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the midst of this struggle for survival is President Jacob Zuma’s homestead.

      Contrary to common perception, Zuma’s residence is not located in the town of Nkandla but some 40 kilometres to the south beyond the Nkandla Forest. Approaching the compound from the direction of Kranskop, the first thing that strikes the eye is not the Zulu rondavels for his bodyguards, but two Astroturf soccer pitches.

      The pitches, emblazoned with KwaZulu-Natal sports and recreation department slogans exhorting youngsters to stay off the booze, look like nobody has ever hammered one into their goals.

      An internal fence divides the 20 or so security cottages, which are vacant for most of the year, from the family compound property. Zuma’s massive security contingent only travels to Nkandla when he visits or goes home for the festive season.

      It, like most of the traditional homesteads in that part of Zululand, is built with the houses circling the area that would traditionally be used as a cattle kraal.

      In the Zumas’ case, the hub of the complex is an entertainment area. Fanning out from the party zone are a series of houses for Zuma, his wives and children – some of which are linked by underground tunnels. Then follows the family’s private clinic, the on-site fire department, and more accommodation for minders and staff quarters. Internal fences separate each zone.

      Above the main house is the double helipad, used by the president and his more affluent visitors, which is not visible from the road.

      Outside the main perimeter fence, but still fenced off from the public, is a large vegetable garden, below it a cleared field.

      Across the perimeter fence, which is covered in security cameras linked to an on-site control centre, is a separate collection of blue-grey painted houses, where Zuma’s flamboyant taxi driver-turned-millionaire nephew, Khulubuse, lives.

      The family compound was a relatively modest collection of thatched houses when Zuma became president in 2009.

      Before he became a public figure, nobody cared what the people of Nkandla thought. But it has all changed since the days of Zuma, who has turned the “simple man from Nkandla” motif into his virtual trademark.

      Now everybody, including the world’s media, cares what the people of Nkandla think and feel on any given issue, from the rising price of maize meal to the impact of the last G12 summit.

      The Shaik trial…

      The Schabir Shaik trial was one of the most important court trials in post-apartheid South Africa. The case, tried in the Durban High Court in October 2004, before Judge Hilary Squires, proved the fraudulent and corrupt relationship between Durban-based businessman Schabir Shaik and the man who would become president, Jacob Zuma.

      It was also the first time that the public became so acutely aware of the village of Nkandla.

      Schabir Shaik was arrested in 2001 for the possession of secret documents, after which investigators found that he was involved in corrupt dealings with Zuma as well as fraud. Shaik and Nkobi Holdings were at various times in financial trouble.

      They financed operations through bank overdrafts and loans which came at an interest that they had no money to pay. They took the money lent from the bank at interest and gave it to then Deputy President Jacob Zuma as an interest-free loan while he was technically bankrupt and thus in no position to repay the loan.

      When Zuma wanted payment for the development of a traditional residential village estate at Nkandla, at a cost of R1 340 000, various arrangements were made by Shaik to provide finance on Zuma’s behalf.

      Forensic evidence submitted to court showed Zuma couldn’t pay for the construction himself and needed the assistance of friends such as Shaik and businessman Vivian Reddy to pay the builder. Judge Squires found that the cost of the development “would plainly be more than Zuma could afford if he still needed Shaik’s help to live on his remuneration as deputy president” and that Zuma had a need for extra money, “not only to meet his current needs but also to pay for this acquisition (of Nkandla)”.

      When Shaik found out the builder was charging Zuma R2.4million to construct the rondavels, he (Shaik) asked the builder “if Zuma (thought) money grew on trees”.

      During the trial it emerged that French arms company executive Alain Thetard of Thint, previously known as Thompson CSF, allegedly paid Zuma a R500 000 bribe a year for two years for his support of Thint’s future projects and his protection in the event of an arms deal investigation. It was this money that Judge Hilary Squires said in his judgment went in part towards the construction of Zuma’s then already infamous 12-room residence in Nkandla – a fraction of what it is today.

      Squires found that at least R250 000 from another French arms deal company Thales – which won the R1.3 billion tender to provide technology to the navy’s new corvette warships – went towards paying for Zuma’s homestead.

      What was in it for them? What were the companies and individuals getting in return from Zuma? This was the crux of the case against Shaik, and it was this link that ran through the charge sheet and put Zuma almost at the centre of the trial.

      In June 2005, after Judge Squires found Schabir Shaik guilty of fraud and corruption, and found Shaik and Zuma had had a “generally corrupt relationship”, Zuma, then ANC deputy president, was fired as deputy president of the country by President Thabo Mbeki. Zuma was also charged on two corruption counts by the National Prosecution Authority.

      In August 2005, members of the Scorpions and the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) scoured through a trough of documents in Zuma’s Nkandla home, Parliament, the Union Buildings, the offices of Zuma’s attorney Mike Hulley, Schabir Shaik’s home and offices in KZN, Thomson/Thales’ offices, Zuma’s former legal adviser Julekha Mahomed and, Nolitha FakudeNkuna’s homes and offices. A maze of documents was taken in for safe-keeping and forensic analysis.

      Then, in November 2005, an investigation began into charges that Zuma had raped a 31-year-old family friend at his home in Forest Town, Johannesburg. Formal charges were laid on 6 December 2005. The accuser was known by Zuma to be HIV positive. He vehemently denied the charges, and affirmed his political commitment to oppose sexual violence.

      During the trial, Zuma admitted to having unprotected sex with his accuser but claimed that he took a shower afterwards to cut the risk of contracting HIV. This statement has been condemned by the judge, health experts, AIDS activists and the public in general.

      By 2006, the chattering classes had all but written off ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma as a serious challenger for presidency of the ANC and the country.

      However, in Nkandla support for their native son remained strong. At the time, City Press’s Wonder Hlongwa spoke to the villagers of KwaNxamalala (Zuma’s clan). Their feeling was that Zuma’s political maturity, bravery and ability to deal with his detractors would see him emerging victorious from this debacle.

      “This whole thing is a character assassination campaign hatched at the top of the ANC leadership and designed to eliminate Gedle (Zuma) from the presidential race. We are aware of that.

      “If he was corrupt we, as his family members, would not be living in rondavels like these, we would be living in mansions,” said Bhekumuzi Zuma, chief of the Nxamalala (Zuma) clan and a close relative of Zuma.

      He denounced Zuma’s detractors as tribalists bent on retaining the leadership of the ANC, and told several stories of development initiated by Zuma in the area.

      “There are hundreds of children here who are attending school as a result of Zuma.

      “There are families that are receiving food parcels because of Zuma,” said Bhekumuzi.

      He pointed out eMathungela primary, the first school that Zuma attended before leaving the village to seek employment in Durban.

      EMathungela used to be a ramshackle mud brick and corrugated iron building built in the 1940s, but through Zuma’s tireless campaign to develop his area it was turned into a modern school equipped

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