South Africa’s Zuma loses court battle on bribery charges

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South African President Jacob Zuma has tumbled into deeper legal trouble on corruption charges after an appeal court issued a devastating ruling against the prosecutors who had dropped the charges against him.

The Supreme Court of Appeal delivered a scathing 47-page ruling on Friday, criticizing the national prosecuting agency for its controversial decision to drop the bribery charges on the eve of the 2009 election in which Mr. Zuma ascended to the presidency.

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Mr. Zuma has been stalling the bribery charges for nearly a decade with complex legal manoeuvring, and he still has more tactics that he can use to delay the case. Friday's ruling, however, will damage him politically, giving new weapons to his opponents within the ruling African National Congress.

Mr. Zuma's term expires in 2019, and the ANC is scheduled to choose a new leader in December. He is trying to orchestrate a victory for a friendly ally, but the court ruling will strengthen his rivals in the party and could make it easier for them to oust him as President after the December conference.

The corruption charges relate to a $4.8-billion (U.S.) arms purchase by the South African government in 1999, when Mr. Zuma was deputy president. His financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was convicted in 2005 on charges of bribing Mr. Zuma in connection with the arms deal and other matters. Prosecutors listed 783 separate counts of bribery and corruption, consolidated into 18 charges.

The national prosecuting agency dropped the charges in 2009, claiming that Mr. Zuma was the victim of political interference in the case. It cited secret audio recordings of discussions among the prosecutors. Those recordings – known as the "spy tapes" – were mysteriously obtained by Mr. Zuma's lawyers, and their origin has never been clearly explained.

In its ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court of Appeal said the prosecuting agency acted in an "inexcusable" and "irrational" manner when it dropped the charges.

The court noted that the prosecutors who were handling the case against Mr. Zuma had considered it a "watertight case" – in their own words. Yet despite the merits of the case, the prosecuting agency had been "straining" for some grounds to drop it.

The "spy tapes" were of doubtful legality, yet the prosecuting agency "allowed itself to be cowed into submission" by the threat that the tapes could be used against it, the court said.

Within hours of Friday's ruling, Mr. Zuma's office was fighting back.

In a terse statement, his office said the court ruling was disappointing. It conceded that the decision to drop the charges was now invalid – but it argued that the national prosecuting agency must listen to "representations" about whether to pursue the case. "Any person has the right to make such representations," it said.

The statement also hinted that Mr. Zuma will attack the legitimacy of a 2006 report that supported the bribery charges. The report was written by KPMG, an auditing firm that has recently been tainted by evidence that its reports were used in corrupt tactical fighting within government agencies.

The opposition Democratic Alliance party, which has been fighting a marathon legal battle since 2009 to revive the corruption charges, said the court ruling on Friday was "a win for justice, the rule of law, and for South Africa."

It said the corruption charges must now proceed to court, and Mr. Zuma must appear in court "at the soonest available date."

The DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, said the years of delaying tactics by Mr. Zuma have cost more than 30-million rand ($2.2-million) in legal costs to the government. "Zuma must pay back the money he wasted," Mr. Maimane said.