INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma Cleared Of Charges While Prosecutor Set To Challenge Ruling

By Jinger Jarrett
Published on: 00:40 PST, May 25, 2016

In 2009, President Jacob Zuma was charged with 783 different charges, many of those related to corruption. Those charges were later dropped, and Zuma denied all the charges. Last month, a high court judge in South Africa said that the decision in Zuma’s case was irrational. A commission led by another judge said that there was no evidence to show that Zuma had been involved in an arms deal worth billions of dollars that took place in 1999.

BBC News reported that the Democratic Alliance, one of the opposition parties to the ruling African National Congress (ANC), brought a case against President Zuma for the corruption charges after Judge Aubrey Ledwaba said that the National Prosecuting Authority should consider reopening the case.

National Prosecuting Authority Prosecutor Shaun Abrahams said he saw no reason to reinstate the charges against Zuma because he believed that he had done his job and that no one had influenced his decisions. The Democratic Alliance accused Abrahams of being too close to South Africa’s president and that the appeal was simply a stalling tactic.

Judge Ledwaba said that the previous prosecutor discontinued the investigation because he found himself under pressure after tapes by officials discussing the timing of the case suggested political interference in the investigation.

“Considering the situation in which he found himself, Mr Mpshe ignored the importance of the oath of office which commanded him to act independently and without fear and favour. Mr Zuma should face the charges as outlined in the indictment.”

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the ruling party of South Africa, the African National Congress, is losing support. Since assuming power in 1994 after the end of apartheid, whites in the country have been slated for genocide while farm murders have increased.

The departure of the Gupta family only compounded the problems President Zuma faces, as the Guptas were accused of using cabinet positions to award political cronies. Zuma’s close ties to the Gupta family have led many to believe that this is just one more scandal the South African president is involved in. White millionaires in South Africa have continued to depart the country because of safety and security issues.

The International Business Times said that the charges President Zuma originally faced were from 2009, where they had been subsequently dropped. The judge said that not only was the decision irrational, but it didn’t follow correct procedure. Chief prosecutor Shaun Abrahams said that he was appealing the decision by the court, which cleared Zuma of all charges, and the Democratic Alliance said that it was a decision that would deny the president his day in court. The Democrat Alliance originally brought the charges against Zuma.

The problem began in 1999 with an arms deal that South Africa was involved in to rebuild its military after the end of apartheid. In 2005, Zuma was dismissed as deputy president while his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was convicted of corruption in the original case related to the arms deal.

The scandal continued in 2009 when Zuma ran for president of South Africa. The so-called “spy tapes” emerged, which were recordings of phone conversations, and the indictment was once again quashed by the prosecutor at the time.

As the economy of South Africa has continued to sink, murder and genocide have increased, and Zuma and the African National Congress have failed to keep their promises to reform the country after apartheid, the president has been asked to step down. He was nearly impeached in April when he failed to pay back $19 million in state funds he used to renovate one of his homes.

[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]

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