World / Jacob Zuma South African Leader Indicted for Corruption Lawyer calls charges 'politically motivated'; party crisis intensifies By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff Posted Dec 28, 2007 10:39 PM CST Copied Newly elected ANC president Jacob Zuma addresses delegates as the leading party's 52nd conference in Polokwane, South Africa, came to an end Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell) (Associated Press) South African prosecutors hit a new ruling party leader with corruption charges today, threatening his shot at the presidency and risking a prolonged legal and political crisis, the Guardian reports. ANC leader Jacob Zuma was ordered to stand trial next year on charges including racketeering and fraud linked to a $7.1 billion arms deal in 1999. Zuma's lawyer called the move politically motivated and the timing suspicious. Analysts expect the indictment to bring further strife to a party—and country—deeply divided by Zuma's leadership battle with President Thabo Mbeki, the New York Times reports. “What you have here is a declaration of war,” said a critic of Mbeki. Zuma beat Mbeki in a bitter contest for the ANC helm last week, but has little chance of becoming president until the next election in 2009. (More Jacob Zuma stories.) Report an error