Tag: Zuma

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Zuma barred from running in May elections

South Africa’s Constitution bars people convicted and sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment, without an option of a fine, from holding public office….reports Asian Lite News

Former South African President Jacob Zuma is not eligible to run in upcoming elections, the Independent Electoral Commission has ruled. The commission said at a media briefing on Thursday that it had upheld an objection against Zuma’s candidacy in the May 29 elections.

In July 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission that was investigating corruption allegations during his 2009-2018 presidency. He was granted medical parole after two months and allowed to serve the rest of the sentence under house arrest.

South Africa’s Constitution bars people convicted and sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment, without an option of a fine, from holding public office.

Zuma and his legal team stormed out of the judicial proceedings when he was asked about wide-ranging allegations of corruption during his rule, including the role of an Indian family, the Guptas, who allegedly had influence over his Cabinet appointments.

He is the now face of a new political party, uMkhonto weSizwe Party, abbreviated as MK, that has emerged as a potentially significant player in South Africa’s upcoming elections after he denounced the governing African National Congress, which he had previously led.

The new party is named after the former military wing of the ANC which was disbanded at the end of white minority rule and racial segregation policies under the former apartheid regime. Zuma’s announcement that he is leaving the ANC has been one of the notable developments ahead of the elections.

His face is on the MK Party’s election posters, he is the party’s most prominent figure and the main speaker at their election rallies.

His battle against the ANC has landed in some of the country’s highest courts, with the MK Party scoring a victory this week when a court ruled against the ANC’s application to deregister the MK Party and ban it from participating in the elections.

In a separate case, the ANC is contesting the MK Party’s use of its name and logo, which closely resembles that of the ANC’s former military wing.

Local news outlet News24 reported that Zuma was involved in a car accident on Thursday, but was unharmed.

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Africa News

Ramaphosa wins bid to interdict prosecution against him by Zuma

The court declared that the “Nolle Prosequi Certificates” issued by the NPA do not apply to Ramaphosa, and the summons issued against Ramaphosa is invalid, unlawful and subsequently set it aside…reports Asian Lite News

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has won his bid to interdict the private prosecution against him filed by the country’s former President Jacob Zuma, local media reported.

In a judgment delivered Wednesday, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg found among other things that Zuma instituted the private prosecution of Ramaphosa for an “ulterior motive”, according to a report by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

Zuma accused Ramaphosa of being an accessory to a crime related to prosecutor advocate Billy Downer’s alleged leaking of the former president’s medical records. He further alleged that Ramaphosa failed to act on the alleged breach which he argues compromised the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and by extension, the criminal justice system as a whole, the report said.

The court declared that the “Nolle Prosequi Certificates” issued by the NPA do not apply to Ramaphosa, and the summons issued against Ramaphosa is invalid, unlawful and subsequently set it aside.

In addition, the private prosecution itself was declared unlawful and unconstitutional and subsequently set aside, according to the report.

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Trial of former South African President Zuma postponed to Aug

Zuma faces a minimum of 15 years in prison if he is convicted of involvement in major corruption. He pleaded not guilty to all charges…reports Asian Lite News

The corruption trial of former South African President Jacob Zuma was postponed again as he seeks to have the lead prosecutor removed from the case by claiming he is biased.

Zuma has already succeeded in getting a new judge to oversee his trial. Zuma, who turned 81 last week, has argued that prosecutor Billy Downer is biased against him and compromises the former leader’s right to a fair trial. Zuma is involved in a separate legal case against Downer and a journalist over the leaking of the ex-president’s medical records by state prosecutors.

Zuma is facing multiple counts of corruption, as well as racketeering, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering, with some of the charges relating to bribes he is alleged to have taken from French arms manufacturing company Thales to provide political protection for an arms deal worth more than $1 billion signed by the South African government in 1999.

Thales, which was then known as Thomson-CSF, is a co-defendant in the corruption trial.

The charges relate to a time when Zuma was a politician on the rise and later a deputy president of South Africa, but before he became president in 2009. He was forced to resign as president in 2018 because of corruption allegations.

Some of the alleged wrongdoing dates back as far as the mid-1990s, yet Zuma only went on trial two years ago after the charges were dropped and reinstated multiple times amid political interference.

Despite the trial officially starting in May 2021, no testimony has yet been heard because of a series of applications made by Zuma to get the initial judge to recuse himself and to remove Downer.

Judge Nkosinathi Chili, the new judge, said that the case would resume on Aug. 15 and 16, when Zuma’s lawyers and prosecutors will present their arguments over whether Downer should remain on the case.

Zuma faces a minimum of 15 years in prison if he is convicted of involvement in major corruption. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The case is highly politically sensitive in South Africa given the support Zuma still holds in parts of the country and the influence he has retained within the ruling African National Congress party.

Deadly rioting and looting broke out and more than 300 people were killed in a week of unrest when Zuma was sentenced to a 15-month prison term in 2021 for contempt of court in relation to another corruption inquiry. Zuma was released early from that jail sentence on medical parole.

The riots were the worst civil unrest in South Africa since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994.

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