The Durban High Court heard on Wednesday how money borrowed by Deputy President Jacob Zuma in his personal capacity was allegedly used to cover ANC expenses.
Durban businessman Abdool Mangerah testified how he and Zuma worked closely together in the Southern Natal Executive of the African National Congress in Durban.
Mangerah was testifying in the fraud and corruption trial of Schabir Shaik. His testimony related to count one of corruption in which the State alleges Shaik put Zuma on a retainer of R1,2-million for use of his influence.
Mangerah said that in 1994 Zuma started borrowing money from him regularly and paid him back by means of a stop order which at times was not forthcoming.
Mangerah said the debts were incurred by Zuma in his personal capacity. He said the sums were mainly small, but in December 1995, Zuma borrowed R100 000.
Mangerah, who owns an import/export company, said Zuma gave him the impression he was under pressure by financial institutions to settle debts.
Zuma promised to pay back the R100 000 in two to three months, but later said he could not honour this agreement. Mangerah said he ”gladly” extended the payment date because ”Zuma was my personal friend”.
However, by November 1996, payments had dried up, he said.
Zuma then requested a statement of his debts and asked Mangerah ”not to embarrass him”. He and Mangerah agreed to make it look as though the money was owed by the ANC and not Zuma. The letter containing the statement was to be sent to the ANC office.
”Also not to embarrass him”, it was agreed that Mangerah request that ANC provincial treasurer Zweli Mkhize deposit the money into Mangerah’s bank account.
This happened in December 1996 and after many discussions he said Zuma instructed Schabir Shaik to settle the debt. Mangerah said he received several post-dated cheques in March 1997, with dates ranging from May 1997 to February 1999.
He said he was disappointed with the cheques because the account was long overdue and he had expected settlement sooner.
He said the cheques were from Clegton Investments. Some were honoured, others were not, and eventually the Clegton bank account was closed.
Mangerah said he tried to contact Zuma and Shaik but had no ”joy”.
In June 1998, he wrote to Shaik to say his attorney would handle the account. In a conversation after that Shaik was very aggressive and ”certain threats” were made.
Mangerah said at that stage about R86 000 was still outstanding and his lawyer wanted to have Clegton liquidated for not honouring payment.
He then tried to get Zuma to sign an acknowledgement of debt ”because he was the one who borrowed the money from my company”.
But this did not happen and Shaik undertook to get the money. Zuma was not charged interest on the loan, as it went against Mangerah’s principles as a Muslim. He said all he wanted in return were ”prayers for my good health”.
Defence advocate Francois van Zyl referred to Mangerah’s initial statement in which he said Zuma was liberal with his money, giving freely to people in need, of whom there were many as ”at that stage the province was on fire”.
He also said Zuma was involved in sensitive discussions, travelled extensively and had many bodyguards.
He said that Zuma himself paid for many ANC-related expenses. Van Zyl asked him if Zuma had told him that he might get help from the ANC in settling the debt with Mangerah.
Van Zyl said that, according to Shaik, Zuma had borrowed the money in his personal capacity and used it for ANC purposes. He said when Shaik undertook to pay Mangerah, he regarded it as a contribution to the ANC.
”Mine was not a contribution,” said Mangerah. He received a final cheque for the outstanding amount, but that the balance of about R4 000 was never paid, he said.
Earlier in the trial the court heard how Shaik wrote off three accounts in the names of Schabir Shaik, Floryn Investments and Clegton Investments in the books of Kobifin, one of his companies, as Prodiba development costs.
Prodiba was a contract to manufacture South Africa’s credit-card style driver’s licences.
The next witness was advocate Gerhard Visagie, formerly of the Heath Special Investigating Unit. His testimony relates to count three of corruption in which the State alleges that Shaik solicited a R500 000 bribe for Zuma from French arms company Thomson CSF in exchange for protection during investigations into arms deal irregularities. – Sapa