Former deputy president Jacob Zuma will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning on two corruption charges.
Security was stepped up on Monday evening when a large crowd of Zuma’s supporters held an all-night vigil in front of the court building.
Police have warned that only those with accreditation will be able to enter the court for the proceedings.
Zuma’s charges come after his friend and former financial adviser Schabir Shaik was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail on fraud and corruption charges linked to Zuma.
Shaik is out on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.
Court authorities said on Monday all other proceedings will be delayed by two hours until the Zuma case in courtroom 12 has been dealt with.
Several high-profile people, including national ministers, are expected in court on Tuesday and Zuma is scheduled to address the crowd after his appearance.
On Monday night, a huge police contingent monitored the situation as the crowd sang and toyi-toyied in the road outside the court.
Zuma’s supporters blew vuvuzelas, waved African National Congress flags and held placards bearing Zuma’s face.
Some of the placards read: ”Zuma won’t get a fair trial”, ”Transform judiciary and all institutions”, ”Support Msholozi” and ”Who is Zuming who?”.
Friends of the Jacob Zuma Trust, which was running a fund-raising campaign to help the former deputy president, sold Zuma T-shirts at R50 each.
Happy Mngadi, an ANC member from Durban, said she was there because she believed Zuma had suffered enough while fighting for freedom for the country.
”You wouldn’t want Madiba to suffer more, so why do you want Zuma to suffer more?” she asked.
She said it was obvious that the trial and his sacking had left Zuma traumatised.
”There is no member of the ANC who has money because they were in jail. They all had sponsors. They all received money, so why is Zuma getting jailed for what he received?” she asked.
A member of the South African Communist party in Cato Ridge outside Durban, Pro Sibisi, said 125 members of his branch were there to show that they were unhappy with the way the Scorpions were handling Zuma’s case.
”We see it’s not going to be fair. I can see there’s a lot of things in this case, it’s not just about Zuma being guilty. I wish they’ll drop the charges because the way you look at it, if he’s found guilty in this case, it will also be corruption,” Sibisi said.
Zuma supporter Mduduzi Manana, an ANC Youth League provincial organiser, travelled from Mpumalanga to participate in the vigil.
”If we believed Zuma was guilty, we would never have travelled all the way from Mpumalanga to stand in the Durban cold,” said Manana, who had flown to Durban with some of his comrades on Monday night. — Sapa