Zuma court deadline looms

FORMER president Jacob Zuma’s legal team has until Friday to submit a court application seeking a permanent stay of prosecution of his corruption charges.

Should the application succeeds, Zuma could see his corruption charges reviewed and set aside.

The former president is facing 16 charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering, linked to 783 payments that Thales Holdings allegedly made to Zuma to secure a contract for the supply of arms system combat.

Zuma is charged along with arms deal manufacturer Thales.

He made his last appearance in court in July where his legal team sought a postponement so that legal papers challenging the charges could be heard.

The charges against him were reinstated earlier this year by former National Prosecuting Authority boss Shaun Abrahams.

It is expected that Zuma’s legal team will stress the long-protracted time-frame that the case has remained unresolved.

Meanwhile, Thales has filed court papers in the Kwazulu-natal High Court challenging the corruption charges.

The company believes it is unlikely to receive a fair trial and is seeking that the charges be reviewed and dismissed.

Abrahams dismissed the company’s submissions for a stay of prosecutions in JULY.NPA Spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said at the time that the representations were made by the company they were rejected and the NPA had confidence in its case.