Former South African president Jacob Zuma is set to appear in court on April 6 to face corruption charges, police said Monday.
Zuma
is accused of taking kickbacks before he became president in 2009 from
the $5 billion purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and military
equipment manufactured by five European firms.
He
resigned on February 14 when the ruling African National Congress party
turned against him after a nine-year reign scarred by corruption
allegations, an economic slowdown and diminished popularity.
"We
can confirm that the summons has been served to the former president,"
Hangwani Mulaudzi, spokesman for the Hawks police investigation unit,
told AFP.
"The case is going to be heard on April 6 at the Durban High Court. It is the formal charging."
Mulaudzi confirmed that the former president would have to be in court for the hearing.
Local media said Zuma's lawyers will try to halt the case by
appealing against the reinstatement of the charges, which date back to
the 1990s.
Prosecutors dropped the charges in 2009 just
months before Zuma became president. They said that tapped phone calls
between officials in then-president Thabo Mbeki's administration showed
undue official interference in the case.
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