated and well-planned
attack" on the country's young democracy.
"Using the pretext of a political grievance, those
behind these acts have sought to provoke a popular insurrection,"
Ramaphosa said on Friday night.
Monday's hearing could reignite tensions that had eased late
last week, analysts warn.
STABILITY AT STAKE
"People will be watching the behaviour of judges,"
said Sipho Seepe, a fellow of the University of Zululand in KZN.
"If they feel justice is not done, they will
protest," he said.
Monday's hearing will focus on an application by Zuma's
legal team to recuse chief prosecutor Billy Downer for allegedly leaking
information to the media.
"We will argue vigorously for the application to be
dismissed," National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga told
AFP.
The trial will be heard virtually to "avoid
disruption", said Mhaga.
Zuma and his supporters have repeatedly decried all these
probes as politically motivated and warned his jailing would spark unrest.
But they deny being behind the recent turmoil.
Carl Niehaus, a close friend of Zuma, told reporters this
week that there was no "coordinated campaign to lead to looting and
violence".
"There is however an uprising of people who are deeply
concerned and angered by [his] imprisonment."
'RIDE THE STORM'
Zuma, once dubbed the "Teflon president", is
meanwhile seeking to reverse his 15-month jail sentence.
He was arrested for disobeying a Constitutional Court order
to testify before a judicial panel probing the plunder of state coffers during
his nine-year rule.
Most of the transgressions investigated by the commission
involve three brothers from a wealthy Indian business family, the Guptas, who
won lucrative government contracts and were allegedly allowed to choose cabinet
ministers.
Zuma only testified once in July 2019.
South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party
forced Zuma -- who is a member of the country's dominant Zulu ethnic group --
to resign in 2018 after mounting graft scandals.
But Zuma has retained a fervent support base within the ANC
and among the general public, viewed by many as a "people's man" and
a defender of the poor.
Ralph Mathekga, author of "When Zuma Goes", says
judges in the graft case will not bow to "political pressure".
"Not prosecuting Mr Zuma will have serious implications
for the rule of law," he told AFP. "The judiciary is going to have to
ride the storm."
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