Zuma will exhaust all avenues – expert

appeal at the Constitutional Court. They will exhaust every avenue to appeal and that will take about two to three years,” Hoffman said.

He said Zuma’s legal team would possibly apply to get a permanent stay of prosecution and “rehash” everything, which could push the matter for another three years.

“Then there will be a fight over who will pay Zuma’s legal fees. All this will delay the day Zuma is asked to plead to the charges,” he said.

In a different scenario, should Zuma be asked to plead sooner, Hoffman said his legal team was likely to try to foster a deal that might result in some of the charges being dropped. “If not a plea bargain, then they (legal team) will continue to throw sand in the gearbox of the judiciary system.”

Zuma’s co-accused is the French company Thales, which was represented in court by Madame Christine Guerrier from Paris. Veteran advocate Billy Downer, the man who brought down Zuma’s former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, told the judge the case was in essence a continuation of the 2009 court roll, when the matter against Zuma was withdrawn.

Downer said as a result of this year’s Supreme Court of Appeal judgment in Zuma vs the NDPP (National Director of Public Prosecutions) and DA, the matter was re-enrolled.

He told the judge that the trial could start on November 12, as there was space on the criminal roll.

Advocate Anton Katz SC, who appeared for Thales, said the French company would make representations to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions on the charges it faced.

Downer told the court a group calling itself “SA Native Forum” had applied to the Western Cape High Court “to interfere with the trial”, but that would not influence the case.