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Judge throws out corruption charges against Zuma
Zuma’s supporters in a court room packed with top ANC officials broke into cheers in a scene broadcast on national television. A jubilant Zuma embraced his lawyer.
Nicholson cautioned that his ruling did not touch on guilt or innocence, and said prosecutors could file charges again once they had met the requirement of consulting with Zuma.
The National Prosecuting Authority, though, will come under huge pressure not to file charges again. Parliament is pushing through legislation to scrap its elite investigating unit, the Scorpions, in response to ANC anger over what its members see as the Scorpions’ persecution of Zuma. Even some business leaders had suggested that charges against Zuma should be dropped in the interests of future political stability in Africa’s economic powerhouse.
Tensions had mounted in recent weeks with Zuma supporters threatening to make South Africa ungovernable if his trial went ahead. Influential ANC Youth League leaders have repeatedly said they are prepared to kill and die for Zuma.
Zuma is hugely popular among poor South Africans who feel alienated by Mbeki’s intellectual aloofness and are tired of waiting for their living conditions to improve 14 years after the end of apartheid.
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The
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PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa - A South African judge ruled Friday that prosecutors were wrong to charge ANC President Jacob Zuma with corruption, effectively clearing way for the 66-year-old former freedom fighter to become the country’s next president.
Judge Chris Nicholson’s ruling
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