Former President Jacob Zuma’s advocate, Muzi Sikhakhane, says his client does not have the funds to finance his corruption trial.
The hearing of an application for a permanent stay of prosecution by Zuma and his co-accused Thales will continue on Friday in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
On Thursday, the matter was adjourned just as Sikhakhane was about to submit new evidence about alleged political meddling in the case.
Zuma and Thales face 16 counts of corruption, fraud and racketeering. Sikhakhane has accused the State of trying to squeeze the former president dry through litigation costs.
“The State is squeezing him out not to be able to afford lawyers. We are saying now that they have raised it, we’ve asked for it and they have refused because they want you to strike a balance between factors that they choose. Zuma remains here, squeezed out of everything he could do to pay anybody. That is why he ends up with this, because he has no finances, the State has squeezed that from him and I say they must give us the information if they want the courts to analyse how much this costs,” says Sikhakhane.
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