Revealed: Jacob Zuma’s intimate dinner with Jeffrey Epstein

Erstwhile President Jacob Zuma undertook a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom from 3 March to 5 March 2010, at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II. It was the first state visit Zuma had undertaken to the UK since becoming president.

Zuma chose wife Tobeka Madiba Zuma to accompany him.

An account from the British Royal Household at the time laid out the agenda for Zuma’s trip. Zuma and his wife stayed at Buckingham Palace for two nights and had banquets on both nights.

Zuma’s last official engagement was on the afternoon of 5 March, which was a meeting with NGOs working in South Africa at Pretoria’s diplomatic hub in London, South Africa House.

But the latest tranche of documents published by the US Department of Justice related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which run to 3 million pages and released on Friday 23 January, has cast new light on what Zuma did on his final evening in London.

Seemingly, the sitting President of South Africa had an intimate dinner with Epstein – and a Russian model.

Zuma’s MK party spokesperson did not respond to Daily Maverick’s request for comment on Saturday, but comments will be added if received after publication.

Invitation to the Ritz

Many email senders and recipients have been redacted from the record. The grammar in the emails below is as it appears in the record.

The first email in the Epstein Files relating to the Zuma dinner reads as follows, sent on Thursday, 4 March 2010, to an unknown recipient:

“Dear Vera,

I am a friend of Jeffrey Epstein and I have been asked to help arrange a small dinner tomorrow night for President Jacob Zuma of South Africa at the Ritz Hotel at 7:00pm tomorrow evening.

Jeffrey suggested that I invite you, as you would be certain to add some real glamour to the occasion. A friend of Jeffreys is a friend of mine, so I have no hesitation inviting you to join us.

If you are not put off by the extremely short notice and would be able to accept, can you let me have a little more information about yourself as well as your full name ( as I have to present the President with a summary of the guests in advance).

with best regards,

Mark LLOYD”

The exact identity of Mark Lloyd has not been confirmed, but a Reddit post claims a man of the same name recurs throughout the Epstein Files, and publishes a photo allegedly of Lloyd with Epstein at Disneyland with the following description: “He appears to be a well-connected elite broker/fixer, operating in high-value UK real estate, tied into transatlantic money and power circles, using discreet shorthand for wealthy clients”.

The recipient of the email responded:

“Hello Mark.

It is very kind of you and Jeffrey to invite me and i will be honored to accept your invitation.

About myself : my name is [redacted]. I'm from Russia and I have lived in London for the past 2 years.

I am a model , represented by Select model agency. I have been modeling for the past 6 years and have lived in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Japan. Please let me know if you need any other information.

Will it be a black tie event or is a sleeveless cocktail dress ok?”

A separate email sent by Epstein to Peter Mandelson, who served in the Cabinets of Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and was dubbed ‘The Prince of Darkness’ by UK tabloids due to his spin, stated: “mark lloyd is having dinner for zuma tomorrow night at the ritz„ i have invited a beautiful russian named [redacted] to attend”.

It is unclear if Mandelson attended the dinner.

The next email pertaining to the Zuma dinner was sent to Epstein on Saturday 6 March, the day after, apparently from Mark Lloyd.

It begins:

“Jeffrey,

[Name redacted; presumably the Russian model] was magnificent! She is that rare combination of elegance, charm and natural beauty and what is more, she is smart with it! She made a very positive impression on all those who met her, so thank you very much indeed for this introduction.”

The email also reveals that Zuma’s famous charm did not fail to impress his British handlers.

“That aside, we all found Jacob Zuma a much more impressive character than we had expected, he displayed more gravitas and none of the macho bluster he is generally portrayed as having by the tabloid press,” Lloyd wrote.

The last reference to the dinner is found in a response Epstein wrote to an unknown correspondent who emailed him on 6 March 2010 saying: “I am also summoned to see Presdt Zuma tomorrow for private meeting. Do we like South Africa ???”

Epstein replied:

“verymuch„ you can ask him about the girl next to mark lloyd [name retracted, presumably the Russian model] my new future ex”.

There has been no previous indication that Zuma and Epstein were in any way connected to each other.

Zuma is not the only high-profile South African figure whose name appears in the Epstein files. Over the next few days Daily Maverick will continue to report these links.

In recent days, Daily Maverick spoke with Juliette Bryant, a South African woman who revealed how she was groomed by Epstein, whom she met during his visit to the country.

Read Bryant’s story here: ‘He fed off the terror’: South African survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse tells her story

DM