DISGRACED SOUTH AFRICAN LEADER DRAWS 1,000 TO HEARING

FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT ZUMA

JOHANNESBURG •

Jacob Zuma, the disgraced former president-in-waiting of South Africa, turned his remand hearing on corruption charges yesterday into a huge rally and a direct challenge to the incumbent, Thabo Mbeki.

More than 1,000 supporters, many of whom had waited all night outside the magistrates’ court in Durban, chanted anti-Mbeki slogans and hailed “Msholozi” — Mr. Zuma’s Zulu clan nickname — as “our next president.”

Mr. Mbeki sacked his vice-president on June 14 after Mr. Zuma was implicated in corruption involving a controversial arms deal during the trial of Schabir Shaik, his financial advisor.

Mr. Shaik was convicted of paying kickbacks to Mr. Zuma and brokering a bribe from a French arms company, a verdict that “raised questions of conduct,” the South African President said.

Yesterday, Mr. Zuma’s supporters wore T- shirts with slogans such as “ Bring back Zuma,” “ Jacob Zuma for president,” “Zuma 100% not guilty,” “ An injury to Zuma is an injury to all,” and “ We demand the withdrawal of all charges against Zuma.”

The mood was generally festive, although some members of the crowd burned T- shirts bearing Mr. Mbeki’s portrait.

Mr. Zuma himself emerged from the hearing to address his supporters, comparing the trial with one held by apartheid authorities.

“ This reminds me of the time when I was charged in the high court in Pretoria. Everything inside the court was against me — from the police to the top,” he said.

“I never knew that during my freedom, which I fought for, I would feel the same way I felt when I was charged by the apartheid regime,” he said. Mr. Zuma spent 10 years in apartheid jails before going into exile.