Africa-Press – South-Africa. Former president Jacob Zuma was unable to attend the start of his corruption trial on Monday morning at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg due to an undisclosed medical condition.
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This was announced by Jacob Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi who addressed the media at the court.
“There is an important announcement. From yesterday, there was a health issue with the president, but when we woke up today we thought that all would be resolved, but as things stand right now, the doctor has advised that it’s not advisable for him to be here, but obviously that on its own there is a protocol issue around the medical issues, so there are still sorting that out so that we get finality.” (sic)
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Former president ‘in no condition to attend today’s proceedings’ – Zuma foundation
Manyi added that, “as we speak here and now, lawyers from both sides have gone upstairs to approach the judge to inform him of the situation”.
The foundation said it expected that the court proceeding which were supposed to start at 10:00 would be delayed as a result of the “unforeseen” medical emergency.
Manyi refused to reveal if Zuma had been taken to a hospital, saying “he is with medical people somewhere. They are still running tests and all of that, and until they get confirmation from the tests, we cannot tell what the issue is”.
Zuma and French arms company Thales (formerly known as Thint) face a raft of fraud and corruption charges related to the multi-billion rand arms deal.
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