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No 'day in court' for Zuma as supporters take Durban

The trial of South Africa's ex-president Jacob Zuma was postponed for two months on Friday pending his legal challenge to the resurrection of decade-old corruption charges.
Outside the Durban High Court, thousands of Mr Zuma's supporters from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and other organisations brought the Indian Ocean port city to a standstill.
Zuma supporters rally around a stage set up outside the Durban High Court
The ANC Women's League, Youth League and Umkhonto we Sizwe Veterans' Association were present, along with the Black land First Campaign, National Interfaith Council of South Africa, the Commission for Religious Affairs. Revellers wore ANC t-shirts and other merchandise in defiance of warnings by Police Minister Bheki Cele
Former minister Des van Rooyen and Eastern Cape ANC leader Andile Lungisa accompanied Mr Zuma to the doors of the court. Inside he sat smiling a few feet apart from Christine Guerrier, a representative of French arms firm Thint, from whom Mr Zuma is accused of taking kickbacks in return for a 2.6 billion defence contract signed in 1997.
Judge Themba Sishi agreed to the defence request for a postponement while its challenge to the National Prosecuting Authority's decision to reinstate the charges it dropped in 2009 — after Judge Chris Nicholson threw the case out of court, saying it was driven by a “baleful political influence.”
In an echo of the the first trial, when the prosecution repeatedly requested adjournments as its case was not ready, Prosecutor Billy Downer said the NPA would be ready to go to trial until November. He agreed to the postponement while Mr Zuma's challenge was heard, along with the SA Natives Forum's application for a permanent stay of prosecution.
Following his brief 20-minute court appearance, Mr Zuma took to the stage to address the throng of supporters in his mother tongue of isiZulu, flanked by political, community and religious leaders.
He reminded the crowd that his first court appearance on the historical charges was in 2005. “This case is back because of politics!” he declared as quoted in a translation by the Huffington Post South. “Opposition parties. Our democracy is wondrous ― they push their opposition not in Parliament but in the courts, where there should be no politics.”
Mr Zuma pointed out that he was not even part of the Pretoria government when the Thint arms deal was signed in the late 90s, but was serving as a Member of the Executive Council in KwaZulu Natal. “Maybe they mean I was there in spirit,” he said. “Someone will have to tell me then, what did I do?”
“The problem now, the one I'm hated and vilified for, is that freedom without economic freedom is not complete,” he said. “Blacks are now saying it's enough. As I am going to court, I reiterate poverty must end, radical economic transformation must happen.”
The leader closed his speech by leading the crowd in song, including his anti-apartheid struggle era standard Umshini Wami (Bring me my Machine Gun).
Ramaphosa's revenge
But in a a clear attempt to pull the rug from under Mr Zuma's feet, President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said later it was withdrawing its appeal against a court order for the former president to pay 10 million rand in legal costs. Those costs were awarded against him after his failed court bid to have former public protector Thuli Madonsela's swansong the 'State of Capture' report set aside.
“The current President is not liable in that the punitive costs were against the former President in his personal capacity and as such we do not purport to act on the former President’s behalf in this notice,” a presidency statement said.
Money for old rope
The report, rushed out in the final days of Ms Madonsela's tenure, backs opposition claims that Mr Zuma's government was in the pocket of the Gupta business family. It was written by British consultancy firm Price Waterhouse Coopers for a fee of around 20 million rand ― roughly the same as a $500,000 donation the state ombuds received as a donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Mr Ramaphosa was sworn in as president in February after Mr Zuma resigned under pressure from the ANC's national executive. He has already made himself unpopular with party members and the ANC's allied trade union federation COSATU by imposing a raft of austerity measures.  

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