The South African government is setting ”an appalling precedent” by paying former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s legal fees, said the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).
DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer said on Thursday: ”After over a year of evasions and statements that the matter was still under consideration, the government has finally admitted that the taxpayer will have to fork out R10-million to pay for Zuma’s highly publicised trials.
”This information has not reached the public by way of an announcement, but was instead surreptitiously hidden away in a section of the mini-budget. It is not even clear which trial this amount is to cover — the corruption trial, the rape trial, or both.”
”It is shocking that the government has agreed to pay for the defence of someone who is alleged to have carried out their job in a corrupt manner. After all, ex-deputy president Zuma is being prosecuted in his personal capacity, and it could never be argued that his alleged criminal conduct was undertaken in furtherance of the business of the state.
”It is therefore unconscionable that the state has chosen to foot the former deputy president’s legal fees.”
Camerer said further: ”This decision also smacks of the most blatant double standards from the African National Congress [ANC] government. In 2004, the ANC-led Western Cape provincial government refused to pay the legal fees in the corruption trial of former Western Cape premier Peter Marais and former [provincial minister] David Malatsi. The provincial government successfully had a lower court ruling that it pay the legal fees of the two overturned.”
Camerer said her party would be putting a question on the parliamentary order paper to establish exactly which legal costs in exactly which trial the R10-million is budgeted to cover, ”the reasons for this financial support and whether more money will be paid by the taxpayer if Mr Zuma’s trial is reinstated”.
The former deputy president’s corruption trial was recently struck off the roll but Zuma was acquitted in his rape trial earlier this year.
New feature to Zuma website to raise funds
Meanwhile, new features have been added to the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust website to raise funds for Zuma’s outstanding legal fees, the trust’s administrator said on Thursday.
”Although the corruption case against … Zuma has been struck off the roll, we still face outstanding legal costs,” said Barnabas Xulu.
In an effort to raise funds for the outstanding fees, communication to the site has been extended to cellphones, he said.
Zuma’s fans will now be able to download, through their cellphones, ringtones and wallpapers.
”We are introducing Mr Zuma’s trademark song, Mshini Wam, as a ringtone. Polyphonic and monotones can also be downloaded at a cost of R5,” said Xulu.
”The true tone bearing Mr Zuma’s original voice can be downloaded at a cost of R10.”
Cellphone users can also download autographed pictures of Zuma from the photo gallery on the website.
”If a user downloads more than one wallpaper, they are automatically entered into a draw to win a life-sized, autographed portrait with Msholozi,” Xulu said.
Fans can also send messages to the website’s ”Messages of Support” page via cellphone.
Xulu said users of the website will be informed about the latest news and updates to the website via SMS. — I-Net Bridge, Sapa