By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court will deliver its judgment on Tuesday relating to former president Jacob Zuma’s postponement application for his arms deal corruption trial.
The matter has been adjourned, with proceedings expected to continue at 10am.
The corruption trial, which involves Zuma and French arms firm company, Thales, resumed virtually on Monday.
The high court was expected to hear Zuma’s special plea for the recusal of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) prosecutor Billy Downer.
However, Zuma’s lawyers are seeking a three week postponement of his trial.
The postponement application was presented before Judge Piet Koen, who presided over the proceedings.
Wearing a dark suit and red tie, Zuma, 79, said nothing while one of his lawyers Dali Mpofu argued that the trial should be postponed for Zuma to appear in person as opposed to virtually.
Mpofu said Zuma had not been able to properly consult his legal team after handing himself over in the early hours of July 8 to start a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court. He asked for a postponement of up to three weeks, by which time he said he expected the constitutional court to have made a ruling on Zuma’s application to rescind his jail term.
A lawyer for the state argued that the application for a postponement was nothing more than a delaying tactic.
“This application is Stalingrad season 27,” Wim Trengove said, referring to Zuma’s method of fighting his prosecution via every legal means possible – a strategy that has become known locally as his “Stalingrad defence”.
The constitutional court sentenced Zuma to prison last month for defying an order to appear at an inquiry into high-level corruption during his nine years in power until 2018.
Zuma and Thales are on trial regarding the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal dating back to the 1990s.
The former president faces 18 charges and 783 counts related to the case, including fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering, while Thales faces four charges.