A grim-faced Jacob Zuma appeared in the Durban High Court on Friday to answer to 16 charges that include fraud‚ corruption and racketeering.
TimesLive
The former president arrived in Courtroom A to chants of his name by members of the public inside the courtroom.
He sat in the dock next to French arms manufacturer Thales representative‚ Christine Guerrier.
His first appearance was over within 20 minutes as the case was postponed to June 8.
The Zuma legal team confirmed he will “challenge the legitimacy of the decision to prosecute him”.
A review application is expected to be filed in May. If he fails in the review application‚ BusinessLive reports he will possibly also approach the court for a permanent stay of prosecution.
The charges relate to 783 payments which he allegedly received as a bribe to protect French arms company‚ Thint‚ from an investigation into the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal.
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The alleged bribe was facilitated by Zuma’s former financial adviser‚ Schabir Shaik.
As Zuma left the court‚ he stopped to address the crowd supporting him‚ many of whom are wearing ANC colours in defiance of the party’s request for them to not don the regalia.
