South Africa: Zuma arms deal corruption trial to begin in May

The trial of former South African President Jacob Zuma - accused of involvement in a multi-billion dollar arms deal corruption case - is set to begin on May 17th. Zuma is being tried on 16 charges of racketeering, fraud, corruption and money laundering during his tenures as deputy president from 1999, and as president from 2009 to 2018. He denies any wrongdoing. The trial is expected to last around a month.

Zuma is accused of accepting 500,000 rand ($34,000) each year from the French company Thales while deputy president. In return Zuma allegedly protected the company from investigations related to a $3.4bn arms deal to South Africa.