Court orders South African leader Zuma to again face corruption charges

Oct. 13 (UPI) -- South African President Jacob Zuma must face corruption charges in court, perhaps before he is renominated in December, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled Friday.

The ruling comes weeks after South Africa's high court reversed a 2016 decision by the National Prosecuting Authority to drop charges against Zuma.

The court of appeal, though, agreed with the lower court ruling last year that nearly 800 counts of corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering could be refiled against Zuma.

Zuma called Friday's appellate ruling "disappointing."

The NPA spent eight years investigating whether Zuma took over $300,000 in bribes from arms dealers. It abandoned the case in 2009, before he became president.

The reversal means that Zuma can be re-indicted again, and the opposition party seeks to have him face charges before his African National Congress convenes to renominate him in December.

Democratic Alliance Party chairperson James Selfe said his party would push to get Zuma, 75, into court soon.

"We expect the prosecution to start as soon as possible, certainly before the elective conference," he said.

Zuma has long denied the charges and has fought for years to avoid trials on the charges, which date to the 1990s.

His term lasting until 2019, when he cannot run again, Zuma has survived eight no-confidence votes in his two terms as South Africa's leader.