Johannesburg - Prosecutors in South Africa announced on
Monday that they were withdrawing corruption charges against ruling
African National Congress (ANC) leader, Jacob Zuma, clearing the way
for him to take power next month without the spectre of a trial.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it took the decision
after weeks of consultations with Zuma's lawyers, who submitted
evidence pointing to a political motivation behind the timing of the
charges. The lifting of the charges has yet to be confirmed in court.
Zuma was charged with corruption, racketeering, fraud and money
laundering in connection with a 1990s state arms deal after he
defeated ex-president Thabo Mbeki in an ANC leadership vote in
December 2007.
Acting NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe said the authority had concluded,
on the basis of secret recordings of conversations between the lead
investigator in the case and a former chief prosecutor , it was
'neither possible nor desirable for the NPA to continue with the
prosecution of Mr Zuma.'
The NPA found evidence of 'serious abuse of process' by the former
head of the prosecuting body's special investigations unit.
The NPA head however discounted allegations made by Zuma's
supporters that Mbeki himself meddled in the case, saying: 'We could
not find any trace indicating that the president was involved in all
of this.'
Zuma, 66, is poised to become president of the country in a few
short weeks following general elections on April 22 that the ANC is
expected to easily win.
Had the NPA maintained the case it built against him over eight
years he would have stood trial in August.
The charges related to a string of payments totalling around 4
million rand (360,000 dollars) that Zuma received over a 10-year
period from his businessman friend Schabir Shaik, who was convicted
of fraud over the multi-billion-dollar arms deal.
Zuma was deputy president of the country for part of the period
covered by the payment but Mbeki fired him in 2005 on suspicion of
corruption.
The question of whether to withdraw the charges, and save Zuma
from having to defend himself in an open court, had deeply divided
South Africans.
Zuma was first charged in 2005. The charges were reinstated twice
after being set aside twice by the courts on technicalities.
Zuma's supporters in the ANC and allied trade union movement and
the South African Communist Party had argued he was being hounded by
prosecutors loyal to Mbeki, who was ousted as president by the ANC
last September after a court inferred he had a hand in the decision
to charge Zuma.
Opposition parties and most local newspapers, on the other hand,
had warned that evidence of a political hidden hand in the case still
did not mean Zuma was innocent and had warned he would continue to be
tainted by the allegations unless he cleared his name in court.
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