South African prosecutors have charged new ANC leader Jacob Zuma with corruption, racketeering and money-laundering barely a week after he was elected leader of the party.
In papers filed at Mr Zuma's Johannesburg residence, the African National Congress president was told he will go on trial next August in a move that places a major question mark over his hopes of becoming head of state in 2009.
Mr Zuma, who was cleared of rape at a trial last year, said he had not been given prior notice of the indictment but gave no further comment.
The move had been widely expected after the acting director of public prosecutions announced last week that the national prosecuting authority had enough evidence to bring charges, only two days after Mr Zuma ousted his rival President Thabo Mbeki as head of the ANC on 18 December.
Mr Zuma was sacked by Mr Mbeki as deputy head of state in 2005 after his financial advisor Schabir Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in prison for soliciting bribes on his behalf.
An initial bid to try Mr Zuma was thrown out of court by a judge last year but prosecutors have since been firming up their case and charges became more or less inevitable last month when he lost a legal challenge to a series of search warrants.
