Supreme Court Likely to Reinstate Zuma Corruption Charges
Category: Criminal Activity
Severity: 2 (Low)
Source: Drum Cussac
10/13/2017 (South Africa) - Media sources report on Friday, 13 October, that the Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and President Jacob Zuma to withdraw 783 corruption charges, which relate to a kickback scheme in multi-billion dollar defense deals with European companies in the 1990s. The High Court in Pretoria has stated that the decision to drop the charges was irrational and that the NPA must now decide whether to proceed with prosecution procedures. The charges were initially filed in 2005 before Jacob Zuma was president. Reports indicate that the President has indicated that he will continue to argue against the corruption charges and that members of his legal team would be liaising with the NPA. Future proceedings are likely to be delayed and with the NPA unlikely to proceed with prosecution, due to the framework of the South African legal system.
Travellers in Pretoria are advised to monitor local media sources for related updates. Previous rulings have resulted in protests from members of the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. Travellers are advised to avoid the vicinity of all gatherings and protests in order to mitigate against exposure to unruly crowd behaviour, opportunistic crime and police crowd control measures. Clients should leave the immediate area if spontaneous political gatherings arise in their vicinity. Clients are further advised to anticipate overland travel disruptions as a result of unrest.
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