S Africa Ex-President Mbeki Joins Appeal Of Dismissed Graft Case
Mbeki has claimed that the judge's decision in September to toss out the corruption charges against Zuma cost him the presidency.
Judge Chris Nicholson has granted prosecutors permission to appeal his ruling, which hinted that Mbeki had meddled in the case against Zuma, a finding that prompted the African National Congress, or ANC, to force Mbeki to resign.
SABC television reported Tuesday that the supreme court of appeal in Bloemfontein accepted Mbeki's request to join the prosecution's appeal of the dismissal.
"The appeal will be heard on Nov. 28 and Mbeki's legal team launched the application this week," the channel added.
The appeal leaves a legal cloud hanging over Zuma as he prepares to lead the ANC to elections next year, when he is widely expected to become president.
Zuma faced charges ranging from money-laundering to racketeering in a long-running corruption investigation dating back to 2001, which saw the accusations dropped then revived.
The main allegation was that he had received bribes for protecting French arms company Thint in an investigation into a controversial weapons deal.
In December 2007, he was charged on various counts of racketeering, money laundering, corruption and fraud. This came just 10 days after he unseated Mbeki as ANC party leader to become the favorite for the 2009 presidency.
The September decision to toss out the charges wasn't based on findings of Zuma's guilt or innocence, but on the technicality that he was denied his right to make representations to prosecutors before being recharged.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2008 17:37 ET (22:37 GMT)
Publié le 18 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones
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