The Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust will be hosting its first official fund-raising event on Friday in Durban to raise money for the former South African deputy president’s legal costs.
Jacob Zuma will be making his third court appearance on Saturday. The trust, which was formed in July this year, will be hosting a R250-a-head cocktail party at Durban’s Beach Café in an effort to kick-start its fund-raising campaign.
The trust is a collaborative effort between the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its affiliates, sympathetic businesses and civil society groups.
The Mail & Guardian reported on Friday last week that the trust was facing a financial crisis, and quoted Xulu confirming that it was “far behind” in achieving its target.
The M&G understood that Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi had expressed concern to fellow unionists about the financial position of the trust, saying the matter was nearing a “crisis”.
Don Mkhwanazi, chairperson of the trust, told the M&G Online this week that Zuma will not be attending the cocktail party on Friday because “he needs to rest” before he appears in court.
He added that the trust will also be present at the night vigil happening outside the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday, to encourage Zuma supporters to donate cash to the fund.
Some sponsors have even arranged luncheons on Saturday and braais “where people can have fun”, said Mkhwanazi.
“This overwhelming support of Jacob Zuma has turned into a reality and that reality is cash. There are many legal fees in the Zuma trial and that is what the money goes towards. It doesn’t come cheaply,” he said.
“We’re on the verge of finalising the master plans,” he said, when asked what projects are in the pipeline to reach the trust’s R12-million target.
“We have not even started raising funds, [but] we have no doubt that we will raise that amount. Twelve million is a realisable goal,” said Mkhwanazi.
Nhlakanipho Ntombela, chairperson of the African National Congress Youth League said: “We support the effort of fund-raising.”
“We are very poor as an organisation and we aren’t at that level to sponsor the trust, but we do encourage members or the organisation who can afford to contribute to do so,” he added.
He said that he is expecting a crowd of 10Â 000 to attend the night vigil on Friday.
Barnabas Xulu, the administrator of the Zuma Trust, told the M&G Online on Wednesday that the trust hopes to release its “master plan” of fund-raising events in the next couple of days.
Last week, Xulu told the M&G that sympathetic business people had been reluctant to donate because of lack of clarity on tax implications.
“I am dealing with the South African Revenue Service to clarify the tax guidelines for the trust,” he said.
South Africa’s income-tax law allows “public-benefit organisations”, such as charitable trusts, to claim exemption from tax. The law also provides for donors to charitable trusts to claim deductions from taxable income.
However, the Zuma trust is unlikely to qualify as charitable, and Xulu said the likely outcome of his negotiations with the revenue service was that the trust would be taxed as a person.
However, on Wednesday, Xulu told the M&G Online: “We are going to raise this R12-million. There’s this confidence [among the trustees] based on our master plan that it will happen.”
He said a music concert is being planned for December and the trust is looking to appoint ambassadors in each province who will organise fund-raising events as well.
Regarding Zuma’s application to the state to pay his legal fees, Xulu said there has been no response.
“In the event that the application has been approved, we need to look into it and make sure that they [the state] pay for all the legal fees. The details of their approval has to be studied and looked into [to determine] whether there is going to be a shortfall or not,” added Xulu.
In the meantime, said Xulu, “our major focus is that the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust will be focusing on fund-raising”.