Читать книгу Tafelberg Short: Nkandla - The end of Zuma? - City Press - Страница 6

The Schabir Shaik trial was one of the most important court trials in post-apartheid South Africa. The case, tried in the Durban High Court in October 2004, before Judge Hilary Squires, proved the fraudulent and corrupt relationship between Durban-based businessman Schabir Shaik and the man who would become president, Jacob Zuma.

It was also the first time that the public became so acutely aware of the village of Nkandla.

Schabir Shaik was arrested in 2001 for the possession of secret documents, after which investigators found that he was involved in corrupt dealings with Zuma as well as fraud. Shaik and Nkobi Holdings were at various times in financial trouble.

They financed operations through bank overdrafts and loans which came at an interest that they had no money to pay. They took the money lent from the bank at interest and gave it to then Deputy President Jacob Zuma as an interest-free loan while he was technically bankrupt and thus in no position to repay the loan.

When Zuma wanted payment for the development of a traditional residential village estate at Nkandla, at a cost of R1 340 000, various arrangements were made by Shaik to provide finance on Zuma’s behalf.

Forensic evidence submitted to court showed Zuma couldn’t pay for the construction himself and needed the assistance of friends such as Shaik and businessman Vivian Reddy to pay the builder. Judge Squires found that the cost of the development “would plainly be more than Zuma could afford if he still needed Shaik’s help to live on his remuneration as deputy president” and that Zuma had a need for extra money, “not only to meet his current needs but also to pay for this acquisition (of Nkandla)”.

When Shaik found out the builder was charging Zuma R2.4million to construct the rondavels, he (Shaik) asked the builder “if Zuma (thought) money grew on trees”.

During the trial it emerged that French arms company executive Alain Thetard of Thint, previously known as Thompson CSF, allegedly paid Zuma a R500 000 bribe a year for two years for his support of Thint’s future projects and his protection in the event of an arms deal investigation. It was this money that Judge Hilary Squires said in his judgment went in part towards the construction of Zuma’s then already infamous 12-room residence in Nkandla – a fraction of what it is today.

Squires found that at least R250 000 from another French arms deal company Thales – which won the R1.3 billion tender to provide technology to the navy’s new corvette warships – went towards paying for Zuma’s homestead.

What was in it for them? What were the companies and individuals getting in return from Zuma? This was the crux of the case against Shaik, and it was this link that ran through the charge sheet and put Zuma almost at the centre of the trial.

In June 2005, after Judge Squires found Schabir Shaik guilty of fraud and corruption, and found Shaik and Zuma had had a “generally corrupt relationship”, Zuma, then ANC deputy president, was fired as deputy president of the country by President Thabo Mbeki. Zuma was also charged on two corruption counts by the National Prosecution Authority.

In August 2005, members of the Scorpions and the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) scoured through a trough of documents in Zuma’s Nkandla home, Parliament, the Union Buildings, the offices of Zuma’s attorney Mike Hulley, Schabir Shaik’s home and offices in KZN, Thomson/Thales’ offices, Zuma’s former legal adviser Julekha Mahomed and, Nolitha FakudeNkuna’s homes and offices. A maze of documents was taken in for safe-keeping and forensic analysis.

Then, in November 2005, an investigation began into charges that Zuma had raped a 31-year-old family friend at his home in Forest Town, Johannesburg. Formal charges were laid on 6 December 2005. The accuser was known by Zuma to be HIV positive. He vehemently denied the charges, and affirmed his political commitment to oppose sexual violence.

During the trial, Zuma admitted to having unprotected sex with his accuser but claimed that he took a shower afterwards to cut the risk of contracting HIV. This statement has been condemned by the judge, health experts, AIDS activists and the public in general.

By 2006, the chattering classes had all but written off ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma as a serious challenger for presidency of the ANC and the country.

However, in Nkandla support for their native son remained strong. At the time, City Press’s Wonder Hlongwa spoke to the villagers of KwaNxamalala (Zuma’s clan). Their feeling was that Zuma’s political maturity, bravery and ability to deal with his detractors would see him emerging victorious from this debacle.

