South African court issues arrest warrant for ex-president Jacob Zuma

A South African court has issued an arrest warrant for former President Jacob Zuma who has been on trial on 18 count charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to a $2 billion arms deal with French defense firm Thales in 1999 when he was the country's deputy president.

The judge stayed the warrant until his corruption trial resumes on May 6.

Zuma's lawyer presented the judge with a sick note from what he said was a military hospital, but Judge Dhaya Pillay questioned whether the note was valid, as there was no medical number showing if and where the doctor was certified.

I don't even know if ... is a doctor. There is ... nothing to suggest that he is, she said, before issuing the warrant.

The former leader is on trial on 18 charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to a $2 billion arms deal with French defence firm Thales in 1999 when Zuma was deputy president. 

He rejects the allegations as a politically motivated witch-hunt.

He is accused of accepting 500,000 rand ($34,000) annually from Thales in 1999, in exchange for protecting the company from an investigation into the deal.

Thales, known as Thompson-CSF at the time, has said it had no knowledge of any transgressions by any of its employees in relation to the award of the contracts.

Following appeals and lobbying by opposition parties, the NPA reinstated the charges in March 2018.