The state won’t let Zuma stall his corruption case any longer

State prosecutors in the notorious arms-deal case against former President Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales are pushing to proceed with the trial regardless of any more applications to halt it.

This comes as Zuma and Thales are appearing in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to have an earlier ruling that dismissed their bid to have the charges against them dropped. 

Simultaneously, the prosecution has submitted an application to the court to proceed with the trial, regardless of any further attempts by the parties to avoid the charges, which the prosecution is calling the “stop the Stalingrad tactics application.”

State prosecutor Wim Trengove argued that “the administration of justice has been brought into disrepute, because it appears that it is incapable of bringing this case to trial.”

He cited a historical pattern that has occurred over the last 18 years, since the former president was charged, of attempts to delay the trial. 

“The historical pattern which has been going on for 18 years will simply continue,” he said. 

“Your lordship will refuse them leave to appeal in this application, and to stop the prosecution, they will apply for leave to appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) tomorrow.”

“If that application is refused, they will apply for a reconsideration in the SCA. If that is refused, they apply for leave to appeal at the Constitutional Court, and if that is refused, history shows us there will be another interim application.”

The prosecution has argued that the court should allow mid-stream appeals only in very unusual circumstances that warrant a departure from the general rule against them. 

If granted, the prosecution would be able to finally begin the long-awaited trial.

Zuma has made eight interlocutory applications in the last 18 years that have successfully stalled court proceedings against him. 

“We can’t simply resign ourselves to the fact that we are stuck in this merry-go-round which never ends,” said Trengove. 

Court adjourned to January

Judgment on both Zuma and Thales’s application for leave to appeal, and on the prosecution’s application to stop the delay tactics, will be handed down on 23 January. 

Zuma and Thales face several charges for the 1999 arms deal, including fraud, racketeering, and money laundering. 

The deal, a R30 billion military procurement, involved purchasing fighter jets, submarines, frigates, and helicopters from international suppliers, primarily European companies such as BAE Systems, Saab, and Thales.

The former president is accused of, among other things, attempting to receive bribes through convicted Schabir Shaik to shield Thales from investigation.

First charged in 2005, Zuma avoided trial for years through legal challenges and political backing within the majority ANC.

On 28 April 2016, the Supreme Court of Appeals reinstated corruption charges against Zuma, ruling the decision to drop them irrational.

They said that dropping the charges in 2009, the year Zuma was inaugurated as President, was “irrational.”

It reaffirmed the counts of corruption, fraud, racketeering, and money laundering, linked to 783 alleged illegal payments.

Timeline highlights:

• 2005: Zuma first charged
• 2009: Charges dropped
• 2016: High Court orders reinstatement
• 2018: Zuma charged again, two months after resigning as president.

Zuma’s criminal trial in this case has been delayed for twenty years, with the NPA accusing him of “serial abuse” of court processes through repeated appeals.

The NPA has consistently said that it is pressing ahead with Zuma’s criminal trial.