Zuma on Trial
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Former President Jacob Zuma's long-delayed fraud trial saw a surge in interest this week as the accused arrived to plead not guilty to all charges. Andrew Harding has been following this intricate case for years and was in court in Pietermaritzburg.
The worst of the pandemic may have passed in India's megacities, but the virus is still spreading fast in rural areas - and leaving lasting grief and trauma across the country. Rajini Vaidyanathan reflects from Delhi on the sadness now permeating all levels of society.
Chinese consumers have been knocking back Australian wine with gusto in recent years, even as political relations between Beijing and Canberra have grown ever more strained. But the export boom might not last. Shaimaa Khalil reports from the Barossa Valley in South Australia, where they're bracing for the impact of new Chinese tariffs on imports.
In Canada, a Catholic archdiocese has been found liable for damages to be awarded to several survivors of physical and sexual abuse in a Church-run orphanage. Greg Mercer talked to one man who grew up in the Mount Cashel home.
The city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo is surrounded by dangers - armed rebel groups, a lake with dangerous levels of dissolved CO2 and methane - and now an erupting volcano. Olivia Acland was one of the tens of thousands who had to join a mass evacuation as Nyiragongo rumbled.
Producer: Polly Hope
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts |
| 0:05.1 | Today we hear from India where even the celebrity gossip magazines are now full of COVID stories. |
| 0:12.4 | We've gone off your wine, China's thirst for Australia's red and white exports |
| 0:17.9 | has developed a whiff of sarring relations. In Canada, the Catholic Church is considering how to |
| 0:25.0 | make amends to those children abused in its care. And the volcano next door erupts, |
| 0:31.4 | what it was like to escape from the Congolese city of Goma with nearer Gongo belching lava. |
| 0:38.6 | First South Africa, where former President Jacob Zuma's long postponed fraud trial reached |
| 0:44.1 | a crucial point on Wednesday. The charges date back to the late 1990s when it's alleged that while |
| 0:51.5 | serving as deputy to the then-president, Tabor and Becky, Mr Zuma took large bribes from a |
| 0:57.7 | French arms manufacturer. He faces sixteen charges of fraud, graft and racketeering and denies them |
| 1:05.6 | all. South Africans have waited through endless legal maneuvers as Mr Zuma tried to stave off |
| 1:12.2 | these proceedings and other charges too. And they'll wait longer for a conclusive verdict on the |
| 1:18.4 | Zuma years. The current trial alone still has to call over 200 witnesses to testify. Andrew Harding's |
| 1:26.0 | been following the case closely for years and was in court. I take a sharp step back towards |
| 1:32.8 | the wall as Jacob Zuma's entourage suddenly appears in the courthouse corridor. Back when he was |
| 1:38.0 | South Africa's president, Mr Zuma's security detail was notoriously aggressive. I once got |
| 1:44.1 | punched very carefully in the throat when I made the mistake of getting too close and daring to |
| 1:48.9 | throw a question. The man they used to call number one. But today, his four bodyguards beefy men |
| 1:55.6 | in black suits seem a little subdued, barely trying to put a hand in front of my phone camera, |
| 2:01.2 | and Mr Zuma's slouches passed silently, shoulders hunched, feet shuffling on the heavy carpet. |
| 2:07.6 | He's 79 years old now, and destined, I suspect, to spend many more years |
| 2:12.1 | traipsing through courthouses like this one. I admit, a little obsessed by Zuma, not so much |
... |
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