Zuma sponsor accused of spying on judge

A desire to know the identity of the judge who was to hear ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma’s fraud and corruption case last year may have motivated his associates to launch an intricate surveillance operation of KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala, who was making the appointment.

The Scorpions discovered the illegal surveillance operation and questioned Durban businessman and top Zuma financier Erwin Ullbricht on suspicions that he was part of a group that was plotting to kill Tshabalala.

The 31-year-old businessman is listed in Parliament’s members register of interest as Zuma’s associate who sponsored a lavish birthday party for the former deputy president.

KwaZulu-Natal politicians and business people who support Zuma said that the surveillance sought to establish who Tshabalala would appoint to preside over Zuma’s fraud and corruption case, but did not include a plan to assassinate him.

Tshabalala, whose security was reinforced in August, said the spying operation occurred before Zuma’s ­corruption trial and before he announced that Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Qedusizi Msimang would preside over the case.

At the time, Zuma supporters in left-leaning political organisations had pressured Tshabalala to reveal the name of the judge who would hear Zuma’s case.

This week, the Daily News reported that the Scorpions questioned Ullbricht and Durban lawyer Keith Mothilal about the espionage. Mothilal was linked to the espionage plot through his BMW, which he had sold to Ullbricht, and which was used for the surveillance.

Ullbricht told the Mail & Guardian this week that two investigators from the National Prosecuting Authority accused him of orchestrating a plot to kill Tshabalala.

‘They said they got information that my vehicle was seen following Judge Tshabalala’s convoy from his chambers to his residence — They said they also have information that a plot to kill Tshabalala was under way and accused me of being part of it — I told them this was impossible because I do not know where he stays or where his chambers are.”

Last year the Scorpions raided the Durban home of Ullbricht’s father-in-law, where Ullbricht was suspected of hiding documents and information relating to Zuma’s fraud and corruption case.

One eThekwini regional leader of the ANC said that ‘no one believes” that the German-born businessman wanted to assassinate the judge, but ‘he could have been part of a web that was trying to establish who would be appointed as a judge in Zuma’s case”.

‘He probably wanted to ingratiate himself with Zuma by trying to find out who Tshabalala was talking to, having coffee with or dining with.

‘All this with a view to get an idea of who would be appointed to preside over Zuma’s case amid much media speculation that Zuma would be tried by an apartheid judge — Some papers even listed Tony Leon’s father as a possibility.”

Zuma’s personal assistant, Nomonde Mkhosana, said Zuma did not take seriously reports that Ullbricht was plotting to kill Tshabalala. ‘We all laughed at it. Even Tshabalala would laugh if he were to see the person who is said to be plotting to kill him.”

Ullbricht accused the Scorpions of creating controversy in order to influence judges in the Zuma corruption case. ‘The DSO [Directorate of Special Operations] trumped this up, as they usually do, to create an impression that Zuma surrounds himself with shady businessmen who would even plan to kill a judge — I want them to know that I am going to support Zuma even more than I have done in the past — I believe he is not guilty. I will go to the ends of the earth for him. Now if there are people who have a problem with that, they can all go to hell,” said Ullbricht.

Tshabalala condemned the surveillance on him, saying it would be a bad thing in South Africa if people with interests in legal cases reverted to spying on judges.

‘The intelligence told me that someone was constantly following me to my residence. I took it very seriously, especially because the intelligence took it seriously as well.

‘Of course I did not see or take note of any vehicle following me, because when you are in a car, you don’t keep checking who is following you — It was very scary.”