Former South African leader faces corruption trial

State prosecutors charge Jacob Zuma with money laundering, racketeering and fraud over arms deal

JACOB ZUMA, the former South African president, will stand trial on 16 charges of corruption, state prosecutors said yesterday, in an extraordinary development that could see the recently ousted leader land in jail. Shaun Abrahams, the National Prosecuting Authority director, announced that Mr Zuma would face 16 counts of corruption, money laundering, racketeering and fraud related to a government arms deal in the late 1990s.

The decision comes just four weeks after Mr Zuma, 75, resigned as South Africa’s president under intense pressure from the ruling African National Congress party, which lost popularity during his nine-year tenure.

“I am of the view that a trial court would be the most appropriate forum for these matters to be ventilated,” Mr Abrahams said at a press conference in Pretoria, adding that he felt there were “reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution of Mr Zuma”.

“This is a very big moment for the country,” said William Gumede, executive chairman of the Democracy Works Foundation. “He has nowhere to run. The system we’ve created really is robust. You can’t manipulate it, even if you’re the president.”

Mr Zuma has denied any wrongdoing, but has spent more than R15million (£901,000) in taxpayers’ money fighting the charges that hung over him throughout his two terms. Mr Zuma has said he would refund the state if he is convicted.

The NPA originally investigated charges that Mr Zuma took bribes from arms dealers and indicted him in 2007. But the agency dropped the charges in 2009 shortly before Mr Zuma became president. The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s largest opposition party, has been fighting for years to have the charges against Mr Zuma reinstated. In April 2016, a court said the NPA’S decision to withdraw the charges was “irrational” and made under political pressure, and that Mr Zuma “should face the charges as outlined in the indictment”.

In October 2017, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s decision that Mr Zuma should stand trial.

Mr Zuma made a last-ditch effort to avoid the charges in January, submitting arguments to the NPA for them be dropped. Mr Abrahams said yesterday that the bid was unsuccessful. The Democratic-alliance welcomed the decision. “Now there must be no further delay in starting the trial,” it said in a statement. “The witnesses are ready, the evidence is strong, and Jacob Zuma must finally have his day in court.”

The African National Congress said it was committed to the “principle of equality of all before the law” but said it continued to “assert the inalienable right of all in our country, including Comrade Jacob Zuma, to be presumed innocent until and if proven guilty”.