ANC Endorses Zuma to Lead S. Africa

Party Head Facing Corruption Charges

JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 8 -- The African National Congress announced Tuesday that its newly elected leader, Jacob Zuma, would be the party's nominee for president of South Africa in 2009 despite an 84-page indictment filed against him last month.

Party officials went on the offensive to protect their beleaguered leader, criticizing his prosecutors, questioning the timing of the charges and announcing that a select party panel would investigate the multibillion-dollar arms deal that is at the center of the criminal charges against Zuma. That same deal is the source of allegations against his rival, President Thabo Mbeki.

Party Treasurer General Mathews Phosa said of Zuma: "We're going to stand by him. He's our president through and through. And we're going to assume he's innocent until he's proven guilty."

The decision to name Zuma as the party's nominee came from its National Executive Committee, which on Monday met for the first time under Zuma's leadership.

Zuma has taken visible control since defeating Mbeki as party leader last month. The party's new National Working Committee, which oversees day-to-day management, is weighted toward Zuma allies. Posters featuring him hang from the walls of the party's downtown Johannesburg headquarters.

Zuma's supporters have long contended that the prosecution of him is politically motivated. Mbeki and Zuma worked together for many years but turned enemies after Mbeki fired Zuma as the nation's deputy president in 2005, following allegations of corruption stemming from the arms deal.

An initial round of corruption charges was dismissed by a court, but prosecutors filed a new, larger set -- adding charges of money laundering, fraud and racketeering -- on Dec. 28, when most South Africans were on vacation.

Conviction would disqualify Zuma from serving as the nation's president. Phosa and other ANC officials declined to say who would lead the party's ticket in 2009 if Zuma is convicted. The trial is due to start in August.

"This case is very politically inspired," Phosa told journalists Tuesday. "And if you deny it, you are just living in your own world, and we'll leave you there."

The party's investigation into the arms deal adds a potentially explosive element in the struggle between Zuma and Mbeki. Party officials said the purpose was only to better inform their own decisions as they address the charges against Zuma, but his most fervent supporters have long threatened to target Mbeki in the courts if the case against Zuma moved ahead.

The 1999 arms deal involved the purchase of frigates, fighter jets, helicopters and submarines at a time when South Africa had no apparent enemies capable of mounting a military challenge against the country. Investigators in Germany and Britain have been probing allegations of millions of dollars in bribes, kickbacks and other irregularities.

Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC member of Parliament who quit after party leaders blocked his attempts to investigate the arms deal, helped revive the issue with his book "After the Party: A Personal and Political Journey Inside the ANC," published in October.

Feinstein estimates that bribes and kickbacks associated with the deal totaled $200 million, with some of the money going to the party and much of the rest to senior party officials and members of the government. He said any new investigation would have to examine Mbeki's role.

"Mbeki was centrally involved in everything that happened in the arms deal," Feinstein said from London, where he now lives.

The party officials who announced the investigation said they had not decided whether they would release the resulting report. Feinstein said that while a party investigation would be useful, an independent investigation is needed to resolve the outstanding allegations.

Mbeki spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said government investigation into the arms deal already has shown that the president had no role in any wrongdoing.