IN-DEPTH
KARYN MAUGHAN: How Zuma will fight the charges against him
'Zuma is likely to argue that he was unaware of any corrupt intent that may have motivated Shaik’s payments to him'
Former president Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial will be about getting inside his mind and will be determined by whether he can convince a court of his naïveté. The state does not need to prove that Zuma received money from his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik. He never disputed that he made hundreds of payments to Zuma. Although he insisted that he was trying to help a comrade in need, he was convicted of making the payments with corrupt intent. But central to the recently revived Zuma prosecution is what was going on in his mind when he received that money. His lawyers have already told National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams that Zuma "disputes all the allegations against him and records that he lacked the requisite intention to commit any of the crimes listed in the indictment". Zuma is likely to argue that he was unaware of any corrupt intent that may have motivated Shaik’s payments to him. What the state needs to prove is that Zuma received the money with t...
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