South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma, made his first public appearance on Thursday since being released on medical parole last month to file charges against the country’s top prosecutor.
Zuma entered a police station in the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg, where he is facing corruption charges, to file a criminal complaint against advocate Billy Downer for allegedly leaking his medical records. Zuma is currently on trial for corruption.
According to AFP reporters on the scene, Zuma exited his vehicle quickly and walked up to the building’s entrance, surrounded by security agents.
As he passed by the people queuing outside the building, he was joined by one of his children and waved to them.
On the street, a small crowd of supporters sang and danced in Zuma-print t-shirts.
Zuma, 79, was freed from prison due to ill health two months into a 15-month term for refusing to cooperate with a graft investigation investigating his administration from 2009 to 2018.
He was taken to the hospital after being released from prison and had surgery for an unidentified ailment.
Critics accuse the ex-president of exploiting his ill health as an excuse to postpone a long-running corruption prosecution over a 1999 arms deal from five European companies.
Zuma, who was the country’s deputy president at the time, is suspected of accepting bribes from Thales, a French defense company, and faces 16 accusations of fraud, bribery, and racketeering.
After decades of postponements and delays, the trial finally began this year.
Zuma is requesting that Downer withdraw himself from the case because he reportedly shared confidential medical information with the media.
The date for the next hearing has been set for October 26.
In July, Zuma was convicted guilty of contempt of court for ignoring a separate inquiry into widespread public-funds theft during his presidency.
His incarceration provoked violent demonstrations and looting in his home region of KwaZulu-Natal, which expanded to Johannesburg’s financial centre in July, killing over 350 people.
