Mungo Soggot and Wonder Hlongwa
The man who is likely to become deputy president of South Africa has been taken to court for not repaying his R120 000 overdraft and for failing to honour payments on a R400 000 home loan.
Standard Bank confirmed this week that it successfully obtained judgment against Jacob Zuma — the deputy president of the African National Congress and MEC for economic affairs and tourism in KwaZulu- Natal — in the Durban High Court last October.
But the bank has taken the unusual decision not to foreclose on Zuma and, three months later, is still talking to his lawyers about finding an “amicable settlement”.
Standard Bank’s representative, Eric Larson, said before taking Zuma to court the bank engaged in “lots of discussions” to resolve the issue. “Unfortunately, we could not resolve it, so we followed a legal course of action.”
The Mail & Guardian attempted to obtain the papers from the high court, but the file at the Durban court-house which is supposed to contain the case’s key documents was empty. In terms of South African legislation, all court documents are public documents.
Standard Bank declined to disclose the details of Zuma’s debts, but the M&G has learned that in October last year his arrears amounted to at least R70 000 on a home loan of more than R400 000 for property in the Johannesburg suburb of Killarney.
Zuma, who has two other houses in KwaZulu- Natal, did not pay his bond instalments for eight-and-a-half months. He has been talking to the Malaysian-owned New Republic Bank about transferring his overdraft and bond.
He said this week he was angry that news of his debt judgment leaked out, saying it was a “private matter. I am dealing with the bank, not everybody.”
He said if he found out the Standard Bank leaked the information — the bank was not the M&G’s source — he would pursue the matter with the bank.
Zuma said Standard Bank was “not happy” when he left as it considered him a “VIP customer”. He added that he told the bank “financial institutions are not transforming.
‘I’m very concerned you got this information. Some people are using these things for their own political purposes. This is a personal matter, it is not for the public.”
Zuma said he did not make plans to move his account to New Republic Bank after the case but before, claiming he was not taken to court because he had “financial problems. I firstly moved the account which I discussed with Standard Bank. As we [Zuma and his financial adviser] were transferring the account, there were some months that we didn’t pay.” He declined to comment further.
New Republic Bank, which is controlled by Malaysian tycoon Dato Samsudin, said it is policy not to discuss any client. It could not confirm or deny any discussions with Zuma.
Chief executive Johnathan Scott said the bank, like most financial institutions, would take a “conservative” view if a prospective client had a judgment against him.
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