By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former president Jacob Zuma’s legal team intends to apply for the postponement of his court case on Tuesday, with the former head of state confirmed as still being in hospital for observation.
The next leg of the corruption case against him and Thales was due to be heard in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday.
Zuma wanted his Thales arms deal corruption trial to be heard in an open court, rather than virtually.
This meant the directive of 15 July which said the plea would be heard virtually was revoked by the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
Zuma was due to appear in the court on Tuesday.
However, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said on Monday that there will be a postponement.
“I can confirm that tomorrow Mr [Zuma’s] legal team will make a substantive application for a postponement virtually,” said Mhaga.
“[It is] unfortunate that there will be a postponement as our team is ready to argue the special plea as planned but these are circumstances beyond our control.”
The JG Zuma Foundation claimed in a Twitter post that parties to the case had agreed to a postponement of the hearing in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, “… due to the ongoing hospitalisation”, of Zuma.
The admission came less than a week before the 79-year-old is due to attend the resumption of a long-running corruption trial.
The August 10 hearing will include a plea to drop 16 charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering against him related to the 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and equipment from five European arms firms when he was deputy president.
He is accused of taking bribes from one of the firms, French defence giant Thales, which has been charged with corruption and money laundering.
Zuma has pleaded not guilty and maintains he is the victim of a politically motivated witch-hunt by his opponents.
In a separate case, Zuma was handed a 15-month jail sentence in late June for snubbing a commission probing state corruption during his nine years in office until 2018.
When Zuma handed himself in, protests by his supporters escalated into riots involving looting and arson that President Cyril Ramaphosa described as an “insurrection”.
This is the second time that Zuma has temporarily been released from the prison since he began serving his sentence on July 8. Three weeks ago, he joined his family for the funeral of his brother Michael, in Nkandla, after he was granted compassionate leave.
Zuma’s legal team had used a range of reasons to turn down invitations to testify, including alleged bias, preparations for the corruption trial and medical concerns.