{"id":18526,"date":"2026-05-21T23:00:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/18526\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T23:00:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:00:27","slug":"zuma-thales-corruption-trial-to-start-in-february-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/18526\/","title":{"rendered":"Zuma, Thales corruption trial to start in February 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-block-key=\"4vb2e\">Judge Nkosinathi Chili criticised repeated delays, describing them as \u201cStalingrad tactics\u201d that undermine the administration of <a href=\"https:\/\/m.ecr.co.za\/news\/news\/durban-police-ambush-ntuli-calls-for-justice\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>                  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"former president Jacob Zuma loses latest bid for acquittal\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/zuma_eyeroll_1.width-800.jpg\" width=\"800\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      EMMANUEL CROSET \/ AFP<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"980kc\"><a href=\"https:\/\/m.ecr.co.za\/news\/news\/zuma-labels-white-genocide-claims-joke\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Former president Jacob Zuma<\/a> and French arms company Thales South Africa have suffered another blow in their bid to halt the start of their corruption trial.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"auqr9\">The Pietermaritzburg High Court has ruled that the trial must finally proceed.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"55sbt\">Zuma and Thales face charges linked to South Africa\u2019s multi-billion-rand arms procurement deal from the late 1990s.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"cq8lh\">Zuma, 84, was not present for the judgement.\u00a0A trial date has yet to be set.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"23dpn\">He is separately accused of enabling the looting of state assets during his tenure.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"e9ca8\">READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/m.ecr.co.za\/news\/news\/vryheid-collision-leaves-dozen-including-children-hurt\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vryheid head-on collision leaves dozens, including children, hurt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Court condemns postponements<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"67adb\">Judge Nkosinathi Chili found that Zuma had repeatedly used what courts have termed \u201cStalingrad tactics\u201d or legal manoeuvres aimed at delaying the start of the trial.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"81r5j\">On Thursday morning, Judge Chili warned that further delays risk bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.<\/p>\n<p>  By allowing criminal trials to be postponed pending approaches to the civil courts, justice is delayed and the speedy trials for which the Constitution provides do not take place.<br \/>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=By%20allowing%20criminal%20trials%20to%20be%20postponed%20pending%20approaches%20to%20the%20civil%20courts%2C%20justice%20is%20delayed%20and%20the%20speedy%20trials%20for%20which%20the%20Constitution%20provides%20do%20not%20take%20place.&amp;original_referer=\" data-width=\"550\" data-height=\"420\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"blockquote--author\">&#8211; Judge Nkosinathi Chili<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"1w70h\">\u201cI need hardly add that this is of a particular benefit to those who are well-resourced and able to secure the services of best lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"3hl48\">The judge says the trial should proceed even if further appeals are filed.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"9a72s\">The fraud and corruption trial will start from 1 February 2027.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"381lv\">Chili has directed Zuma and a representative to appear in court.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"e6p37\">Find us on social media<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"8taaq\">Follow the ECR Newswatch\u00a0WhatsApp channel\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaHdsR835fLtVoUbM71R\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"8i74m\">We are also on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ECRNewswatch?_rdc=1&amp;_rdr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ECR_Newswatch\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">X<\/a>\u00a0(formerly Twitter)<\/p>\n<p>  MORE ON ECR:<\/p>\n<p>      <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"newswatch new banner 1\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Listen_to_latest_ECR_news_1.original.png\" width=\"1820\"\/><\/p>\n<p>            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Judge Nkosinathi Chili criticised repeated delays, describing them as \u201cStalingrad tactics\u201d that undermine the administration of justice. EMMANUEL&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13059],"tags":[3236,121,14074,246,13617,14073,5719],"class_list":["post-18526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-thales","tag-corruption","tag-crime","tag-describing-them-as-stalingrad-tactics-that-undermine-the-administration-of-justice","tag-investigation","tag-jacob-zuma","tag-judge-nkosinathi-chili-criticised-repeated-delays","tag-thales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}