Zuma, Gumede cases in court on Monday

Former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and 21 others will head back to a Durban court facing corruption charges.

Meanwhile, the fraud and graft trial of former president Jacob Zuma and French Arms company Thales continues in Pietermaritzburg. 

The corruption trial for Gumede and 21 others was meant to begin last month, but it emerged that some of the accused had run out of funds to pay their attorneys.

Together, the group face over 2 700 corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering charges in connection with a Durban Solid Waste tender.

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It's alleged that supply chain management processes on the tender were skipped for the benefit of identified service providers for over R300 million.

A pre-trial conference is set to go ahead again today in the matter to get an understanding of whether the issues have been ironed out.

In Zuma's last appearance in Pietermaritzburg, Judge Piet Koen postponed the trial in the decades-old arms deal matter pending the outcome of a reconsideration application filed at the Supreme Court of Appeal after bids by the former president to have state prosecutor Billy Downer removed from the case failed. 

The court heard that his corruption trial could potentially begin in mid-August if the application is denied.

The former head of state faces 16 counts of fraud, racketeering and money laundering charges.