Lawyers for South Africa's Zuma tell court he is being treated unfairly

Former South Africa President Jacob Zuma. He appeared in court on Monday for the fifth time since the charges were reinstated. (AFP)

Jacob Zuma’s lawyers argued on Monday that the former South African president had been treated unfairly by prosecutors in his bid to have revived corruption charges set aside because he is unpopular in the country at large.

Zuma has applied for a permanent stay of prosecution from 16 charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to a deal to buy 30 billion rand of European military hardware for South Africa’s armed forces in the late 1990s.