African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma’s family reacted with shock on Tuesday to reports that his first wife’s name has been used in a 419 scam e-mail.
Nephew Michael Zuma, in Nkandla, said: ”What? She doesn’t even have a computer. She has a phone, but she can’t even send SMSs.”
He said Gertrude Zuma was ”born in those times in the rural areas when people didn’t get a proper education. It’s just one of those dirty tricks.”
Reports in Beeld and The Witness on Tuesday said the notorious 419 scam e-mail is doing the rounds, asking recipients to be a ”front” for money that is allegedly Zuma’s but can’t be accessed because ”my husband’s finances are being investigated by his opponents”.
Beeld quoted the e-mail as saying that Zuma wants to transfer $9-million from South Africa to another country.
The 419 e-mail scam is named after the section of the Nigerian criminal code it violates. Originally, many of these scam e-mails were sent from Nigeria.
Zuma’s elder brother Michael said he had not heard about the scam involving Gertrude Zuma.
”She doesn’t have a computer,” he also said.