Jacob Zuma could be charged with corruption

December 20, 2007

Jacob Zuma should be charged with corruption according to South Africa's top prosecutor saying there is enough evidence to do so.

The charges relate to a controversial arms deal, which saw one of Zuma's advisers jailed for 15 years.

Zuma, 65, who denies wrongdoing, has been addressing his party for the first time since defeating President Thabo Mbeki in a bitterly-fought election.

He told the African National Congress he would work with his defeated rival.

Zuma defeated Mbeki in a bitterly-fought contest on Tuesday.

Making his first speech as ANC leader, the former deputy president - fired by Mbeki in 2005 - said no Zuma-Mbeki split could be allowed to emerge.

"None of us is bigger than the organisation or the ANC," he told delegates at the party's conference.

Mbeki's spokesman on Thursday denied rumours that the president was now considering stepping down before the end of his term in 2009.

In his speech, Zuma laid out his vision for the ANC and for South Africa, stressing that the organisation remained committed to "broad-based black empowerment", and to a reduction in crime levels.

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