Hurricane Zuma hits Durban

DESPITE the slow start to an all-night vigil held in support of former President Jacob Zuma at Albert Park on Thursday evening, hundreds of Zuma supporters clad in ANC regalia brought the city to a standstill on Friday.

Supporters openly defied an earlier National Executive Council (NEC) decision that party members refrain from wearing party regalia and show their support for Zuma in their personal capacities.

Zuma made a brief appearance in the Durban High Court where he faces 16 charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering. The case was postponed to 8 June. His supporters vowed to return in their numbers when the former statesman appears in the Durban High Court in June.

Watched by a strong police presence, Zuma’s supporters marched from King Dinizulu park, on Thursday morning to the High Court. Among those who marched was Black First Land First (BLF) president, Andile Mngxitama, who walked hand-in-hand with Zuma’s eldest son, Edward Zuma. Mngxitama said: “We are here to show support for Msholozi because he is not guilty. His only sin was saying the land must be returned to its rightful owners.”

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The Berea Mail also spoke to one of the marchers, who identified himself as being a representative of the Gauteng Provincial General Council. When asked why he supported Zuma he said: “Zuma implemented all the policies of the ANC, but today they are persecuting him for those policies. We are here to show support for our president and defeat white monopoly capital.”

Former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who enjoyed support from Zuma during his tenure at the helm at the state broadcaster, made clear that he was not apologetic about his support for Zuma. He also took a swipe at those who were appointed to government positiona by Zuma for their lack of support.

“We are not like those opportunists who were happy when they were appointed as Ministers by Zuma but today they are nowhere to be found. The ANC should not run away from its people,” said Motsoeneng.

The crowd broke out into cheers and ululating as Zuma made his way out of the court after his brief appearance. Zuma, who addressed his supporters in his mother tongue, said the so called spy-tapes should be made public so that the public could be afforded an opportunity to hear what the tapes are really about.

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“The reason why the case was reinstated its solely political. There are certain opposition parties who use the courts to fight their political battles. It is surprising that there are those who have already found me guilty, they want me to be treated like a prisoner. What happened to innocent until proven guilty?,” Zuma asked.

“Those who are eager and hellbent to have this case go ahead, maybe when it finally goes ahead they would wish it didn’t because it is going to expose the real perpetrators. We have fought for the democracy of our nation, however, we realized later that political freedom without economic freedom is not complete Black people are treated badly everywhere in the world, even in the so called democratic countries. Ours is to fight for the dignity and respect of a black person.”

Meanwhile, ANC KZN interim committee co-ordinator, Sihle Zikalala cautioned those who carried placards insulting ANC leaders.

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“Those placards that insult our leaders will not be tolerated because they misrepresent our presence, we are not here to insult people. We are here to show support to president Zuma because there is no court of law that has found him guilty. As people we have every right to support those who matter in our lives,” said Zikalala.

Zuma suffered a blow on Friday when the presidency took a decision to withdraw an appeal against a judgment for which he personally will carry the costs for his attempts to have former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s state capture report set aside. Adding to Zuma’s legal woes is the DA’s Pretoria High Court application for the state to stop funding his lawyers.

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On Tuesday the National Prosecuting Authority released the 89-page indictment document, which shows accused number one, Zuma, is facing one count of racketeering, two counts of corruption, one count of money laundering and 12 counts of fraud. Accused number two, Thales – represented by Christine Guerrier – is facing one count of racketeering, two counts of corruption and one count of money-laundering. The indictment said Zuma held “several high ranking offices in the provincial and national executive and in the African National Congress (ANC),” at the time of the alleged bribes, and effectively abused the trust and power of his position to enrich himself.

The indictment said that “accused 1 (Zuma), 2 (Thales),… Schabir Shaik and the companies comprising the Nkobi group (controlled by Shaik), formed a common purpose to bribe accused 1 through an ongoing series of payments from Shaik and the Nkobi Group”. It said this relationship was formed on or near October 25, 1995, until July 1, 2005, with 783 payments made totalling R4,072,499.85. It said one of the red flags identifying the relationship between Shaik and Zuma was in February 1999 when an amount of over R1.2 million was irregularly written off in the Nkobi accounting records. Included in the amount were various payments made to Zuma of over R283,000 as a loan.

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