Fraud charges set to be dropped as poll chaos looms
writes Fred Bridgland
MULTIPLE CHARGES of corruption against Jacob Zuma, who is certain to be elected South Africa's new head of state in three weeks time, are to be dropped tomorrow following an emergency meeting of the state prosecuting agency.
The decision will plunge the country into political turmoil ahead of the April 22 general election - the fourth post-apartheid poll - with suggestions in all publications that Zuma has submitted evidence that former President Thabo Mbeki received bribes in connection with the country's contentious £5.5billion arms deal with West European weapons manufacturers.
Zuma, 66, was due to go on trial in August on nearly 800 counts of corruption, fraud, racketeering, money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the arms deal, under which the country is being equipped with advanced warplanes, frigates, submarines and other equipment. British Aerospace, which is being investigated by the UK's fraud squad in connection with the deal, provided Hawk trainer jets and Gripen fighter-bombers, built in collaboration with Sweden's Saab.
Helen Zille, leader of the country's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), will set a precedent that individuals in power are "above the law and can bully their way out of trouble".
Karima Brown, political editor of Business Day, the country's leading upmarket daily, said tomorrow's NPA meeting will be tumultuous as the country's acting prosecution chief Mokotedi Mpshe shares with his staff "devastating" information presented by Zuma's lawyers which makes a prosecution "impossible".
Investigators who have spent eight years gathering information on Zuma's alleged crimes feel deeply betrayed by the impending decision, said Ms Brown, quoting an NPA source.
The reports said Zuma's lawyers had submitted tapes, presumed to be recorded by one of the competing branches of South Africa's intelligence services, showing a political conspiracy against Zuma was plotted by former president Mbeki.
Mbeki was deposed as head of state last September as the result of an internal power struggle within the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
Among a number of allegations said to be contained in the tapes
according to the daily Johannesburg Star
NPA to drop Zuma charges
'If we drop Zuma charges, NPA may reveal why'
is a devastating conversation between Mbeki and the former head of the investigations unit of the NPA, Leonard McCarthy, who recently became head of the World Bank's anti-corruption unit on Mbeki's recommendation.
The timing of the announcement of tomorrow's NPA decision will be crucial, given the impending election and the fact that it is likely to be the closest run since Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first black head of state in 1994.
Political commentators in several publications will have to give detailed reasons for dropping of charges against Zuma, who was said to have received hundreds of bribes connected to the arms deal from financier Schabir Shaik, who was imprisoned for 15 years in 2005 on corruption charges but paroled for "health" reasons last month.
Zuma's battle with the state has dominated the political landscape in South Africa for several years. His victory will raise serious questions about the independence of the prosecuting authorities and other branches of the legal system.
The looming controversy over the dropping of charges against Zuma comes as a debate rages over the ANC government's ban on the Dalai Lama attending a peace conference in Johannesburg last Friday designed to promote next year's World Cup Finals, being hosted by South Africa.
The peace conference was cancelled after the Dalai Lama's fellow Nobel peace laureates Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former president FW de Klerk refused to attend after learning of the Tibetan spiritual leader's ban. The Dalai Lama was banned from attending after protests from Beijing and alleged payments by the Chinese government into the ANC's election coffers.
Finance minister Trevor Manuel justified the ban, saying: "Who is the Dalai Lama? I've heard him described as a God and Buddha. To say anything against him is, in some quarters, equivalent to trying to shoot Bambi." Manuel is expected to be the country's next vice president.
Archbishop Tutu, who was at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement, said the ANC government had "lost the plot" with the ban, adding that the world's press were "saying we are dirt."
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