South African president Jacob Zuma is seen on the phone ahead of the thrid plenary session of the G20 summit on 8 July, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Zuma trial: State releases names of 207 witnesses testifying, Shaik not listed
Zuma trial: The state has released an incredibly long list of state witnesses who will testify against former President Jacob Zuma. We have those names for your perusal.
South African president Jacob Zuma is seen on the phone ahead of the thrid plenary session of the G20 summit on 8 July, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Earlier in March, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Shaun Abrahams announced that former President Jacob Zuma would be prosecuted on 16 charges of corruption dating back to the arms deal.
Zuma has been summoned to the Durban High Court on 6 April but is still expected to bring out all the stops to delay proceedings wherever he can.
While Zuma’s so-called “fall guy” in the arms deal, Schabir Shaik is not on the list to testify currently, representatives from KPMG and SARS are on the list. Another noteworthy witness is City of Cape Town Executive Mayor, Patricia De Lille.
You can read the full list of witnesses below.
https://twitter.com/AnnikaLarsen1/status/979265024324759552
https://twitter.com/AnnikaLarsen1/status/979266775736111104
While there has been some shock over not seeing Shaik’s name on the list, given his involvement, legal journalist Karyn Maughan points out how he could easily still be called.
Latest Zuma Witness List has removed names of witnesses who died.
Shaik (to my knowledge) wasn’t on original list. But this doesn’t stop state from calling him – or any witness deemed relevant.
List filed at court because case against JZ back on the court roll https://t.co/Vkmonb1oe8— Karyn Maughan (@karynmaughan) March 29, 2018
The 16 charges are broken down into corruption, money laundering and fraud.
Zuma is accused of receiving 783 payments from Schabir Shaik or his companies between 1995 to 2005.
At the time, the payments to Zuma from Schaik and his companies included links to purchases for the South African Navy and even proposed waterfront developments in Durban.
During Shaik’s trial, he was shown to have awarded Zuma a bribe of R500 000 per year to Zuma. In return, Zuma would give him support for the defence contractor Thomson CSF.
Shaik was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison while Zuma was let off the hook.
Judge Hilary Squires did, however, summarise that “all the accused companies were used at one time or another to pay sums of money to Jacob Zuma”.
The final judgment against Shaik mentioned Zuma a whopping 471 times.
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