Jacob Zuma and Schabir Shaik, the arms magnate that the Scorpions want to question about the deputy president’s alleged demand for a R500 000-a-year bribe, have been close since struggle days.
In May, when Shaik appeared in court on charges that he illegally possessed classified Cabinet minutes, a Zuma spokesperson was quoted as saying the friendship between the two men would stay: ”They have a private relationship which has nothing to do with Zuma being deputy president. Shaik worked under Zuma as his cadre for many years in [the African National Congress’s armed wing] MK.”
The Mail & Guardian revealed last week that the Scorpions were investigating Zuma’s alleged promise to protect and support French arms giant Thomson-CSF (now named Thales) locally in return for an annual payment of R500 000 [Scorpions probe Jacob Zuma]. Shaik, who allegedly helped arrange the bribe, is a partner of Thales in the latter’s local subsidiary, African Defence Systems. Thales and African Defence Systems are major beneficiaries in the government’s multibillion-rand arms deal.
Bribery allegations apart, however, the question remains to what extent the relationship has been beneficial to both men — and how proper such benefit might have been.
Shaik, a former technikon engineering lecturer, was reportedly recruited into the ANC underground in the 1980s by Zuma, who became ANC intelligence chief in 1987. Shaik’s tasks are said to have included helping coordinate ANC foreign funding. After the ANC was unbanned in 1990, Shaik was adviser to Thomas Nkobi, then ANC treasurer general.
In 1995 Shaik started putting his financial flair — and arguably his political connections — to private use. He founded Nkobi Holdings and Nkobi Investments, now at the heart of a KwaZulu-Natal based commercial empire spanning defence, information technology and infrastructure.
Whether or not Zuma pulled strings to advance his friend Shaik’s commercial progress is a matter of conjecture, but the fact that Zuma was the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for economic affairs and tourism between 1994 and 1999 could not have hurt.
The M&G last year quoted Professor Themba Sono, a Nkobi director between 1996 and 1997, claiming that Shaik did trade on his political connections in negotiations with prospective partners: ”Everybody understood that the political connection was so strong from Schabir’s side that there was no need for Nkobi to come up with the money. Schabir said words to the effect that without him and Nkobi none of them would get any contracts.”
Shaik at the time confirmed to the M&G that he liaised with government contacts in his business dealings, but claimed his morals prevented him from improperly exploiting his relationships. ”I believe in a God, after all.”
If evidence unearthed by the Scorpions’s investigation into the alleged bribe proves factual, Shaik’s moral scruples did not prevent him from calling Zuma into sensitive negotiations with Thomson CSF/Thales. Court documents obtained by the M&G shows that the Scorpions want to question Shaik (a summons he has resisted so far) about:
A meeting in November 1998 between Shaik and Thomson CSF/ Thales executives where a transfer of shares from Thomson CSF to Shaik’s Nkobi was discussed. Allegedly also present was ”Minister JZ” — Jacob Zuma.
A meeting between Thomson CSF/Thales executive Alain Thetard, Shaik and Zuma in March 2000. (If a document, which the Scorpions say in court papers is a subsequent missive by Thetard to his headquarters in Mauritius and Paris, is to be believed, it is at this same meeting that Zuma reconfirmed his alleged request for a bribe.)
Purely the appearance of friendship with someone as highly placed as Zuma must have benefited Shaik. But what’s been in it for Zuma?
Neither party denies that Shaik handles Zuma’s personal finances. A Scorpions affidavit last year refers to Shaik making payments on behalf of Zuma, including rent for a flat in Durban and school and university fees for Zuma’s children. The affidavit claims more than R90 000 in payments by Shaik entities on behalf of Zuma between 1996 and 1999 had been traced, of which only R15 000 is reflected as having been repaid.
Scorpion court papers include letters written by Shaik to Thomson CSF/Thales during 2000. In one, Shaik refers to ”our understanding regarding Deputy President Jacob Zuma” and in another he complains that ”my party feels let down” over ”an agreed understanding” being reneged on.
The Scorpions seem to think these letters add to the evidence of Zuma’s alleged R500 000 bribe demand. But on an interpretation more favourable to Zuma, of course, Shaik could have been using the deputy president’s name without authorisation. But why, then, has Zuma not distanced himself from what seems to be an unshakeable friendship?
Related:
Zuma: The money trail 06 December 2002
Deputy president denies allegations 29 November 2002
Scorpions probe Jacob Zuma 29 November 2002