Zuma corruption trial: A timeline of how we got to court

On Friday 16 March, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Shaun Abrahams announced that former President Jacob Zuma will have his previous charges reinstated against him. Now, Zuma has had his first day in court and returns on 8 June.

While the upcoming Zuma corruption trial could take years to conclude or even get properly going, one has a lot to look back on to see how we reached this point.

First, though, let’s clear something up.

For years, political parties, civil society and millions of South Africans were led to believe that Jacob Zuma was facing 783 charges. In reality, no he wasn’t.

Now that Zuma’s charges have been reinstated by Shaun Abrahams, he will face 16 charges. The other 700+ haven’t fallen away, they were just never there in the first place.

The confusion came about as Zuma is accused of receiving 783 payments from his financial advisor Schabir Shaik or his companies between 1995 to 2005.

Zuma corruption trial: A look back at the past

2003: While Schabir Shaik was charged with corruption and fraud, the national director of Public Prosecutions at the time, Bulelani Ngcuka,  elected to drop a case against Zuma.  This period was when Zuma’s links to the arms deal first started gathering traction.  Ngcuka admitted that although there “was prima facie evidence of corruption”, it was “insufficient” to win the case in court.

2004: 14 years ago is when things really started moving.

“Zuma” became the buzz-word during the trial of Schabir Shaik. Shaik was charged over the payments and questions regarding his “bribes” to Zuma eventually led to his downfall. At one point during the trial, Judge Hilary Squires summarised that “all the accused companies were used at one time or another to pay sums of money to Jacob Zuma”

The final judgment of the trial mentioned Zuma’s name 471 times.

2005: Then President Thabo Mbeki relieves Zuma of his duties as Deputy President, saying it was in “the best interests of the country.”

2006: Following the Schaik trial, Zuma was officially charged with corruption. That didn’t last long though as the Pietermaritzburg High Court struck the matter off the roll. Justice Herbert Msimang found that the state’s effort to prosecute Zuma was, from the start, “anchored on unsound foundations”.

Zuma’s legal team was unsuccessful in its attempts to have the court grant a permanent stay of proceedings.  That, effectively, would have rendered Zuma immune to prosecution on those charges.

2007: In December 2007, the Scorpions (now Hawks) indicted Zuma to stand trial in the on various accounts of racketeering, money laundering, corruption and fraud. With Zuma gunning for the Presidential spot, a conviction and sentence of more than one year in prison would have rendered him ineligible for the position.

2008: Zuma appeared in court in August only to hear in September that the charges were “unlawful”. Judge Chris Nicholson made the ruling due to the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions not giving Zuma a chance to make representations before deciding to charge him. Nicholson also expressed his belief that political interference played a key role in the decision to recharge Zuma.

2009: The back and forth continued as the charges were reinstated on appeal after Mbeki filed an affidavit asking for the “vexatious, scandalous and prejudicial” findings to be rectified.  In the affidavit, Mbeki referred to the ANC’s decision to recall him. The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in January 2009 that Zuma did not have to be invited to make representations before he was charged.

In April 2009, the NPA dropped all charges against Zuma as well as one of the co-accused arm companies. The charges were dropped after “revelations” of intercepted phone calls. Zuma’s lawyers argued that the calls showed Ngcuka conspired to the political advantage of Mbeki.

2016: Things remained quiet for the next few years until April 2016 where the Pretoria High Court said that the decision to drop the charges was irrational.

2017: On 13 October, the Supreme Court upheld the April judgement. This ruling then led the path for charges to be reopened against Zuma. Zuma was then given until 30 November to submit reasons why his charges should not be reinstated.

2018: Shaun Abrahams reinstates the charges in March. On 4 April Zuma presents himself in court. The first postponement moves proceedings back to June.

2018: Some of Zuma’s long-time lawyers “terminate” their services for the upcoming trial. Issues over legal fees cause confusion as Zuma argues that the state should pay his fees.

2018: Zuma requests another delay in the corruption trial in order to first sort out his legal fees in a separate court. On 5 June, NPA boss Shaun Abrahams denies that request.