Letter from the DM168 Editor
Zuma struggles on, now as Beggar-in-Chief as he looks for funds to pay for his private legal battle
Jacob Zuma, the Commander-in-Thief is becoming a Beggar-in-Chief, asking for supporters, fanboys and -girls to pay for his private legal battle.
Dear readers,
Msholozi, JZ, uBaba. The man most are glad to see the back of as Commander-in-Thief of the captured state, but who refuses to go down without a fight. The man who paints himself as a victim of clever blacks, the media, rich whites and Western imperialism.
Those who adore him will tell you how charming, clever and cunning JZ is. After all, with little to no basic education, he outsmarted the apartheid state by re-establishing the ANC underground in KwaZulu-Natal after he was released from Robben Island in 1973.
Exuding the hyper-masculinity of the archetypal freedom fighter, Zuma managed to slip into exile in Swaziland and then Mozambique, rising to the ranks as head of the ANC underground structures and Head of Intelligence in the ANC’s Lusaka headquarters, roles that served him well both in exile in Zambia and when he returned to South Africa – giving him access to a vast network of spies employed in the new South African intelligence structures.
The Teflon man dodged the bullet of a rape charge by Khwezi, the daughter of a comrade in exile who regarded him as a father figure. And he managed to outwit the more educated, urbane Thabo Mbeki, who relieved him of his duties as deputy president of the country in 2005 after Judge Hilary Squires found one of Zuma’s early benefactors and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, guilty of corruption. Shaik, who has been seen fit as a fiddle on the Durban golf courses, managed to skip jail time on medical parole – like Zuma did last year with the help of his sidekick in the world of spying, Arthur Fraser.
Despite the cloud of Arms Deal corruption hovering over him, Zuma ousted Mbeki as ANC leader in Polokwane in 2007 by charming the likes of Julius Malema and Zwelinzima Vavi. He convinced these guys that unlike the neo-liberal Mbeki, he would be pro-worker and pro-poor. Look how that turned out. Malema in Parliament shouting “Pay back the money” to his former hero for whom he once said he was prepared to take up arms and kill; and Vavi confessing that supporting Zuma was the biggest mistake of his life.
If I wasn’t a citizen of this beloved country whose life, like all South African lives, has been massively affected by this Big Man of the people, the ANC, Malema and Vavi bequeathed us, I would love to analyse exactly what it is about Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma that lured supporters, benefactors, wives and, let’s face it, the majority of people in our country, to eat out of his hand – or rather, let him, his friends and family eat out of the state coffers, funds that could have been directed to create a better life for the poor.
A big chunk of the funds that JZ has devoured, were used for his personal legal battles: more than R18-million spent on his Stalingrad legal defence, which the courts have asked him to pay back to the state; and this week, VBS is asking Zuma to pay back the R6.8-million the bank loaned him for his Nkandla upgrade.
The latest money-guzzler is Zuma’s private prosecution of National Prosecuting Authority prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan. In our lead story in this week’s newspaper, our Durban correspondent Des Erasmus dug into our former president’s piling money troubles and found that at 80 years old, the Commander in Thief is becoming a Beggar in Chief, asking for supporters, fanboys and -girls to pay for his private legal battle. The good news is that the state is not paying another cent.
Buy a copy of the paper this weekend to read about JZ’s new tricks up his sleeve. We also have several other gobsmackers, such as our discovery that Cape gangsters are using hi-tech drones to enable their criminal activities.
Oh, and we have Peter Fabricius writing about the special relationship between the late Queen Elizabeth of England and Mandela. Plus travel, satire, thought leaders, puzzles and sport. And a 12-page special supplement on MBAs. More than enough to keep you off the screen, on the couch, informed and entertained. Against all odds, I can barely believe it but this edition of DM168 is the 100th issue we have published-born in the middle of the Covid pandemic in September 2020, we are still on the shelves of Pick ‘n Pay, Woolworths, Spar, Checkers, Exclusive Books and local garage stores. Write to me at [email protected] to be part of the national conversation on our readers’ page. Your views on Msholozi, the passing of the Queen, hi-tech gangsters or whatever else you deem important are all welcome.
Happy reading
Heather
Heather Robertson is DM168 editor.
Brilliant article that sums up the scumbag-in-chief and his special kind of stupid of his followers. That Malema especially, who was instrumental in bringing that obnoxious, criminal and lecherous thief to power, is still around, causing mayhem and division in this country is yet another indictment on the gullibility and frankly, stupidity of many of our countrymen.
Looked in spar and pnp at Hilton and wasn’t in stock.
Athlone PNP usually has 👍
I hope Karyn Maughan uses Stalingrad tactics. Ten years should make Zuma around 90. Nice way to spend retirement worrying about court cases. In theory he is imprisoned by his legal battles.
My personal opinion is that Zuma has got many more millions stashed away, we just do not know where because he’s a very canny lad he is.
However, given that he pleads poverty and cannot be shown to have said millions, he is asking for donors, thus, ‘people’ can donate from his stash and all he has to do is state that it is from other sources. Thereby bypassing any other scrutiny.
Just my opinion/theory, that’s all.
Where? Either in the bunker or in Dubai. But two possible problems…
If in Dubai he has to get it back here. Which then requires disclosures to SARB and perhaps even SARS.
If in the bunker probably in US$ or roubles. Those pesky SARB and SARS get involved again.
With nearly R 25 million in unpaid debt, declare him a financial delinquent and throw into jail.
Good idea!
And this is the individual that the new ANC leadership treks to Nkandla for to seek ” guidance and wisdom!!!” Astonishing that they do not see how this reflects so badly on their own competence and fitness to hold office! I mean seriously, what person in his right mind would go to Zuma for advice of any value ??
“uBaba, now that I am in government, how do I get rich like you?”
The kind that want to learn to loot freely and have no consequences to bother about. Jacob stole a whole democratic country and seems to have gotten away with it. Cyril could have learnt some tricks from Jacob. I doubt even Jacob sews illicit cash into his couch cushions.
Not just Jacob, he learned from the expert, Mugabe, and even Mnanagwa (sp) has learned, the easy way how to steal whole, what were beautiful, countries and turn them into trash.
All of them have taken a leaf out their hero Putin’s handbook on kleptocracy.
Russia functions.