South Africa's high court rules Jacob Zuma should face corruption charges
Source: The Guardian and agencies
South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, has suffered another blow to his already tarnished reputation after a court ruled that he should face almost 800 corruption charges that were dropped in 2009.
The high court in Pretoria deemed the decision to drop the charges by the national prosecutor at the time, Mokotedi Mpshe, as “irrational”.
“The decision … to discontinue the charges against Mr Zuma is irrational and should be reviewed,” said the Pretoria high court judge Aubrey Ledwaba. “Mr Zuma should face the charges as applied.”
Mpshe’s decision to drop the 783 charges, which date to 1989 and are linked to a multibillion-dollar arms deal, cleared the way for Zuma to be elected president that year. Mpshe had argued that recordings of tapped phone calls between senior officials in then-president Thabo Mbeki’s administration showed political interference in the case.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/29/jacob-zuma-corruption-charges-review-south-africa-high-court
Mark Tran and agencies
Friday 29 April 2016 11.04 BST
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