High Court reserves judgment in Zuma, Thales leave-to-appeal bid

The Pietermaritzburg High Court has reserved judgment in former president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales’ latest attempt to have their corruption charges withdrawn. Judge Nkosinathi Chili heard their application for leave to appeal his June ruling, which dismissed their bid for an acquittal in the decades-long arms deal corruption case and effectively cleared the way for the long-delayed trial to proceed. Alongside the appeal bid, the State also brought what it described as a “stop Stalingrad” application against both accused.

“The State brings this application because of the accused’s ‘Stalingrad’ strategy. The current manifestations of the strategy are their quashing-of-prosecution applications earlier this year, their attempts to seek leave to appeal against the dismissal order, and their opposition to this application,” the State argued. Zuma and Thales are seeking a permanent stay of prosecution, claiming that the prolonged delays have infringed on their right to a fair trial.

However, in June Judge Chili ruled that the court had no authority to withdraw charges and was not convinced that the accused would suffer irreparable prejudice. “It would be incompetent for the court to grant the relief sought,” he ruled at the time, adding that the power to halt prosecutions rests solely with the State. As a result, Zuma still faces corruption, fraud, racketeering and money-laundering charges linked to the 1999 Strategic Defence Procurement Package — widely known as the arms deal.

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He is accused of accepting bribes from Thales while serving as deputy president, with payments allegedly channelled through his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik, who was convicted of corruption and fraud in 2005. Zuma joined Thales’ application earlier this year, arguing that the State’s case against him is “symbiotically conjoined” with that of the company. Thales contends that its defence has been severely compromised by the deaths of two key witnesses — former directors Pierre Moynot and Alain Thétard — who both lived in South Africa during the arms deal period.

Moynot died in January 2021 and Thétard in Germany in September 2022. The company only obtained formal confirmation of their deaths in late 2021 and in 2024, respectively. In its grounds for appeal, Thales argues that it has demonstrated an inability to challenge crucial State evidence or lead its own evidence on several charges, as these matters fall within the personal knowledge of the deceased witnesses.

The company claims that no other individuals possess that knowledge. While the State has indicated that it will not dispute the admissibility of certain hearsay evidence at trial, it has not conceded the accuracy of that evidence.

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