By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The long-running Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial has been hit by yet another delay after French company Thales brought an application to have charges dismissed.
The trial was set down for April 14, 2025.
Thales is a co-defendant in the case and has pleaded not guilty.
In its court papers, Thales argues it will not get a fair trial as two of its directors and key witnesses, Alain Thetard and Pierre Moynot, have died.
Zuma is charged with multiple counts of corruption as well as racketeering, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering over a huge deal the South African government signed to revamp its armed forces in 1999.
He is accused of taking bribes from French arms company Thales, then named Thomson-CSF, and a subcontractor in the deal.
The arms deal became one of biggest political scandals and was clouded in corruption allegations.
Zuma pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing in 2021 that was supposed to mark the start of his trial, but it has been subject to long delays after Zuma launched appeals asking for the judge and the prosecutor to be removed from the case, alleging they were personally biased against him.
Mthunzi Mhaga, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, has confirmed to ENCA that the trial won’t start as planned on the 14th of April 2025.
Mhaga said, Zuma has joined Thales in their application to have charges dismissed.
The charges against Zuma relate to a period between 1995 and 2005, before he became president. During that time, he was an influential politician on the rise and later the deputy president of South Africa. He is accused of receiving bribes in return for giving the deal political protection and ensuring it went through despite questions over it.
Zuma was fired as deputy president in 2005 after his financial adviser, who is alleged to have been the fixer for the bribes, was convicted of corruption and sentenced to prison.
He was served with a preliminary indictment in 2005 but the charges were dropped and reinstated multiple times over the years.
Zuma made a dramatic political comeback to become president of South Africa in 2009. He resigned as leader of Africa’s most developed country in 2018 over separate corruption allegations.