Blunder in Zuma era

JOHANNESBURG — A South African corruption inquiry pointed to systemic graft during former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure in the first part of its report published on Tuesday, after more than three years of investigations involving more than 300 witnesses.

The inquiry chaired by senior judge Raymond Zondo was established in 2018 to examine allegations of high-level graft during Zuma’s nine years in power from 2009, after scandals and sleaze had overshadowed South Africa’s politics for years.

Zuma denies wrongdoing and has refused to co-operate with the inquiry, leading to his imprisonment in July for contempt of court. He was placed on medical parole in September before being ordered back to jail by the High Court — a decision he is appealing. The allegations levelled against Zuma include that he allowed businessmen close to him — brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta — to plunder state resources and influence policy, in what is widely referred to in South Africa as “state capture”.

The Guptas, who also deny wrongdoing, left South Africa after Zuma was ousted before the end of his second term by nowPresident Cyril Ramaphosa’s allies on the executive of the governing African National Congress party to which they both belong.

The first installment of the Zondo commission’s report focused on alleged corruption involving state airline South African Airways (SAA) and related entities, a media company controlled by the Guptas and the revenue service.

On SAA, it said the airline declined into “an entity racked by corruption and fraud” while Zuma was in power. Two former finance ministers told the inquiry that the SAA chairwoman at the time was retained because of the personal preferences of Zuma.

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma walks with his daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambdula after appearing in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on October 26, 2021.