Publication: Pretoria News Issued: Date: 2006-09-04 Reporter: Paul Simao Reporter:

Zuma Trial Finally Gets Under Way

 

Publication 

Pretoria News
Date 2006-09-04

Reporter

 Paul Simao

Web Link

www.pretorianews.co.za

 

His fate hangs in the balance

Former deputy president Jacob Zuma is due in court this week to face corruption charges, boosted by vocal supporters who have kept alive his hope of political resurrection.

Zuma (64) was sacked by President Thabo Mbeki last year amid an arms procurement scandal. His hopes of succeeding Mbeki in 2009 hinge on the outcome and speed of the trial.

The case begins tomorrow in Pietermaritzburg after two postponements, and marks Zuma's biggest challenge in a career that took him from the front lines of the anti-apartheid struggle to the second highest office in the land.

A guilty verdict could send him to prison for a decade or more, while an acquittal could return him to his former status as front-runner to succeed Mbeki as president of the ANC and the country.

Zuma's supporters, many from the ANC's rank-and-file and its trade union allies, have taken to the streets and airwaves in recent months to declare loyalty to the man affectionately known as Msholozi - Zuma's clan name.

"He is stronger than a few months ago because of the mobilisation on his behalf across the country," said Susan Booysen, a professor in the politics department at Wits University.

"They have been coming out for him, and he can take great encouragement from that."

Zuma's fall from political grace began last year after he was accused of having a corrupt relationship with former financial adviser Schabir Shaik and of accepting a bribe from French arms company Thint.

His woes increased when he was charged with raping a female family friend who is HIV-positive. He was acquitted at a trial in May, but not before critics began writing his political obituary.

Zuma has kept his job as deputy president of the ANC and could be a strong leadership candidate if acquitted or if the fraud case is dismissed as his lawyers have requested.

His mystique with the masses was evident this week when hundreds of unionised teachers burst into song at a conference when told he would address them. His support among historically powerful unions has hardly waned throughout his troubles.

A survey found more than 70% of members of Cosatu support Zuma, according to newspaper reports.

Unionists view Mbeki and other ANC leaders as too pro-business and say the charges against Zuma are part of a conspiracy within the ANC to prevent Zuma from taking over the party leadership at a congress in 2007.

But Zuma's detractors are equally keen to see him kept away from the keys to the presidency.

Even Desmond Tutu, the archbishop emeritus of Cape Town and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, joined the fray when he condemned Zuma last month for his sexual indiscretion and urged him to take himself out of the race for the presidency.

"I pray someone will be able to counsel him that the most dignified, most selfless thing, the best thing he could do for a land he loves deeply is to declare his decision not to take further part in the succession race of his party," Tutu said last month.

With acknowledgements to Paul Simao and Pretoria News.