President Jacob Zuma’s legal fees came to roughly R5-million in the year before he was elected, his office told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday.
“There were unavoidable legal fees of R5-million, approximately, for the current president,” Jessie Duarte, the chief operations officer in the Presidency, told MPs who grilled presidential staff over the office’s qualified audit for 2008/09.
The Presidency’s chief financial officer, Bahumi Matebisi, said she could not give a breakdown of how the money was spent. It is believed to have paid for the lawyers who acted for Zuma while he battled fraud and corruption charges.
“I don’t have the reconciliation for the total amount,” she said.
Charges against Zuma relating in part to the country’s multibillion-rand arms deal were reinstated in December 2007 and dropped on the eve of the April 2009 elections, paving the way for him to become president.
Scopa chairperson Themba Godi requested the Presidency to supply the breakdown of Zuma’s legal costs to the committee within a week.
He reminded opposition MPs who objected to the cost to the taxpayer that it is policy that the state pays for the legal defence of officials who face charges. If they lose the case, however, they are obliged to refund the cost.
The Presidency’s annual report reflected legal costs of R10,1-million for the last financial year, compared with R445 000 for 2007/08.
Duarte said the rest of the amount related to other lawsuits, including those brought by an Italian company involved in mining in Limpopo and by farmers who fell victim to stock theft on the Lesotho border.
In both cases the president was named as first respondent.
“There is a trend that the Presidency has become the first respondent in a number of cases,” she said. — Sapa