South Africa's ex-president loses bid to have arms deal graft charges dropped

A high court judge in South Africa on Tuesday dismissed an application by former President Jacob Zuma to end his graft trial.

Zuma together with French company, Thales, are facing charges, including corruption, money-laundering, and racketeering, that date back to a 1999 multibillion rand arms deal.

Together, they had applied to have all of them dropped, claiming that repeated delays and the death of two witnesses had irreparably prejudiced their right to a fair trial.

But the judge said that while he did not want to apportion blame, the state had argued that the delays were largely caused by the ex-president, and to a lesser degree, the French company.

Zuma and Thales were first charged over a decade ago, and the case has seen numerous postponements, legal challenges, and procedural disputes.

The state declared it trial-ready four years ago, but the case has since been delayed by repeated failed efforts by Zuma to force the removal of a key prosecutor, Billy Downer.

His legal team had argued that Downer lacked the independence and impartiality required for the prosecution.

Zuma was deputy president at the time of the infamous arms deal.

Included in the 18 charges he faces, are fraud and tax evasion linked to his allegedly corrupt relationship with his former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik.

Shaik was found guilty in 2005 on two counts of corruption and one of fraud, with the judge saying that there was “overwhelming” evidence of a corrupt relationship between the two men.

The corruption case against Zuma and Thales has now been postponed to 4 December, when the state will apply for the trial to proceed, regardless of any appeals launched by either of the parties.