Former President Jacob Zuma appears in court on the 23 June 2020 where he is facing changes of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering at Pietermaritzburg High Court, South Africa. (Photo: Sandile Ndlovu / Pool) 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 heather@dailymaverick.co.za 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.