{"id":770,"date":"2020-12-09T20:27:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T20:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/south-africa\/?p=770"},"modified":"2020-12-09T20:27:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T20:27:22","slug":"delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert","title":{"rendered":"Delaying Zuma arms deal case will lead to more political conspiracy claims, says expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Durban – The latest postponement of the Jacob Zuma and Thales corruption case will bolster, even without evidence, claims by supporters of the former president that the case is politically motivated, a political analyst has warned<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court certified a mutual consent order to postpone the case, without Zuma being present in court, untilFebruary next year.<\/p>\n

Zuma stands accused of pocketing bribes during the 1998-99 procurement of arms. He denies the charges against him, saying they are politically motivated. The alleged bribes, including a R500 000 annual retainer, were allegedly paid by his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, and they came from Thales, a French arms company that won the contracts to supply arms during the procurement.<\/p>\n

During a court sitting that lasted about seven minutes, Judge Nompumelelo Radebe ruled that the matter should be postponed as all parties were awaiting a ruling on whether the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should drop racketeering charges against Thales.<\/p>\n

Advocate Billy Downer SC (senior counsel), the lead prosecutor in the case, told the court all parties proposed the February date.<\/p>\n

The judge then asked Zuma\u2019s legal representative for the day, advocate Simiso Mtungwa, to confirm Downer\u2019s assertion and once he did, the judge certified the agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consent order is as follows: Having read the papers filed on record and considered the submissions of counsel for the State and the accused, which submissions were on paper, the court orders as follows: 1. The matter is postponed provisionally to February 23, for the resolution of the following outstanding pre-trial management issues with a view to the court at the provisionally hearing on February 23, 2021, certifying the matter as trial-ready in accordance with the judge president\u2019s pre-trial hearing directives dated November 7, 8.<\/p>\n

1.1 The full judgment on Thales application for review heard on October 26, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201c1.2 Further clarity on the resumption of international travel under Covid-19 restrictions which affects witnesses and the Thales representative, Mr Durant from abroad.<\/p>\n

1.3 \u201cThe state\u2019s answer to Thales application for further and better particulars dated November 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis order is dated on December 8, 2020, at the Pietermaritzburg High Court,\u201d the judge ruled.<\/p>\n

Zuma and his legal team of advocate Eric Mabuza, advocate Muzi Sikhakhane SC and advocate Thabani Masuku were not present in court. Also not present was a Thales representative from France. That was due to a prior arrangement between the three parties which was communicated to the court and accepted by the presiding judge.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Independent Media shortly after the postponement, Nkosentsha Shezi, the leader of radical economic transformation (RET Champions) in KZN, said: \u201cThis is a clear case of justice delayed and justice denied, and it\u2019s really unfair and not befitting the stature of president Zuma who dedicated his life to liberating this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also joining the fray was the Jacob Zuma Foundation which said it was dismayed that the State was not ready even after the former president had stated numerous times that he was \u201cready to face this politically motivated arms deal case\u201d.<\/p>\n

There is no escaping the conclusion that the repeated delays perpetuated by the NPA are tantamount to justice delayed is justice denied,\u201d the foundation said, adding the Zulu phrase Kazi iyozala inkomoni (One wonders how this will end).<\/p>\n

Political analyst Protas Madlala said it was expected that Zuma and his supporters would milk any delay in getting the high-stakes trial off the ground even though the delay was not caused by the State.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis (delay) is good for Zuma, and he will exploit this opportunity in the rank and file of the ANC to present himself as a victim,\u201d Madlala said.<\/p>\n

Thales, responding through an international public relations company with a presence in the country, when asked what information was wanted from the NPA, said: \u201cThales does not comment on ongoing legal procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Durban – The latest postponement of the Jacob Zuma and Thales corruption case will bolster, even without evidence, claims by supporters of the former president that the case is politically motivated, a political analyst has warned On Tuesday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court certified a mutual consent order to postpone the case, without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[274,275],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nDelaying Zuma arms deal case will lead to more political conspiracy claims, says expert - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Delaying Zuma arms deal case will lead to more political conspiracy claims, says expert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – South-Africa. Durban – The latest postponement of the Jacob Zuma and Thales corruption case will bolster, even without evidence, claims by supporters of the former president that the case is politically motivated, a political analyst has warned On Tuesday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court certified a mutual consent order to postpone the case, without […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-09T20:27:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/img-5fd105a7bd37e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"651\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Delaying Zuma arms deal case will lead to more political conspiracy claims, says expert\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-09T20:27:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert\"},\"wordCount\":648,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/img-5fd105a7bd37e.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/delaying-zuma-arms-deal-case-will-lead-to-more-political-conspiracy-claims-says-expert\",\"name\":\"Delaying Zuma arms deal case will lead to more political conspiracy claims, says expert - 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