The high-profile arms deal corruption case against former president Jacob Zuma is set to continue in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning.
Judge Piet Koen is expected to deliver a progress report on the case so far, with all the pretrial drama that has unfolded in the form of numerous appeals and objections since the scandal broke in the early 2000s.
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Arms deal: What Zuma is accused of
Former statesman Zuma and French arms firm Thales are facing 18 counts of corruption, including money laundering, tax evasion, and racketeering, in connection with the multibillion-Rand arms deal.
Zuma is accused of rampant corruption during his tenure as deputy president from 1999 and later as president between 2009 to 2018.
The 80-year-old allegedly accepted bribes of R500,000 annually from Thales to protect the company from investigations into the multi-billion rand deal to supply military hardware to South Africa.
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Although Zuma denies any wrongdoing and has in the past demanded his day in court, the relentless Stalingrad legal strategy he continues to employ says otherwise.
An ‘egregious’ Stalingrad strategy
At the last hearing on Monday, lead prosecutor on the case Billy Downer described Zuma’s relentless appeals before the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional court as ‘egregious’.
ALSO READ: Arms deal corruption case: Zuma’s lawyers try another approach to get rid of Downer
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Zuma has also been embroiled in a separate private prosecution against Downer and News 24 journalist Karyn Maughan, accusing the former of leaking his personal medical information to the latter.
Zuma has also accused Downer of weaponising the arms deal corruption case to execute a personal vendetta against him.
Both have denied any wrongdoing, with Downer continuing his work on the case on behalf of the National Prosecuting Authority and Maughan reporting on the case.
However, Zuma’s lawyers on Monday asked Downer to ‘step down’ to protect the integrity of the case.
But Downer has refused the attempts to kick him off the case saying the NPA didn’t share Zuma’s belief.
