POLOKWANE, South Africa — South Africa’s top prosecutor said Thursday that he has enough evidence to bring corruption charges against new African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, a case that could derail his election as the country’s next president.
Zuma responded: “Take me to court.”
The possibility that Zuma could face trial upstaged his first public speech since he defeated President Thabo Mbeki in a bitter ANC leadership contest Tuesday.
Public prosecutor Mokotedi Mpshe told The Associated Press that he would announce in the new year the next step in the investigation against Zuma.
“The type of evidence we have so far can be taken to court,” he said.
Mpshe is investigating allegations that in the 1990s, Zuma accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the French company Thint to stop investigations into a multibillion-dollar arms deal with the government. The contracts were suspected of being secured through bribes.
Mbeki fired Zuma as the country’s deputy president in 2005 after Zuma’s financial adviser was convicted of trying to elicit the bribe. Charges against Zuma were thrown out last year on a technicality. He denies the charges and says prosecutors are trying to smear his name for political reasons.
The ANC leader is traditionally the party’s presidential candidate, and its overwhelming backing has ensured victories first for Nelson Mandela in 1994, then Mbeki in 1999 and 2004. The constitution requires Mbeki stand down in 2009, but if he had won a third term as ANC leader, he would have been in a position to influence the choice of a successor.
In a speech to the ANC congress earlier, Zuma sought to allay concerns of a potential conflict with Mbeki, promising to work well with the president. Zuma’s victory meant that for the first time since apartheid ended, the ANC leader was not South Africa’s president or his hand-picked successor.
Deviating from his prepared speech to heap praise on Mbeki, Zuma promised to “develop smooth working relations” with the president, calling him a “comrade, friend and brother” of 30 years.
Zuma also addressed fears that he would veer sharply to the left under pressure from trade unions, poor blacks and communists who backed his leadership bid. Zuma had rallied ANC members dissatisfied with Mbeki’s market-oriented policies, which have brought steady economic growth but failed to lift the majority from poverty.
