Very bad news:
Corruption Charges Dismissed Against Zuma
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 20, 2006; 10:20 AM
JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 20--A South African judge dismissed corruption charges on Wednesday against the nation's controversial former deputy president, Jacob Zuma. The decision was another victory in a remarkable political comeback by Zuma that his supporters hope will lead him to the presidency in 2009.
Prosecutors still have the option of submitting new indictments against Zuma, 64, who was charged with receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars for brokering government approval of a French arms deal. The charges were filed after Zuma's close friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was convicted last year on related charges, including having a "generally corrupt relationship" with Zuma, one of South Africa's most popular political figures.
But Wednesday's ruling by Judge Herbert Msimang, made in a courtroom in Pietermaritzburg near South Africa's southeastern coast, was a staggering setback--both legally and politically--in the government's case against Zuma, analysts said. Msimang dismissed the corruption charges after prosecutors asked for the latest in a series of delays they said were necessary to complete their investigations. The judge refused, calling on prosecutors to present their case immediately.
When they failed to do so, Msimang dismissed the charges, saying that the prosecution had "limped from one disaster to another" in the case, the Associated Press reported.
After the ruling, Zuma's supporters burst into celebration -- much as they had in May after Zuma as acquitted of unrelated rape charges. News of the ruling shot across South Africa on thousands of cell phones, Blackberries and radio shows.
Prosecutors did not immediately announce whether they would seek to reinstate charges, but some analysts predicted they would.
"The state is not going to invest resources, time and money in a case against Zuma and just walk away from it," said Aubrey Matshiqi, political columnist for Business Day newspaper. "It is a bad day for the prosecution, but Zuma should not celebrate yet."
President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as deputy president in June 2005, shortly after Shaik was convicted. Soon after, prosecutors brought the corruption charges against Zuma. Then, in November, a 31-year-old family friend of Zuma accused him of raping her during a visit to his Johannesburg house. Charges were soon filed in that case as well.
But Zuma's core supporters--mainly from a coalition of union activists, communists and his large Zulu ethnic group--rallied behind Zuma, who complained that he was the victim of a conspiracy to prevent his ascent to the presidency of both the ruling African National Congress and the nation. |
