Six weeks
before crucial municipal elections, ANC leader and South African President
Jacob Zuma has suffered another courtroom setback. Corruption charges against
him, once believed buried, are resurfacing.
President Jacob Zuma has lost an appeal in which he was seeking
to overturn a court ruling that reinstated hundreds of corruption charges
against him.
The 783 charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering relate
to a multibillion dollar arms deal arranged in the late 1990s.
An appeal against the reinstatement of the charges against Zuma
was also lodged by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). It, too, was
thrown out.
Judge Aubrey Ledwaba at the North Gauteng High Court said there
was "no merit" in the arguments for an appeal.
The same court had ordered a review of a decision by the NPA in
2009 to withdraw hundreds of charges against Zuma. Within weeks of this
decision, Zuma was running for president. He was sworn in on May 9, 2009.
The NPA justified the decision to drop the charges by saying
that phone calls recorded between officials in the administration of the then
President Thabo Mbeki revealed a political conspiracy against Zuma.
Zuma's tenure has been beset by scandal. The Constitutional
Court rebuked him for failing to obey the ombudswoman's order to repay
government money spent on upgrading his Nkandla home. The South African
treasury is set to determine this coming Tuesday how much of the 216 million
rand (then $24 million, 18 million euros) he will be ordered to return.
According to report from allafrica news, Zuma survived an
oppostion attempt to impeach him over the scandal because of the backing he
enjoys from the ruling ANC party in parliament.
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