Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - September 21, 2006
Laurie Goering, Tribune foreign correspondent, lgoering@tribune.com
After refusing prosecution requests for a delay in the trial--apparently part of an effort by the state to have new evidence in the case admitted--Judge Herbert Msimang accused prosecutors of having "limped from one disaster to another" and ordered the charges dropped when prosecutors said they were unprepared to present their case Wednesday .
Supporters of the populist politician screamed with joy after the announcement at the high court in Pietermaritzburg. The ruling, however, leaves open the possibility that prosecutors could refile the charges.
Zuma, 64, stood accused of allowing a financial adviser to solicit a $70,000-a-year payment from French arms company Thint Holdings in return for helping divert corruption charges against the company in a $7 billion arms deal it made with South Africa.
The charges led to Zuma's firing as the country's deputy president in 2005 and have since helped drive a bitter split between Zuma--once considered the country's probable next president--and his former boss, President Thabo Mbeki. Zuma has called the charges part of a conspiracy to prevent him from taking power.
Zuma also faced trial earlier this year on charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend. He was acquitted but admitted in court having sex with the woman without a condom and afterward taking a shower to cut his chances of contracting the virus. The admission has raised serious questions about his judgment, particularly given his past as head of the National AIDS Council and the country's Moral Regeneration Movement.
Zuma's supporters, who are expected to push for his reinstatement as deputy president, said they believe the road is clear for him to become the ruling party's new president next year and eventually South Africa's next president in 2009. But political analysts said the popular former African National Congress guerrilla leader would probably face a bruising battle.
"He has a chance, but it's not going to be as easy a ride as Mr. Zuma's supporters think it's going to be," said William Gumede, the author of "Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC," a book that looks at growing splits in the famed liberation movement that now leads South Africa.
Zuma "has not had his day in court as he wanted," Gumede said, and that means there are "always going to be questions" about the validity of the charges against him.
The dropped charges also mean prosecutors could reopen the corruption case down the road "at a time which is politically inconvenient," warned Aubrey Matshiqi, a former ANC official and political analyst. Wednesday's decision "amounts to an indefinite postponement, which doesn't suit Zuma," he said. The embattled former vice president's supporters "may be under the impression that Zuma's legal troubles are over," but that isn't necessarily true, the analyst said.
Still, "in some sense they're justified in thinking Zuma is in a stronger position today than he was yesterday," Matshiqi said. "Zuma's camp is emboldened, and Zuma himself is emboldened."
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