HIS Zulu name means one who smiles while grinding down his enemies but it is doubtful that even President Jacob Zuma can survive a court ruling that he should be tried for corruption.

The decision by the South African High Court comes against a background of riots in the country’s capital Pretoria which have killed at least five people, injured many others and caused millions of pounds worth of damage.

The government claimed yesterday that security forces were regaining control but the rioting has heightened concerns of further violence in the run-up to the municipal elections on August 3.

This week’s riots were sparked when the ruling African National Congress (ANC) chose a Zulu woman as the candidate for mayor of Pretoria. Thoko Didiza, who is from KwaZulu province, is seen as an outsider and the rioters see her candidacy as an attempt by Zuma to keep the country’s most powerful positions in Zulu hands.

Poverty, inequality and poor services are already a major source of frustration for the people in the townships and unrest has been growing in the last few years.

The choice of Didiza appears to have been the last straw and since Monday mobs have looted shops and set fire to dozens of buses and lorries.

“The looting and violence is a sign of powerlessness,” said Mary de Hass of the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal.

She added: “I don’t understand why the ANC would do something like that. They are asking for trouble by appointing a Zulu candidate when they know there are heightened tensions in Pretoria.”


WHAT ARE THE CHARGES?

The riots have increased pressure on Zuma who is facing corruption charges over an arms deal worth billions of pounds.

The £2.5bn deal in 1999 involved companies from the UK, Italy, Germany, Sweden, South Africa and France and bribery allegations have dogged the ANC governments of both Zuma and his predecessor Thabo Mbeki.

In 2005, Schabir Shaik, Zuma’s former financial adviser, was convicted of attempting to solicit bribes on Zuma’s behalf from the local subsidiary of French firm Thales. Tony Yengeni, the ANC chief whip and defence committee chair at the time of the deal was jailed for fraud in 2003. Both men were freed on parole after serving a fraction of their sentences.

An incredible 783 charges were filed against Zuma but these were dropped in 2009 – just before the presidential elections.

However this April it was ruled that the charges should still stand. Shaun Abrahams, the national director of public prosecutions, then asked for permission to appeal against the ruling that Zuma should face the corruption charges. The High Court has now turned down the request.

“We seriously considered whether the appeal would have reasonable prospects of success and came to the conclusion that there are no merits in the arguments,” said judge Aubrey Ledwaba.

It is unlikely that the Supreme Court of Appeal would overturn the High Court’s unanimous decision.


DID HE MISUSE PUBLIC FUNDS?

Zuma could ask the Constitutional Court to throw the case out but this court recently proved no friend of the president when it ruled that he had breached his oath of office over his use of £15 million of public funds to upgrade his private residence.

The court upheld an anti-corruption investigation which said the cash had been improperly spent on an amphitheatre, swimming pool, cattle enclosure and chicken run.

While Zuma has apologised to voters over the “frustration and confusion” caused by the scandal and pledged to repay the money, he continues to deny the charges of racketeering and money-laundering but says he will resign if found guilty.

He has, however, previously managed to battle rape claims successfully and his popularity is still strong in rural areas where he is seen as a man of the people.

He follows the Zulu tradition of polygamy and currently has four wives and 21 children. It is believed he may be grooming ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, currently chair of the African Union Commission, as his successor in the hope that she might protect him from any corruption proceedings. He is supposed to step down as ANC leader next year and as president in 2019.


HOW DID HE RISE TO POWER?

Now 73, Zuma had an impoverished childhood and no formal schooling. Brought up by his widowed mother he joined the ANC as a teenager when South Africa was still split by apartheid.

He became an active member of the ANC’s military arm but was caught by the security forces and jailed for 10 years alongside Nelson Mandela on the country’s notorious Robben Island.

Exiled to Mozambique and then Zambia after his imprisonment he continued to rise up the ranks of the ANC and was one of the first leaders to go back to South Africa when the ANC ban was lifted in 1990.

He was part of the talks with the white minority government aimed at ending apartheid and was deputy president of the country from 1999 until 2005. At that point he had to battle the allegations of rape but having won his case he then wrested control of the ANC from Mbeki who was seen by critics as having presided over “jobless growth”.

Mbeki was forced to resign as president after the High Court ruled that he had improperly interfered with the National Prosecutions Authority over the corruption allegations made against his rival Zuma.

Zuma was elected president in 2009.

While there have been frequent protests against him in recent years as the country’s economic situation grows worse, he can only be removed by the ANC which has a parliamentary majority.

His own MPs are only likely to try to force him to resign if the ANC loses badly at the local elections in August but if the unrest increases that might be a possibility.

“He is eating when we are hungry,” said one protester.