Second defence witness contradicts him on loan

Another legal adviser to Deputy President Jacob Zuma on Monday was the second defence witness to contradict fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik's evidence-in-chief relating to the R2 million revolving loan agreement that the court previously heard was declared to cabinet.

Linda Makathini, Zuma's official legal adviser who is responsible for declaring his liabilities, assets and gifts to cabinet, said she did not declare the loan agreement, but did see a copy of it when she joined Zuma's office in 1999.

She found it in a briefcase that Zuma had brought from Durban to his new office in Pretoria, and filed it in his personal files. She said she did not look at it again until last year when Shaik's attorney, Reeves Parsee, asked her for the original agreement.

Later, lawyer Julie Mohamed, who drew up the agreement, asked her to find the original, but she could not, having only filed a copy.

Last week, Mohamed said that when she could not locate the original in her office, she assumed she sent it to Zuma's office by mistake.

In his evidence-in-chief, Shaik testified that Zuma had the original and declared it to cabinet. On Monday Makathini made it clear the document was not declared to Cabinet.

She said declarations were shared between John Jefferies and herself, and she would have known if the loan agreement was declared.

The court heard that in 2001, a R1,5 million loan from Shaik to Zuma was declared to Cabinet.

Makathini said Zuma put her in contact with Shaik's financial director, Colin Isaacs, who told her the amount owing to Shaik was R1,5 million.

Asked under cross-examination if she thought it was "strange" that a few years of payments would amount to exactly R1,5 million, Makathini replied: "I was his legal adviser, not his financial adviser".

Earlier on Monday, prosecutor Billy Downer SC wrapped up cross-examination of Thomson-CSF executive Pierre Moynot, but appeared to irritate Judge Hillary Squires with "irrelevant" questions. "For heaven's sake, just get on with it," Squires ordered.

The day's proceedings began with a formal apology from Shaik. Advocate Francois van Zyl placed on record that Shaik apologised to prosecutor Anton Steynberg following Friday's outburst in which he called him a racist and warned that he would be "sorted out" after the trial.

The state accepted the apology and has not made a move to apply for stricter bail conditions.

The trial was adjourned until April.

With acknowledgements to Nivashni Nair and The Natal Witness.