South Africa\u2019s former president Jacob Zuma will miss the resumption of his trial for alleged corruption on the grounds of ill health, his lawyer said.<\/P>
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\u201cThere was a medical emergency which took place in the past few hours,\u201d his lawyer Dali Mpofu announced Monday in court, giving no further details.<\/P>
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Zuma, who turns 80 on Tuesday, is accused of taking bribes from French defence giant Thales.<\/P>
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He faces 16 counts of fraud, graft and racketeering over the purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and equipment from five European arms firms.<\/P>
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Thales has also been charged with corruption and money laundering. Both the French firm and Zuma deny any wrongdoing.<\/P>
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The closely-followed trial started in May 2021 after repeated postponements as Zuma\u2019s legal team battled to have the charges dropped.<\/P>
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It was set to resume on Monday with witness testimony after Zuma failed in a fresh bid to derail proceedings.<\/P>
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In October, he sought to have lead prosecutor Billy Downer dropped from the case, accusing him of bias. He contended Downer leaked confidential documents to the media.<\/P>
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But the Supreme Court of Appeal last month ruled against him, saying his petition had \u201cno reasonable prospect of success.\u201d <\/P>
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Zuma was president from 2009 to 2018 but was forced to step down by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) as graft scandals surrounding his government brewed into a political storm.<\/P>
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Last year he was given a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court after refusing to testify before a panel probing financial sleaze and cronyism that proliferated under his presidency.<\/P>
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His jailing sparked riots that descended into looting and left more than 350 dead in the worst violence since the advent of South Africa\u2019s democracy.<\/P>
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He was released on health grounds two months into the term.<\/P>
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Source: Nam News Network<\/P>
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South Africa\u2019s former president Jacob Zuma will miss the resumption of his trial for alleged corruption on the grounds of ill health, his lawyer said.\u201cThere was a medical emergency which took place in the past few hours,\u201d his lawyer Dali Mpofu announce…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n