Publication: Mail and Guardian Issued: Date: 2006-08-02 Reporter: John Chiahemen Reporter: Reuters

Zuma : Defence Shifts Focus on to Mbeki

 

Publication 

Mail and Guardian
Date

2006-08-02

Reporter

John Chiahemen, Reuters

Web Link

www.mg.co.za

 

The defence in the corruption trial of South Africa's former deputy president Jacob Zuma is seeking to turn the focus in the sensational case on to President Thabo Mbeki, according to published court papers.

Zuma appeared in court on Monday for the first hearing on corruption charges that were at the root of Mbeki's decision to fire the hugely popular politician last year.

Newspapers on Wednesday published excerpts of a 100-page affidavit filed by Zuma's lawyers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, which suggests that Mbeki, not Zuma, should be asked if a multibillion-dollar arms-procurement deal involved corruption.

"President Mbeki was, in his position as then deputy president and Cabinet member, very much involved in the arms deal process," Zuma said in the affidavit, referring to the 1998 order for the purchase and fitting of navy corvettes.

"He took an active interest and part in it. He engaged role-players and interested parties ... Mbeki is a person ideally suited to depose to the absence of corruption in the award process," Zuma said in excerpts quoted by Johannesburg's The Star.

A presidential spokesperson declined comment on Zuma's affidavit, saying it would be prejudicial to the case before the court.

Zuma (64) was fired last year after he was accused of having a corrupt relationship with former aide Schabir Shaik and of accepting a bribe from French arms company Thint.

Shaik was convicted of corruption and is appealing the decision. Zuma denies the charges as does Thint, which is also in the dock in Pietermaritzburg.

Struggle hero

Zuma, a hero of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle and previously seen as the frontrunner to succeed Mbeki in 2009, has the militant backing of leftist and trade unionist allies of the African National Congress. The crisis has split the party.

Zuma's supporters insist the graft accusations and earlier rape charges for which Zuma was acquitted in May were part of a campaign by powerful ANC elements linked to Mbeki to prevent Zuma from becoming president.

Mbeki denies plotting against Zuma.

Political analyst Keith Gottschalk said Zuma's affidavit likely would not have serious implications for Mbeki even if the president were to testify during the trial.

He also discounted suggestions that Zuma's supporters could mastermind the removal of Mbeki as president of the ANC at a party leadership conference many want to bring forward from a scheduled December 2007.

"To remove Mbeki while he is in office would be very sensational, and I think, a lot harder to do," said Gottschalk, who noted that Mbeki had not been accused of graft personally.

"You'd have to persuade ANC branch delegates to vote for that, and all opinion polls continue to show that a higher percentage of South Africans are more favourably disposed to Mbeki than to Zuma," Gottschalk said.

But the opposition MP whose allegations of graft led to the charges against Shaik has renewed calls for Mbeki's role in the arms procurement to be probed.

"The truth about the government's ... arms deal will never be known until a full commission of inquiry is established and President Mbeki is investigated by the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority]," Patricia De Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats, said in a statement.

ANC spokesperson and close Mbeki ally Smuts Ngonyama said it was unlikely the 2007 conference would be brought forward.

Under the ANC's constitution, the current leadership must complete its five-year term, which ends in December 2007. Only the full National Conference can amend the constitution to fast-forward the leadership selection process, he said.

With acknowledgement to John Chiahemen, Reuters and Mail & Guardian.