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is Gedle (Zuma), he does not give up easily. In his life he has been through worse scenarios than this and won. Just watch,” said Zuma’s ageing brother – Vusumbango.

      “He is one of us. He lives here. The roads are terrible and we badly lack general infrastructure but he has not divorced us and moved to cities. What we go through, he also feels it,” said Ntomb’kayise Ngubane, an elderly village woman.

      “If they want to get rid of him who will look after the interests of the poor and the dispossessed like ourselves? Zuma is from rural areas and he understands the suffering of people like ourselves.”

      It seems the people of Nkandla were correct about Zuma weathering those storms. On 8 May 2006, the court dismissed the rape charges, agreeing that the sexual act in question was consensual. In 2007, the woman who brought the rape charges was granted asylum in The Netherlands.

      But there was still the corruption case, which was the source of his troubles in the first place. Zuma triumphed again.

      Judge Herbert Msimang threw the case out of the Pietermaritzburg High Court because the NPA had failed to present Zuma with a final charge sheet.

      In September 2008, Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Chris Nicholson ruled that Zuma’s corruption charges were unlawful on procedural grounds, adding there was reason to believe the charges against Zuma had been politically motivated, thereby clearing the way for the ousting of Thabo Mbeki and for Zuma to run for president.

      Zuma’s popularity was demonstrated by the reaction outside of court, people were overjoyed by the ruling. Some threw themselves on the ground, some shed a tear and some shouted incantations.

      Earlier, members of the ANC national executive committee inside the court had burst into a loud joint sigh of relief – others raised clenched fists. Zuma stood unemotional, listening attentively to every word. As Nicholson took his last steps out of his cubicle, members burst into song, waving hands while others smiled broadly without saying much.

      It was at this time that Julius Malema referred to Zuma as a boy from Nkandla who now should be taken to the Union Buildings.

      During the Shaik trial and subsequent investigations, a number of additional sources of funding for Zuma’s Nkandla home were revealed:

      •R1 340 000 from Shaik.

      •Approximately R1 000 000 from Thint.

      •At least R250 000 from Thales.

      •BEE icon Nora Fakude-Nkuna’s company, Bohlabela Wheels, contributed R140 000.

      •Businessman Vivian Reddy gave two payments of R50 000 each towards contractors’ costs for Nkandla. He also signed surety for a home loan for Zuma and picked up monthly instalments of R12 000.

      •Former president Nelson Mandela transferred R2 million to Zuma’s account for education and money for the Zulu King’s wife. The money was not used for its intended purpose.

      •In December 2012, aleaked forensic report for the first time linked President Jacob Zuma to another arms deal beneficiary: German industrial conglomerate MAN Ferrostaal (now called Ferrostaal). The company was the leading partner in the German consortium that South Africa awarded an R8 billion contract to build three submarines. A forensic audit report by KPMG into the president’s financial affairs revealed that MAN Ferrostaal paid at least R230 000 for Zuma’s benefit.

      High roller

      The demise of President Thabo Mbeki was sealed at the 2008 NEC meeting of the ANC, where Jacob Zuma was elected as president of the ANC. In May 2009, he was inaugurated as president of South Africa.

      There were no wild parties at Nkandla on that day. No slaughtering of beasts or feasting. By mid-morning most of the local roads and pathways were deserted as villagers filed into the local Lindela Thusong Multipurpose Centre, where a big screen was erected by the Government Communication and Information Services. Big screens were also erected at the nearby towns of Eshowe, Tongaat and four smaller screens at Zuma’s home.

      Locals at the multipurpose centre – mostly elderly and middle-aged women – attributed the lack of festivities to the absence of village youths, most of whom had been bussed to Pretoria on Thursday and Friday to be part of the 30 000 strong crowd that watched the inauguration from the southern lawns of the Union Buildings.

      On screen, as Zuma walked onto the podium hand-in-hand with his first wife, Sizakele (MaKhumalo), elderly women ululated and a handful of young men broke into song.

      “Zuma was destined to lead from his childhood. He has gone through so much hardship for us,” said Bonginkosi Khanyile.

      Said Buhle Shangase: “We hope this is the beginning of the end of poverty and underdevelopment for us.”

      She added: “With Zuma becoming the president we hope this area will finally become the centre of attraction.”

      A couple of weeks later, it did.

      In early June, the rolling hills of KwaNxamalala came alive as thousands of people descended on the impoverished village to celebrate President Zuma’s ascendancy to power.

      A crowd of between 10 000 and 20 000 descended on the remote rural village to dance to rhythms of maskandi and gospel music in what was termed the mother of all parties. Some villagers walked more than 10km to Tolwana Primary School where the party was held.

      Most of the speakers thanked Zuma for his resilience, saying his ascendancy to the presidency was a true testimony that he was a man of the people. Zuma told the crowd that he would never forget the people of Nkandla. He said as an uneducated man he need not be ashamed of himself and urged the youth to aim high in life.

      “This is a rural area which many people never thought could produce a president of such an old organisation as the ANC. They never thought they could produce a president of the republic. I am grateful to you all and I still belong here. I am proud of my roots.”

      However, in spite of the festivities and some subsequent and very pricey developments in the area, for normal residents not much changed. In September of 2009, Malibongwe Mhlongo of Nkandla wrote the following letter to City Press:

      As a rural, ordinary citizen of Nkandla, I still smell freedom approaching from a mile away but it always fails to arrive.

      We cannot claim parity while we as rural people are still subjected to poor health facilities and a scarcity of doctors.

      I wonder how many people have died because of poor service in rural communities.

      In our area, Nkungumathe, the health department provided what it calls a health post. There’s no ­activity in this place, except the nurse who comes to clean the building every day in order to register her name on the payroll.

      Patients still have to spend R50 on transport to Nkandla Hospital to collect pills and get check-ups.

      Rural people need access to a health service that is professional and user-friendly like any other ­citizen in South Africa. If this and any other social ills besetting the lives of rural people could be attended to we would enjoy freedom.

      We are hopeful that the government will soon pay attention to the need of the rural communities.

      In 2009, with the Zuma regime barely eight months into power, the Presidency confirmed in a statement that R65 million would be splurged on his Nkandla home, the bulk of which would be paid for by the taxpayer. New features would include a helicopter pad, military clinic and police station and security staff quarters. It, however, claimed Zuma would foot the costs of extending the palatial Nkandla residence, which already stood out like a sore thumb in the poor, rural neighbourhood.

      It seems that where Zuma is concerned, there are three things which should preclude each other, but yet run parallel and seem to have little impact on each other. They are:

      •The undying support of those who view him as a champion of the poor;

      •the large-scale upgrading of the presidential compound and niggling

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