Hardly a week seem to go by without some fresh controversy involving African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma.
It came to light this week that someone had jimmied the lock of Zuma’s beachfront flat and rifled through some of his documents. The person, or persons, then left a bag of the documents outside the flat. Police say the bag has been sent for forensic testing and that detectives have dusted the flat for fingerprints. His lawyer said the break-in suggested a “sinister intention”, and that it did not appear “to be a random act of crime”.
Zuma has claimed that the state’s investigation into possible corruption charges against him is “engineered” to tarnish his name ahead of the party’s elections in December.
Right on cue, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) chimed in this week, saying: “This incident is part-and-parcel of the concerted drive to victimise the ANC deputy president and to prevent him from getting a fair trial. Without enough evidence to secure a conviction, some within the state structures seem to be using any means, legal and illegal, to lay their hands on enough ‘evidence’ to justify continuing their campaign to prosecute him, blacken his name and destroy his reputation.”
This week also brought news that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has taken the unusual step of applying for a punitive costs order against Zuma. They said Zuma must be censured for “scandalous”, “gratuitous” and “unwarranted” accusations of dishonesty and political engineering against the state.
At the heart of it all, the state has been trying to obtain documents from Mauritius which prosecutors want for a possible new corruption case.
Prosecutors had earlier obtained copies of the documents, but the NPA now wants originals including a diary in which Alain Thetard, a former head of the French firm, Thint, made a note of a meeting he allegedly had with Zuma and his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik about a bribe for Zuma.
Lawyers representing Zuma and Thint had argued prosecutors acted improperly in obtaining copies of the documents and should therefore be prevented from trying to get the originals.
Nothing involving Zuma seems to be simple or straightforward. Plots abound: Who are we to believe?
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