Despite promising he would challenge KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) Judge Nkosinathi Chili’s ruling that compels him to face trial for arms deal corruption next year, former President Jacob Zuma hasn’t done so – and he has dropped all his other prosecution-related appeals.

NPA spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, said neither Zuma nor Thales, Zuma’s French arms company corruption co-accused, have filed applications for leave to appeal ‘in time or at all since 14 May 2026’, the day of the judgment. 

‘In the result, the trial court’s order that the trial will commence on 1 February 2027 is now final. The state is ready to proceed,’ he said this week.

News24 reports that Zuma’s inaction in relation to a series of damaging rulings against him and Thales in May this year appears to significantly predate his current hospitalisation for undisclosed medical issues.

Arguably, the most far-reaching of these judgments was the first of them: Chili’s 14 May ruling that compels Zuma and Thales to stand trial, regardless of whether they launch appeals against his decisions.

Despite the JG Zuma Foundation describing Chili’s judgment as ‘totally erroneous’, accusing him of gross misdirection in both fact and law and arguing that there were strong prospects of another court overturning the ruling on appeal, its promise that the former President would appeal against the ruling has not materialised.

Full News24 report