“This whole thing is a character assassination campaign hatched at the top of the ANC leadership and designed to eliminate Gedle (Zuma) from the presidential race. We are aware of that.

“If he was corrupt we, as his family members, would not be living in rondavels like these, we would be living in mansions,” said Bhekumuzi Zuma, chief of the Nxamalala (Zuma) clan and a close relative of Zuma.

He denounced Zuma’s detractors as tribalists bent on retaining the leadership of the ANC, and told several stories of development initiated by Zuma in the area.

“There are hundreds of children here who are attending school as a result of Zuma.

“There are families that are receiving food parcels because of Zuma,” said Bhekumuzi.

He pointed out eMathungela primary, the first school that Zuma attended before leaving the village to seek employment in Durban.

EMathungela used to be a ramshackle mud brick and corrugated iron building built in the 1940s, but through Zuma’s tireless campaign to develop his area it was turned into a modern school equipped with the latest learning material.

“This is Gedle (Zuma), he does not give up easily. In his life he has been through worse scenarios than this and won. Just watch,” said Zuma’s ageing brother – Vusumbango.

“He is one of us. He lives here. The roads are terrible and we badly lack general infrastructure but he has not divorced us and moved to cities. What we go through, he also feels it,” said Ntomb’kayise Ngubane, an elderly village woman.

“If they want to get rid of him who will look after the interests of the poor and the dispossessed like ourselves? Zuma is from rural areas and he understands the suffering of people like ourselves.”

It seems the people of Nkandla were correct about Zuma weathering those storms. On 8 May 2006, the court dismissed the rape charges, agreeing that the sexual act in question was consensual. In 2007, the woman who brought the rape charges was granted asylum in The Netherlands.

But there was still the corruption case, which was the source of his troubles in the first place. Zuma triumphed again.

Judge Herbert Msimang threw the case out of the Pietermaritzburg High Court because the NPA had failed to present Zuma with a final charge sheet.

In September 2008, Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Chris Nicholson ruled that Zuma’s corruption charges were unlawful on procedural grounds, adding there was reason to believe the charges against Zuma had been politically motivated, thereby clearing the way for the ousting of Thabo Mbeki and for Zuma to run for president.

Zuma’s popularity was demonstrated by the reaction outside of court, people were overjoyed by the ruling. Some threw themselves on the ground, some shed a tear and some shouted incantations.

Earlier, members of the ANC national executive committee inside the court had burst into a loud joint sigh of relief – others raised clenched fists. Zuma stood unemotional, listening attentively to every word. As Nicholson took his last steps out of his cubicle, members burst into song, waving hands while others smiled broadly without saying much.

It was at this time that Julius Malema referred to Zuma as a boy from Nkandla who now should be taken to the Union Buildings.

During the Shaik trial and subsequent investigations, a number of additional sources of funding for Zuma’s Nkandla home were revealed:

•R1 340 000 from Shaik.

•Approximately R1 000 000 from Thint.

•At least R250 000 from Thales.

•BEE icon Nora Fakude-Nkuna’s company, Bohlabela Wheels, contributed R140 000.

•Businessman Vivian Reddy gave two payments of R50 000 each towards contractors’ costs for Nkandla. He also signed surety for a home loan for Zuma and picked up monthly instalments of R12 000.

•Former president Nelson Mandela transferred R2 million to Zuma’s account for education and money for the Zulu King’s wife. The money was not used for its intended purpose.

•In December 2012, aleaked forensic report for the first time linked President Jacob Zuma to another arms deal beneficiary: German industrial conglomerate MAN Ferrostaal (now called Ferrostaal). The company was the leading partner in the German consortium that South Africa awarded an R8 billion contract to build three submarines. A forensic audit report by KPMG into the president’s financial affairs revealed that MAN Ferrostaal paid at least R230 000 for Zuma’s benefit.