WORLD> Africa
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WORLD> Africa
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Trial of S.Africa ANC leader Zuma set for August
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-04 22:55 PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa -- A South African judge on Wednesday postponed a hearing on ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma's corruption case to August 25, several months after he is expected to become the country's next president.
Zuma is the African National Congress' candidate for president in an election expected in April. "The criminal case is adjourned to a provisional date of 25 August, 2009," Judge Leona Theron said, adding that she would also hear Zuma's application for a permanent stay of prosecution on that date. The court decision means that Zuma will almost certainly appear in the dock as a serving president. Political tension has increased before the election in which the ANC faces its most serious contest since apartheid ended in 1994. Despite charges against him, the ANC has said he remains their candidate for the presidency but the corruption case, which has rumbled on for years, has hurt his reputation. "This has really dragged on. The public trial has severely damaged his rights and his right to a free trial and we (the ANC) stand firmly behind him," ANC spokesman Carl Niehaus told reporters outside the court. Niehaus told national broadcaster SABC that it was Zuma's 38th court appearance over the past 7-1/2 years. Zuma has approached the country's highest court to try to have graft charges against him dropped. An Appeals Court ruling, which overturned an earlier court ruling, has cleared the way for prosecutors to pursue the corruption case against Zuma. A September ruling that dismissed the graft charges led to the ANC ousting former President Thabo Mbeki, Zuma's longstanding rival, but also split the party which has been in power since the end of apartheid. Mbeki supporters have since formed a dissident party, COPE, which poses the first real challenge to the ANC in 15 years. Mbeki has not given his support to the new party. |
