Zuma Faces New Charges

“This prosecution has lasted seven years, and it is not in the interest of justice for any case to drag on so long.”

NVDL: Is this a turn for the better; and will it make an iota of difference in the scheme of things? I have an uneasy feeling that the soul of this country depends on the way the coin falls. One way and it may spell our doom; another, and there may be hope for us at the end of the day...

clipped from www.nytimes.com JOHANNESBURG—A South African appellate court ruled Monday that graft charges against Jacob Zuma, the leader of the governing party and most likely this country’s next president, were wrongly dismissed by a judge last September, clearing the way for the criminal case to be reinstated. But Judge Nicholson’s opinion roamed far beyond the immediate procedural question, using suppositions to chastise Mr. Mbeki and his government for political meddling in the prosecution of Mr. Zuma, his main rival within the A.N.C. Using that ruling as ammunition, party leaders then asked Mr. Mbeki to step down. He was replaced with a caretaker president, Kgaleme Motlanthe. Now, a mere four months after that historic upheaval, the appellate panel not only said Judge Nicholson was wrong about the disputed procedure, it lambasted him for overstepping “the limits of his authority” in making “gratuitous findings” about Mr. Mbeki’s supposed meddling. The complications are not difficult to imagine.