Conviction threatens Zuma

DURBAN – South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma saw his presidential ambitions suffer a setback yesterday after a court convicted his financial adviser for corruption.

Judge Hilary Squires of the Durban high court found Zuma’s adviser Schabir Shaik guilty of corruption and fraud for paying kickbacks and bribes to President Thabo Mbeki’s deputy in one of the most sensational graft cases in post-apartheid South Africa. “Since all the accused’s companies were used at one time or another to pay sums of money to Jacob Zuma in contravention of sections…of the corruption act, and accused number one directed them to that end or made payments himself, all the accused are found guilty on the main charge of count one,” said Squires at the end of a lengthy judgement.Count one dealt with general corruption in which Shaik and his company Nkobi holdings in its dealings with Zuma.Shaik was accused of paying Zuma 1,3 million rand between 1995 and 2001 to ensure the senior politician used his influence to help secure lucrative business deals.He was also charged of brokering a bribe between Zuma and French arms firm Thint, the South African subsidiary of Thales International, formerly known as Thomson-CSF, in which Thint would pay Zuma 500 000 rand a year in return for shielding the French company from investigation into a controversial arms deal.South Africa’s FBI-style National Prosecuting Authority welcomed the ruling but refused to directly answer questions on whether it would now investigate Zuma.The verdict can dash Zuma’s hopes of succeeding President Thabo Mbeki when his second and last term in office ends in 2009 and the ruling fuelled calls for his ouster.The Public Service Accountability Monitor of the prestigious Rhodes University said Zuma should be dropped immediately.The ruling African National Congress party said it would need more time to study the ruling but stressed that the case “testifies to the maturity of our democracy that the trial ran its course without any interference from any quarter”.Zuma, 63, an ethnic Zulu who has been deputy president since 1999, is seen as the frontrunner for the top job and viewed as a way of appeasing the country’s Zulu majority.Many Zulus are miffed that the first two presidents of the post-apartheid era, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, are from the Xhosa ethnic group and that their most senior leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, was dropped from the cabinet when Mbeki started his second and final term as president.- Nampa-AFP”Since all the accused’s companies were used at one time or another to pay sums of money to Jacob Zuma in contravention of sections…of the corruption act, and accused number one directed them to that end or made payments himself, all the accused are found guilty on the main charge of count one,” said Squires at the end of a lengthy judgement.Count one dealt with general corruption in which Shaik and his company Nkobi holdings in its dealings with Zuma.Shaik was accused of paying Zuma 1,3 million rand between 1995 and 2001 to ensure the senior politician used his influence to help secure lucrative business deals.He was also charged of brokering a bribe between Zuma and French arms firm Thint, the South African subsidiary of Thales International, formerly known as Thomson-CSF, in which Thint would pay Zuma 500 000 rand a year in return for shielding the French company from investigation into a controversial arms deal.South Africa’s FBI-style National Prosecuting Authority welcomed the ruling but refused to directly answer questions on whether it would now investigate Zuma.The verdict can dash Zuma’s hopes of succeeding President Thabo Mbeki when his second and last term in office ends in 2009 and the ruling fuelled calls for his ouster.The Public Service Accountability Monitor of the prestigious Rhodes University said Zuma should be dropped immediately.The ruling African National Congress party said it would need more time to study the ruling but stressed that the case “testifies to the maturity of our democracy that the trial ran its course without any interference from any quarter”.Zuma, 63, an ethnic Zulu who has been deputy president since 1999, is seen as the frontrunner for the top job and viewed as a way of appeasing the country’s Zulu majority.Many Zulus are miffed that the first two presidents of the post-apartheid era, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, are from the Xhosa ethnic group and that their most senior leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, was dropped from the cabinet when Mbeki started his second and final term as president. – Nampa-AFP