The NPA has announced its decision to drop charges against ANC party president Jacob Zuma. The charges related to fraud,corruption, racketeering and money-laundering and were complicated by alleged interference by former President Thabo Mbeki.
The case had been in the pipeline for eight years and is being reported as being the most expensive legal battle in South Africa’s history. With the NPA’s decision to drop the charges they will have to explain to the South African public and all opposition parties why taxpayers’ money was spent on the case if it was going to be dropped two weeks before the National Elections.
The DA, the ANC’s most prominent opposition, said that if the charges against Mr Zuma were dropped they would not let the matter rest and would pursue it until he had his day in court. We are probably about to witness political mudslinging between two parties the likes of which we have never seen.
Many ordinary South Africans are staunch Jacob Zuma fans and saw the charges as a last ditch effort by the opposition to gain the upper hand in the coming elections, others said that if he were innocent he should have no problem with going to court and proving it.
This has been one of the most convoluted political stories in the history of our country, the arms deal, Schabir Shaik, Thabo Mbeki stepping down as President and charges that were dropped and re-instated numerous times. Hopefully we are watching the dying moments of something that will probably never be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
We will never know if he was guilty or not. It is unfortunate that he did not have the opportunity to come clean. This gives the opposition a lot of bullets for the up coming election.