Zuma, the amazing non-stick man
Not what he knows, but who he knows
YOU are known by the company you keep. This cliché is particularly relevant in the life of President Jacob Zuma.
His relationships have been at the centre of such diverse scandals as a blatant breach of national security and a love child.
The nation woke up to startling news on April 30 last year — a passenger jet had disgorged more than 200 civilians after landing without permission from the military at Waterkloof Air Force Base, one of South Africa’s most sensitive national key points.
They were guests from India en route to the “wedding of the century”, in which Vega Gupta, 23, married Aakash Jahajgarhia at Sun City. The public outcry that followed raised questions about Zuma’s apparently cosy relationship with the wealthy Gupta family — who employed two of his children soon after he was elected president of the ANC in 2007.
Zuma was implicated by a South African National Defence Force official in having known about the flight, but he told parliament: “I know nothing about it.” Pressed by DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, he said: “There are so many [aircraft] that land . . . why should the president know about these numbers? I have given the answer. I had no knowledge. I know nothing about it.”
A government investigation exonerated the president, blaming the incident on collusion among officials. Bruce Koloane, chief of protocol at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, took the fall along with members of the defence force.
Zuma, in a veiled reference to the Guptas, later said it was unfortunate that “some officials and members of the public would resort to that practice of using and abusing the names of members of cabinet . . . to further their own ends”. They were “name-droppers”, he said.
Zuma’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, was accused of assetstripping after his investment company, Aurora Empowerment Systems, purchased two mines, Orkney in North West and Grootvlei on the East Rand.
The takeover led to equipment being sold off and more than 5 000 workers losing their jobs or being forced to survive on emergency food hand-outs. The non-payment of workers, for years, left thousands of extended family members in dire straits.
Perhaps the most damaging intimate relationship was the one that resulted in Zuma being put on trial for rape. Although he was acquitted in May 2006, he was harshly criticised for having had unprotected sex with the 31-year-old HIV-positive daughter of a close family friend. Zuma, who headed the National Aids Council, told the court that he had taken a shower to “minimise the risk of contracting the disease”. Judge Willem van der Merwe remarked: “Had Rudyard Kipling known of this case at the time he wrote his poem If, he might have added the following: And if you can control your body and your sexual urges, then you are a man, my son.”
The woman who accused Zuma of rape emigrated.
Zuma later acknowledged that he had erred in having unprotected sex. “I should have known better and I should have acted with greater caution and responsibility. For this, I unconditionally apologise to all the people of this country.”
Nearly four years later, a report in the Sunday Times revealed that he had fathered a baby with the daughter of Orlando Pirates owner Irvin Khoza. Again, Zuma apologised: “I deeply regret the pain that I have caused to my family, the ANC, the alliance and South Africans in general.”
Zuma’s extended family, it was reported in the Sunday Times earlier this year, has taken a heavy toll on his personal finances and health. He has four wives: Sizakele Khumalo-Zuma, known as MaKhumalo; Bongekile Ngema-Zuma; Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, known as MaNtuli; and Tobeka Madiba-Zuma.
Zuma and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma were divorced in 1998. Zuma’s wife of 18 years, Kate Zuma, died in December 2000.
He has an estimated 20 children.