JOHANNESBURG, March 20 (Reuters) – South Africa’s main
opposition party won the right on Tuesday to review potentially
damaging documents from a discontinued corruption case against
President Jacob Zuma in 2009, a move that could hurt Zu m a’s
chances of re-election as ANC leader.
The president, who seeks re-election as African National
Congress (ANC) leader late this year, had been expected to win
easily, virtually securing him another five-year term in office
as president because of the party’s dominance over politics.
Tuesday’s court ruling allows the main opposition access to
papers from a case against Zuma over a tainted arms deal, which
was dropped by prosecutors just weeks before a presidential
election in 2009, clearing the way for him to win the race.
The Supreme Court of Appeal said in its ruling that it was
“in the public interest” to allow the opposition Democratic
Alliance access to the papers from the case.
Zuma has said he was the victim of a political conspiracy
while his opponents have accused the ANC of back-room deals to
clear his name.
It is not known what is contained in the documents or how
much of the documents the opposition would be allowed to see.
Officials from the presidency and the ANC were not
immediately available for comment.
Zuma had been implicated in a decade-old arms deal that led
to several ANC heavyweights being convicted of bribery. He had
been charged with corruption, fraud, money laundering and
racketeering.
The National Prosecuting Authority said in 2009 there were
abuses in the police investigation and it was dropping the
charges without revealing details of their investigation.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Cosmas Butunyi; Editing by
David Dolan and Susan Fenton)
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