The Hands off Msholozi Solidarity and Support Group is preparing to gather for a night vigil on Tuesday in a show of support for former President Jacob Zuma ahead of his court appearance on Wednesday.
Zuma and French arms company Thales will be back in the Pietermaritzurg High Court on Wednesday on fraud, corruption, racketeering and money laundering charges related to the 1999 multi-million rand arms deal.
Zuma is expected to submit a plea at the court.
Spokesperson for the pro-Zuma support group, Leon Rolls, says they want to ensure that Zuma’s sacrifice as a freedom fighter does not go unnoticed.
“This is about showing solidarity and support for Msholozi. Basically what we are standing for is that everyone in South Africa deserves a fair trial number one, and we are saying the treatment of Msholozi even from the very beginning by courts and by everyone else has been one that he has been excluded in the country and made an individual target of this thing that he had fought for to be free.”
Zuma has previously indicated that he will plead “not guilty”.
Permission has been extended to the media to broadcast the trial live.
Zuma’s charges
Zuma is facing 16 charges, which include 783 payments Thales allegedly made to him.
Zuma’s convicted former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, allegedly solicited bribes on behalf of Zuma from Thint, as Thales was known at the time.
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