By Antoinette Keyser
If there is evidence of corruption against Deputy President Jacob Zuma, then charge him or else leave him alone, was the ANC Youth League's message to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Sunday.
Reacting to speculation that the deputy president might resign after being implicated in the judgment of the Schabir Shaik trial, Youth League president Fikile Mbalula said Zuma had never been tried and convicted.
"The deputy president was not on trial. He must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, like any other citizen in the country," Mbalula said in Johannesburg.
'This is an error in the judgment' Launching a scathing attack on Judge Hilary Squires, Mbalula accused him of contradicting himself in the Shaik judgment by first saying that Zuma was not on trial and then by "finding him guilty by inference in absentia".
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"This is an error in the judgment. The court has rubbished Zuma's name."
The possible involvement of Zuma in corruption could not be concluded in such a way.
The deputy president had to be given the opportunity to defend himself against the allegations, even if it meant charging him in a court of law, Mbalula said.
"The only fitting judiciary judgment would be one that considers evidence given by the deputy president as defendant against whatever allegations have been made against him."
He said a dark cloud had been hanging over Zuma's head since the former head of the NPA, Bulelani Ngcuka, announced that he had prima facie evidence of corruption against the deputy president, but that he would not prosecute him because the case would not stand up in court.
"How can the evidence against him be tested if he is not charged?"
Mbalula also accused the media of finding Zuma guilty by inference.
"We are indeed continuously dismayed at the fact that the media in particular continues to be in the forefront of the violation of the rights of our deputy president as these 1/8media 3/8 institutions must be in the forefront of promoting our hard-won ideals..."
He said even apartheid-era leaders were given the opportunity to defend themselves in court against allegations.
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