By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 21, 2006

JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 20 -- A South African judge dismissed corruption charges on Wednesday against the country's controversial former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, handing him another victory in a political comeback supporters hope will propel him into the presidency in 2009.

Prosecutors have the option of submitting new indictments against Zuma, 64, who was charged with receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars for brokering government approval of an arms deal with a French company. Zuma's close friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was convicted last year on related charges that included having a "generally corrupt relationship" with Zuma.

Judge Herbert Msimang's decision, announced in a courtroom in Pietermaritzburg, near South Africa's southeastern coast, was a staggering setback -- legally and politically -- for the government's case against Zuma, analysts said. After the ruling, Zuma's supporters burst into celebration, much as they had in May when Zuma was acquitted of unrelated rape charges.

"Everything has been brought to finality," Zuma told thousands of supporters outside the courthouse, the Associated Press reported. "If there are any others who would like to bring me back to court, they must start afresh."

Prosecutors had asked for a delay, but the judge refused to grant one and called on them to present their case immediately. When they failed to do so, Msimang dismissed the charges, dubbed the indictments a "sham" and said the prosecution had "limped from one disaster to another."

The office of the National Prosecuting Authority said it would review its strategy before announcing whether it would file more charges.

Analysts said they did not expect prosecutors to abandon a high-profile, politically charged case that has been portrayed as a test of whether the rule of law applies to powerful leaders in a nation with a single dominant party, Zuma's African National Congress.

"The state is not going to invest resources, time and money in a case against Zuma and just walk away from it," said Aubrey Matshiqi, a political analyst. "It is a bad day for the prosecution, but Zuma should not celebrate yet."

President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as deputy president in June 2005, shortly after Shaik was convicted, though Zuma was allowed to remain deputy president of the ANC.

Prosecutors indicted Zuma on corruption charges in November. That same month, a 31-year-old family friend of Zuma accused him of raping her during a visit to his Johannesburg house. Charges were soon filed in that case as well.

Zuma complained that he was the victim of a conspiracy to prevent his ascent to the presidency of both the ruling ANC and the nation, and his core supporters -- mainly from a coalition of union activists, communists and his large Zulu ethnic group -- rallied behind him.

Zuma, an ANC guerrilla in the fight against apartheid who rose from humble roots to the pinnacle of power, remains among South Africa's most popular political figures, and his supporters have never forgiven Mbeki for firing him. Many contend that Mbeki engineered both prosecutions as a way to damage Zuma and allow a handpicked successor to take power in 2009, when Mbeki is due to step down at the end of his second five-year term.

"The one person who Mbeki wanted to get rid of, he has catapulted into a national hero," Rhoda Kadalie, a columnist for Business Day and a human rights activist, said from her home in Cape Town.

The race for president essentially begins with the campaign to become president of the ANC in a national party election next year. Whoever wins that probably will have a commanding advantage in seeking to become president of South Africa, where the party consistently gets two-thirds or more of the support in general elections.