Deputy president got help from three business people and Shaik, court told

Despite being accused of corruption, Durban businessman Schabir Shaik has not stopped helping Deputy President Jacob Zuma financially.

But three other business people - Jörgen Kogl, Nora Fakude and Vivian Reddy - were also helping Zuma financially, Shaik told his fraud and corruption trial in the Durban High Court yesterday.

Kogl is well known *1 in South African business circles and has several interests. Durban-based Reddy is a wealthy businessman, philanthropist and politician. Fakude is a celebrated former cleaner who now heads Bohlabela Wheels, a Nelspruit-based company which has won lucrative defence contracts in South Africa and Namibia.

Shaik, who has been in a sombre mood since taking the stand on Monday, continued giving his evidence yesterday. He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of corruption and one of fraud.

Shaik's defence for one of the corruption charges, alleging that he had a general corrupt relationship with Zuma, has always been that he had lent money to Zuma in terms of a five-year revolving-credit agreement signed in 1999.

He told the court that he had extended the agreement between him and Zuma last year, but because of ongoing investigations by the Scorpions, Zuma had been "sensitive" about putting it on paper *2.

"I agreed to extend the agreement orally," Shaik said. "I am sincere about it. I don't believe it was signed recently," he said.

The state is looking for the original loan agreement to send it for forensic analysis. They are disputing that it is an authentic document. Scorpions investigators did not find the document when they searched Shaik's office and apartment during their investigations. "I don't have the original," Shaik said. "I asked Zuma and he said he lodged it with the appropriate person in the cabinet."

Shaik, however, admitted that he had seen a letter from Presidency head Frank Chikane, indicating that he was the person who should have received the original loan agreement, but nothing had been handed to him.

Shaik told the court that he was continuing to provide financial assistance to Zuma and was "comfortable" that Zuma would pay back the money. "I look towards the fact that we are friends and hope that he will find it in his heart to repay me."

Shaik further admitted that he did not mention the credit agreement between himself and Zuma when drawing up a list of Zuma's liabilities for the bank involved.

"I did not feel in my heart that it was a liability," he said.

Shaik's wife Zuleika was in court for the first time during her husband's trial. She told reporters that she was "impressed with how he has conducted himself".

Shaik further testified that Zuma had given him the titles of economic adviser and financial adviser.

"My job was to assist him with his shortfall. I transacted on the basis of friendship *3."

He explained earlier in the day how he had offered to help Zuma sort out his finances and ended up "assuming almost all of Zuma's financial responsibilities".

He also told the court that Nelson Mandela had offered to pay Zuma funds to extinguish his debts. "The deputy president informed me that Mandela offered to assist him financially to get him back on his feet. Mandela was concerned that his money woes would distract him from his duties."

Shaik had paid for Zuma's plane tickets to go and see Mandela. He also drew up a list of what Zuma owed, which included R200 000 owing to a family trust of Shaik and his wife.

He also told the court that he had on one occasion chartered a jet to fly Zuma, himself and assistants to Johannesburg for ANC meetings. Shaik said he had considered these payments to be donations to the ANC. "I wait for the day that the ANC becomes cash-flush, that I don't have to be in such a precarious position."

Commenting on the state's schedules, which show that Shaik and his companies sometimes made up to three payments per day to Zuma, Shaik said this was because of the limits placed on the amounts for which cheques could be written.

"You never suggested to him to reduce his standard of living?" Judge Hilary Squires asked Shaik.

"Zuma is not a man for Armani perfume, Cartier watches and Hugo Boss suits. He had a sizeable family and a salary of about R12 000. I have to confess they were in a financially structured crisis. They had no assets and a low level of income. This was the world of our exiles."

"The burden of society to reintegrate children into the education system was too much of a burden for one person to bear. I thought I would share it with him. Even when his salary as deputy president was well over R30 000 a month, he still used about two-thirds of it for his children's education *4," Shaik said.

He said he once took Zuma shopping at a exclusive menswear boutique, Casanova. He bought Zuma a suit, shirt and tie. "Zuma preferred to wear simple clothes," he said.

With acknowledgement to Estelle Ellis and The Star.

*1 Indeed he is, to Mr T.M. Mbeki, Ms B. Masekela and Mr A. Thetard in the context of the corvette combat suite.

He also bailed out Mr J.G. Zuma to the tune of R183 000 when the latter could not afford the monthly installments on the Mercedes E230 and the Scorpions were looking very hard at third parties who been paying the installments up until then.

Interesting that one Mr Michael Woerfel of DASA, Daimler-Chrysler's sister company seemingly had something to do with procuring Mr Zuma's Mercedes Benzes.

One wonders whether this might be a reason that the Leader of Government Business came out fighting so hard for the Chief Whip and erstwhile Chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence when the latter also acquired three Mercedes Benzes from Mr Woerfel (one for him, one for wife and one for lady friend).

There were 33 Mercedes Benzes on the list provided by Daimler Chrysler, four (yes - 4) of which were in the name of Mr Woerfel. Did Mr Woefel have a lot of lady friends or some other friends?

*2 If it's already on paper as alleged and as backed up by a faxed copy, this being an "exact duplicate" of the "original", how can it possibly be more sensitive on renewal?

The victim spins his own web of improbabilities and inconsistencies about him, long before the Master Spider even gets his turn.

*3 Bumiputera?

*4 No wonder large donations were sought from Thomson-CSF for the Jacob Zuma Education Trust - for educating Jacob Zuma's own 9 children.

Maybe there's some truth after all in the education money angle - but is it lawful?