South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma, jailed for contempt of
court last month, was admitted to hospital on Friday, less than a week
before he is due in court for a separate graft trial.
Zuma, 79, is scheduled to attend the resumption of a long-running
corruption trial on August 10.
The hearing will include a plea to drop 16 charges of fraud, graft and
racketeering against him related to the 1999 purchase of fighter jets,
patrol boats and equipment from five European arms firms when he was
deputy president.
He is accused of taking bribes from one of the firms, which has been
charged with corruption and money laundering.
In a separate case, Zuma was handed a 15-month jail sentence in late
June for snubbing a commission probing state corruption under his
2009-19 presidency.
He started serving the sentence on July 8 at Estcourt prison, in the east
of the country.
