South African court upholds ruling reinstating corruption charges against Zuma

 

South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday upheld a ruling by the High Court that reinstated corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma.

Mr. Zuma approached the court seeking to have a Pretoria High Court judgment in April 2016 that ordered a review of a decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to set aside the 783 corruption charges against him.

That decision allowed Mr. Zuma to run for president in 2009.

State prosecutors set aside the charges in April 2009, paving the way for Mr. Zuma , who has faced and denied numerous corruption allegations made since then, to run for president later that year.

In his decision to reject their appeal, Judge Lorimer Leach said it was “irrational” for the NPA to have set the charges aside.

The NPA has responsibility for deciding whether to reinstate the charges, which relate to a 30 billion rand ($2 billion) government arms deal arranged in the late 1990s. It was unclear when such a decision might be taken.

It was also not immediately clear if Mr. Zuma would approach the Constitutional Court to try to set aside the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The NPA would need to consider the judgment, spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said, adding it would “at all times do the right thing within the confines of the rule of law and in the interest of proper administration of justice.”

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