The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa | AFP | Former South African president Jacob Zuma will return to court in May for a hearing on whether corruption charges against him should be dropped, a judge ruled on Friday.
Zuma, who served as president from 2009 until February, is battling to quash charges against him linked to a $2.5-billion corruption case linked to a 1990s arms deal.
He has been charged with 16 counts of fraud, racketeering and money laundering.
“The criminal proceedings… are postponed to 20 May 2019,” Judge Mjabuliseni Isaac Madondo said during a brief hearing at Pietermaritzburg High Court at which Zuma was present.
The former president is accused of taking around four million rand ($340,000, 280,000 euros) in bribes from French defence company Thales, which is also in the dock.
At the time of the deal, Zuma was a provincial economy minister and later deputy president of the ruling ANC party.
Both Zuma and the French arms maker deny all charges.
The charges were first brought against Zuma in 2005 but dropped by prosecutors in 2009, before being reinstated in 2016.
Beset by scandal, Zuma was forced to resign in February after a long stand-off with the ANC. His successor Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to root out corruption in government and the party.
mgu/bgs/hmw
