SOUTH AFRICA: State prosecutors may reinstate 789 corruption charges against Zuma

The travails of ousted former South African President Jacob Zuma may be upped by a notch anytime soon as reports say state prosecutors will announce in the next two weeks whether they will reinstate corruption charges against him.

Authorities are considering the reopening of the 783 counts of corruption against Zuma relating to a 30 billion rand ($2.6 billion) government arms deal he arranged in the late 1990s.

The charges according to reports were filed back then and was dropped by the National Prosecuting Authority shortly before Zuma ran for the presidency but was later reinstated in 2016 by South Africa’s High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court last year.

Read also: Zuma not going down without a fight as ANC prepares for no-confidence vote against him

Zuma stepped down as President of South Africa about two weeks ago after pressure became unbearable for the defiant South African leader to relinquish power.

He made the announcement in a televised address to the nation after the governing ANC party told him to step down from power or face a vote of no confidence in parliament.

The resignation of Zuma who had been in power since 2009 and faced numerous allegations of corruption came at the end of a long speech in which he said he disagreed with the way the ANC had handled his situation.

The 75-year-old had been under increasing pressure to give way to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC’s new leader, who has now succeeded Zuma as the new president of South Africa.

 

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