Zuma will pay his legal fees . . . if court orders him to Ramaphosa
CAPE TOWN — Former president Jacob Zuma will pay his legal fees from his own pocket if the courts rule he had acted in his personal capacity, President Cyril Ramaphosa has told Parliament.
Ramaphosa confirmed in the National Assembly yesterday that the State has paid a total of R15.3m for Zuma’s personal legal fees since 2006.
Of that, R7.5m was spent on the period, from 2006 until the withdrawal of corruption charges against him in 2009. Since 2009, an additional R7.8m was spent.
The basis of the legal aid was an agreement reached by Zuma and the Presidency in 2006 under then president Thabo Mbeki, on advice from the State Attorney’s office and the Department of Justice. “The former president signed an undertaking to refund the State if he was found to have acted in his personal capacity and own interests in the commission of offences of which he was charged,” Ramaphosa said during his maiden question session to the House.
“This administration is guided by the fundamental principle that State money should not be used to cover the legal fees of individuals on strictly personal matters and are found to have committed criminal offences,” he said.
But this was not enough for EFF MP Julius Malema, who had asked the original question. The figure, including the Nkandla saga and others, was probably closer to R64m, he claimed.
“I am not aware of that amount,” Ramaphosa answered. “We are using the agreement struck before former president Zuma and the government, on the understanding that the money will be paid back if he has been found to be personally responsible for these acts.” “He must pay it back!” shouted a few DA MPs. Ramaphosa continued. There was also an argument that Zuma, while not president of the country, was still a government employee at the time of the conduct, and the charges relate to his work in government.
If the court makes a different assessment, it will be up to the courts, and they would wait for the outcome.
“Right now, because the agreement is still in place, there is simply no way we can say in violation of agreement that was reached, he must pay the cost.”
Malema and EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu also wanted to know what law or legal basis the State relied on in forming the agreement. “I will need to check that more closely,” Ramaphosa admitted. Malema again was not happy. “I have written a question to him two weeks ago, and he says he must get back to me. What is the point of writing a question?”
Ramaphosa admitted he thought he had answered the question as was written.
“Clearly you are not happy, and I undertake to get the information for you,” Ramaphosa said, placating the increasingly boisterous Malema.
“Now that is being presidential,” a smiling Malema remarked before sitting. “Date and time!” yelled Shivambu.
Ramaphosa promised that the agreement, signed by Zuma in 2006, will also be made available in the court proceedings, and that they would keep an eye on the case.
“Pass it along,” chirped Democratic Alliance chief whip John Steenhuisen. — Sapa
which are not that many.” Stephen William Hawking, though, was far from normal. Inside the shell of his increasingly useless body was a razorsharp mind, fascinated by the nature of the Universe, how it was formed and how it might end. “My goal is simple,” he once said. “It is complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”
Much of that work centred on bringing together relativity — the nature of space and time — and quantum theory — how the smallest particles in the Universe behave — to explain the creation of the Universe and how it is governed. In 1974, he became one of the youngest fellows of Britain’s most prestigious scientific body, the Royal Society, at the age of 32.
In 1979 he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, where he had moved from Oxford University to study theoretical astronomy and cosmology.
A previous holder of the prestigious post was the 17th-century British scientist Isaac Newton.
Hawking eventually put Newton’s gravitational theories to the test in 2007 when, aged 65, he went on a weightless flight in the United States as a prelude to a hoped-for sub-orbital spaceflight. Characteristically, he did not see the trip as a mere birthday present. Instead, he said he wanted to show that disability was no bar to achievement and to encourage interest in space, where he believed humankind’s destiny lay. — AP POLOKWANE — The Waterberg District in Limpopo is facing its own Day Zero, with just 49 days of drinking water left.
The Department of Water and Sanitation says it will deploy the Environmental Management Inspectorate (EMI), better known as the Blue Scorpions, to the area to conduct validation and verification of commercial water users.
In the past month, water levels at Donkerpoort Dam and Frikkie Geyser Dam have plunged to 14 percent and 12 percent respectively. Severe water restrictions are already in place, with the local Modimolle-Mookgophong Municipality reducing the amount of water that everyone is allowed from 125 litres to 97 litres per person per day.
In addition, the municipality has put aside R18m for the replacement of its ailing water infrastructure.
Departmental spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said they wanted to satisfy themselves that there was compliance as resources dwindle, and wanted to educate locals about the importance of water conversation. “We also want to educate our people to reduce consumption and save the resource from running dry.”
Ratau said the department’s hydrologists had tested an estimated 105 boreholes in Vaalwater, Zandrivier, Roedtan, Byzonder, Hartebeest and Nooitgedacht.
“They found that an estimated 90 percent of these are highyield boreholes that are privately-owned,” he said.Although most farmers had registered their boreholes in terms of the National Water Act, some had exceeded their water allocation, which is stipulated in their water use licences, Ratau said.
He warned that action would be taken against those found to be flouting the regulations. — Sapa