Zuma’s legal representatives said they will study the ruling to determine whether or not they will appeal the judgment.
Zuma faces charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering related to the country’s controversial arms purchase in 1999. He is accused of receiving bribes from French arms company Thales through his former financial advisor Schabir Shaik, who was convicted of related charges in 2005.
“This has been quite a protracted process that now needs to come to an end,” National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga told reporters outside court on Tuesday, speaking of Zuma’s efforts to get the prosecutor dismissed and other tactics to delay the trial.
Zuma, 79, attended the court proceedings in one of his first public appearances since he was released from jail in September. He was released on medical parole after serving nearly two months of his 15-month jail sentence for defying an order of the Constitutional Court to testify at an investigation into corruption during his time as president from 2009 to 2018.