A human rights lawyer Richard Spoor has offered to represent former South African President Jacob Zuma in his corruption trial coming up next month.

Richard Spoor posted on Twitter that he was offering his services to Mr Zuma for free:

Mr Spoor said that he did not expect the former president to take up the offer, but he “would be delighted to take on such a high-profile and important case”.

Mr Zuma’s lawyers filed a notice of withdrawal from representing him without giving reasons for doing so.

The move, ahead of the former president’s trial set to begin on 17 May, followed his loss of an appeal against the state’s bid to recover money it had spent on his legal fees.

Mr Zuma faces more than a dozen charges relating to a $2bn (£1.4bn) state arms deal, including fraud and money laundering – all of which he denies.