Khulubuse Zuma ‘in SA, lacks money for lawyer’
President Jacob Zuma’s nephew Khulubuse Zuma is said still to be living in SA, but in such a financially constrained situation he cannot afford legal representation to defend an application for his sequestration.
This contradicts an earlier report from Solidarity — the trade union that has been pursuing the rights of more than 200 of its members to receive salaries due from the liquidated Pamodzi Gold group — that Zuma was believed to have taken up permanent residence in the United Arab Emirates.
Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis said this had been the report from tracking agents employed by the attorneys to the liquidators, after Zuma could not be traced through his spokesman Vuyo Mkhize or attorneys who had acted for him in the settlement agreement with the liquidators.
Zuma was the chairman of Aurora Empowerment Systems, which agreed to buy the Orkney and Grootvlei mines from Pamodzi Gold but instead, while managing the assets on an interim arrangement, stripped them of all their infrastructure while failing to pay workers.
He had agreed with the liquidators to pay about R23m in instalments and had paid R9mR10m up to July, but nothing further. The liquidators have now filed an application for his provisional sequestration, which will be heard on December 8.
Under the agreement, his default means that the liquidators can pursue him for the full R1.5bn owed by the directors of Aurora and launch a full investigation into his financial dealings since 2009.
This may bring to light some details about a 2010 deal said to be brokered by President Zuma to assist him to acquire lucrative oil concessions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Du Plessis said Zuma had told him in a phone call on Thursday that he was still living in his private residence in SA and confirmed he was aware of the sequestration order. He said he could not afford legal representation to oppose the action.
Business Day’s efforts to reach Zuma on his cellphones on Friday failed.