NPA ‘vindicated’ by Zuma corruption acquittal loss, but will he appeal again?

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it hopes the judgment against corruption accused former President Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales will pave the way for a speedy trial, which has been marred by delays.

On Tuesday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court threw out Thales and Zuma’s application to have their arms deal corruption trial dismissed.

Zuma loss

Zuma and Thales applied to be summarily acquitted of the arms deal corruption and racketeering charges on the basis that unreasonable delays had resulted in the deaths of crucial witnesses, Thales representative Alain Thétard and Pierre Moynot.

Judge Nkosinathi Chili ruled that the court does not have the authority to withdraw the charges and that the corruption trial will now proceed as previously planned.

ALSO READ: Zuma and Thales applications for summary acquittals dismissed

NPA vindicated

NPA spokesperson Advocate Mthunzi Mhaga said the prosecuting body welcomed the judgment.

“We hope that this paves the way for the resumption of the protracted trial, which has been plagued by many interlocutory applications that had the undesirable effect of delaying the trial.

“The NPA feels vindicated by the dismissal as we held the view that the application had no merit in view of the matters having been previously pronounced upon by the same court,” Mhaga said.

The matter was postponed to December 4th, when the state will apply for the trial against Zuma and Thales to proceed regardless of any appeals lodged by the former president or the French arms company.

Stalingrad strategy

Zuma and Thales indicated that they would consider appealing the ruling made by the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

Zuma has been accused of engaging in Stalingrad legal tactics with legal battles, challenges and appeals to delay his arms trial and avoid his day in court.

The former president filed a series of appeals in a two-decade-long cycle of challenges, crusading to prosecute his arms deal prosecutor, Billy Downer, and journalist Karyn Maughan privately.

However, the cases were invalidated as an “abuse of process” by multiple courts.

Corruption

The former president tried but failed to privately prosecute Downer and Maughan for alleged breaches of the NPA Act.

This is in connection with the leaking of his confidential medical information from one of the former president’s military doctors in August 2021.

Zuma is accused of 18 charges of corruption, racketeering, fraud and tax evasion.

The arms deal case was declared trial-ready three years ago but has been delayed by his repeated failed efforts to force the removal of Downer.

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