Publication: The Star
Issued:
Date: 2006-07-31
Reporter: Karyn Maughan
Reporter: Sapa
| Publication |
The Star
|
| Date |
2006-07-31 |
|
Reporter
|
Karyn Maughan, Sapa |
|
Web Link
|
www.thestar.co.za
|
Judge
postpones case for a month after defence challenge
The man who will
judge Jacob Zuma showed his independence this morning - he bowed to neither
side's demands at the start of the corruption trial.
Judge Herbert
Msimang, whose appointment was one of the best-kept secrets of the affair, took
the bench today and immediately handled the first of many rows expected.
Instead of giving a two-month postponement to the state, he granted them
only one month. This also overruled two defence applications to have the case
heard within the next few weeks.
Msimang, labelled "the hard man on the
bench", postponed the case to September 5.
Zuma is charged with
corruption and fraud. His co-accused is the French arms company Thint, accused
of offering him a bribe during a probe into the country's multi-billion rand
arms deal.
This morning Msimang also gave the state a tongue-lashing over its claims that certain of its
advocates might have problems attending the hearing because they would be at an
overseas conference.
"This is such an important
matter," Msimang told state counsel, Wim Trengove. "This matter, we all
know, impacts on our society and now you say it must be delayed because someone
is attending a conference?''
The judge's comments were met with loud murmurs of agreement from a number of Zuma supporters
in the public gallery.
Earlier, Trengove had told the court that state
advocates Billy Downer and Anton Steinberg might have problems attending the
application on September 5 because they would be attending a conference overseas
until September 8.
The trial will not go ahead without a fight. While
Zuma and French arms company Thint hit back at the state's application to
postpone their corruption trial with the help of five files of legal papers, Wim
Trengove is one of South Africa's top advocates and the state has ensured that
he is on its side to argue for delay.
However, not even Trengove could
convince Msimang that the state needed two months before it would be able to
present its application.
In an action-packed
court hearing, attended by disgraced former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni,
Trengove argued that the state needed at least a month before it could even
reply to Zuma and Thint's counter-application for the case against them to be
permanently withdrawn.
This delay, Trengove said, was especially
necessary in light of the fact that Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir
Shaik would be appealing against his conviction and sentence for corruption in
the Supreme Court of Appeal in August.
The state said the lever-arch
files handed up by defence teams were "voluminous" and would take time to work
through. The state wanted until August 21 to go through the application.
While Zuma and Thint's teams agreed that the state required time to
consider their application for the permanent withdrawal of the charges, Kemp J
Kemp SC, for Zuma, suggested that it only needed two weeks to reply.
Kessie Naidu SC, for Thint, was less generous, arguing that the court
should reconvene on Thursday.
Kemp wanted the argument to take place
next week, or at least by August 14.
The state could then file its heads
of argument on August 30, followed by the defence's heads of argument on
September 1.
Trengove said Kemp's suggested dates were "unnecessarily
tight". He said there were two very substantial affidavits, each of which was
about 100 pages long.
Trengove pointed out that Zuma and Thint's
application had only been filed this morning.
"It would be unfair to the
state to put them under pressure because (Zuma and Thint's legal teams) chose to
launch their application so late. This is a very serious application with very
serious consequences.
"If this application succeeds, its effect will be
to forever bar the prosecution of the accused,'' Trengove argued.
He
added that it would therefore not be in the interests of justice for the state
to ''do a rush job'' in responding to Zuma's application.
A grey-suited
Zuma took his place in the dock next to Thint boss Pierre Moynot 10 minutes
after the case against him was scheduled to start. The two
men appeared relaxed, sipping from bottles of mineral water while they chatted
and joked with each other. *1
Shortly before adjourning the court
proceedings this morning, Judge Msimang indicated that he would rule in favour
of Kemp's argument and also agreed to consider an application brought by the
SABC for his ruling to be broadcast.
While the court was in session,
heavy security, including a police Swat team, guarded the outside of the court.
When Zuma arrived at court this morning, he raised his hands in greeting
as he arrived.
A large group of bodyguards and two heavily armed
policemen kept supporters and reporters at bay while Zuma waited in a back room
for the start of the trial.
One or two Zuma family members found that
there were no security tags available for them in the court where seating had
been reserved.
Well-known advocate Kemp made a quiet entrance through
the two security checkpoints.
Kemp, who successfully represented Zuma in
his recent rape case, did not address anybody and walked into the courtroom and
prepared himself at his table.
Congress of SA Trade Unions general
secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has also arrived for the long-awaited case.
KwaZulu Natal premier S'bu Ndebele joined African National Congress
secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and KwaZulu Natal MEC for finance Zweli
Mkhize in the front row of the court's public gallery .
The foyer was
lined with policemen carrying automatic rifles.
Lawyers representing the
SABC had also arrived with the intention of applying for permission to broadcast
the proceedings.
With acknowledgements to Karyn Maughan,
Sapa and The Star.
*1 The two men would be well
acquainted with one another having met on several occasions in the past,
including meetings regarding the equity structuring of African Defence Systems
(Pty) Ltd (ADS).
At one point at least Zuma was meant to get shareholding
in ADS indirectly through Nkobi Holdings under the economic visionary, Schabir
Shaikh's bumiputera enrichment model.
It is perennially intriguing why
Alain Thetard's 500 kZAR per year bribe was until ADS starting paying dividends.
Logic dictates that Zuma was an occult shareholder in ADS via one of Shaikh's
myriad of special purpose vehicles, such as Clanwest Investments (Pty) Ltd where
the shareholding has never been satisfactorily explained. See :
- http://www.armsdeal-vpo.co.za/special_items/organogram_corvettes08.pdf