Publication: Cape Argus
Issued:
Date: 2007-12-15
Reporter:
As Jacob Zuma headed for the ANC national conference in Polokwane on the eve of
possibly his greatest political triumph, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)
on Friday sent out a clear signal that they were
still determined to prosecute him for corruption.
The NPA filed papers in the Johannesburg high court opposing Zuma's attempts to
set aside an earlier decision to disallow key evidence gathered in raids on his
lawyers and the Mauritius offices of French company, Thint,
which profited from the controversial arms deal.
At the same time, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela embarked on a last-minute
attempt to broker a truce between Zuma and President Thabo Mbeki.
She spent one-and-a-half hours with Zuma at his home in Forest Town,
Johannesburg, before dashing off to Lithuli House for a meeting with Mbeki.
It was unclear what came out of either meeting, but an earlier suggestion this
week by Madikizela-Mandela that the status quo remain until 2009, when Zuma
would take over the presidency of the country was rejected by both camps as
unworkable.
Friday's court drama followed an earlier ruling that declared the warrants used
in raids on Zuma's home and on the premises of his lawyers legal. The
search-and-seizure warrants, granted by Judge President Bernard Ngoepe, formed
part of the NPA's investigation into allegations of corruption, money
laundering, fraud and related offences. The investigation also implicated,
amongst others, Zuma, his jailed financial adviser Schabir Shaik and the
France-based Thales group, of which Thint is the South African subsidiary.
Zuma had argued that aspects of the investigation infringed on his right to
dignity and his right to a fair trial. But according to the NPA's affidavit its
prosecuting team had commenced a process aimed at finalising a draft indictment
against Zuma and Thint based on the available evidence.
"This process of consultation, assessment of old and new evidence and drafting
the indictment was completed on December 11 *1,
according to the answering affidavits," the NPA said. The State has asked that
the application for leave to appeal by Zuma and Thint be dismissed with costs.
The conference in Polokwane looks set to be the most vitriolic showdown in the
ANC's long history.
Nominations for the ANC's top six leaders will start tomorrow without any real
possibility that either side will agree to a compromise presidential candidate -
and amidst unprecedented mistrust and mud-slinging in the ANC.
Zuma triumphed in the provincial nominations process, but some of those outcomes
are likely to be reversed at Polokwane and neither side is predicting an easy
victory.
The weekend will see Mbeki deliver his opening political report, which is
expected to outline achievements within the country and beyond. It is expected
that he will try to clear up the "misconceptions" that have dogged the party and
the alliance.
Mbeki conceded in an interview with a weekly newspaper on Friday that the level
of acrimony was unprecedented and said that it was a war of personalities rather
than over contested policies.
The conference is also to consider an organisational report by ANC
secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe, which will examine the myriad of problems
the ANC has experienced. These include: branches in disarray; lack of political
education; the malfunction of many alliance structures; and factionalism and
division at all tiers.
There has been much acrimony ahead of the conference. Earlier this week ANC
Youth League president Fikile Mbalula slammed Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's
open letter to Mo Shaik, an unofficial Zuma adviser; while Minister of Social
Development Zola Skweyiya penned a letter of complaint to the NEC regarding
Defence Minister's Mosiuoa Lekota disparaging comments against Zuma.
Delegates have been subjected to intense lobbying by both camps in the run-up to
the conference, with claims that jobs, money and other incentives were being
offered to delegates to switch alliances when the secret ballot for the
leadership is held.
Meanwhile, at the University of Limpopo, a village of tents has sprung up to
house the conference.
Last minute preparations were still under way yesterday as delegates began
arriving.
A cordon of steel has been thrown around the area where the conference is to be
held, with coils of barbed wire securing the perimeter and police vehicles
travelling in convoys along the usually sleepy countryside roads.
Limpopo police said a "huge contingent" of police were on duty inside and
outside the university and part of the N1 freeway would also be monitored.With acknowledgements to Cape Argus.
*1 If the indictment was completed on
11 December it should have been served by 12 December.
Is there a problem.
It probably wouldn't be very clever to serve it at the portal of the University
of Limpopo on 16 December or 20 December 2007.