Court says South African President Zuma should face corruption charges

World Today

Court says South African President Zuma should face corruption charges

There are new legal troubles for South African President Jacob Zuma. A court has ruled that prosecutors can reinstate corruption charges against him.

The judges held that the decision to drop the charges seven years ago was, “irrational.” Zuma says he is considering an appeal.

CCTV’s Yolisa Njamela reports.

The charges, 783 in all, stem from an arms deal South Africa agreed to back in 1999. Zuma has always denied the allegations, but never got his day in court to clear his name.

Back in 2009, just before the elections that brought Zuma to power, the country’s then chief prosecutor Mokotedi Mpshe dropped the charges.

On Friday, judges in Pretoria ruled that decision had been wrong.

Zuma can still appeal. But for the official opposition, which took the matter to court, Friday’s ruling is a victory.

The ruling comes just weeks after the Constitutional Court held that president Zuma had breached his duties to uphold the Constitution over spending on his personal home, Nkandla.

The country’s current chief prosecutor must now decide whether to reinstate the corruption charges.

Just last week, an official commission of enquiry found there’d been no evidence of any corruption linked to the arms deal by any government officials.