Business as usual for deputy president as financial adviser awaits his fate

Jacob Zuma will have Colombia on his mind today, not the crunch judgment in Durban that will either lift or darken the corruption cloud hanging over his head.

The deputy president will meet his Colombian counterpart, Francisco Santos Calderon, in Cape Town and then leaves for Zambia.

In Durban, his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, will at last be told his fate after a day in which Judge Hilary Squires gave no hint of what was to come.

"Cliffhanger" was the word whispered by those leaving the high court yesterday as the first day of judgment in the fraud and corruption trial ended with a few preliminary findings and not a single conclusion.

However, the judge had a few comments about the trial and the role of Zuma:

The "epic" breadth of evidence led was more reminiscent of a commission of inquiry than a trial.

He did not consider acts by Zuma in his capacity as deputy president of the ANC as falling under the ambit of the Corruption Act.

The prosecution was fully entitled to question why representatives of French arms company Thomson had noted the presence of Zuma during the arms acquisition process, even though he was not part of the national government at the time; and,

It was highly unlikely that Zuma's sole role in negotiating a settlement in a share dispute between Shaik's Nkobi group of companies and Thomson was only to explain the principles of black economic empowerment.

Zuma was neither in court nor glued to a television set as Judge Squires meticulously outlined the case. He was in his seat in the National Assembly, where MPs were voting on departmental budgets.

Shaik, in a dove-grey suit with a subtle pinstripe, managed - remarkably - to look scared, brave and determined all at the same time.

At 2.16 pm, the judge entered the courtroom, cast a sweeping glance at the packed gallery and sat down.

"This," he said gravely, "is going to be a lengthy exercise" - and he warned that it was likely to be dull and boring. He invited anyone only interested in his conclusions to leave quietly.

Judge Squires said the state's case on the first corruption charge was "unusual" as it did not rely on a "one act, one payment" scheme of corruption but instead alleged that Zuma was on retainer for Shaik to help where he could.

One such instance was Zuma's involvement in bringing Shaik's Nkobi group of companies back into the fold of African Defence Systems (ADS) after Thomson had excluded them from the initial deal - as ADS stood to make millions of rands from the arms deal.

"Shaik said it was done in friendship and had nothing to do with the (more than) R300 000 paid to or on behalf of Zuma at that stage."

A defence witness, French arms dealer Pierre Moynot, had explained "with charming Gallic candour" that it was general practice to rely on informal intelligence and negotiations during an arms acquisition process rather than only on the formal tender mechanism.

During this "informal process", Moynot said, Thomson were told that then president Nelson Mandela and then deputy president Thabo Mbeki did not approve of Shaik as a black economic empowerment (BEE) partner for Thomson.

This, Judge Squires said, was confirmed by Shaik, who said he had heard that they did not consider him to be black enough. Shaik said he had asked Zuma to explain that this comment was unjustified and incorrect. Zuma did so.

Shaik eventually asked Zuma to meet Thomson representative Jean-Paul Perrier in London at the end of an official visit to Britain.

"Shaik says Zuma explained the principles of black economic empowerment and that Perrier was satisfied and undertook to transfer the shares back.

"This encounter is not consistent with Moynot's evidence. He said they knew about the government's principles for BEE.

"It does not sound correct that all Zuma had to do was explain the principles of BEE. It is unlikely that Zuma only met Perrier to explain BEE to him."

The judge added that minutes indicated Zuma's presence at a subsequent Thomson meeting in South Africa.

"Shaik disputed this. He said Zuma had dropped in at Perrier's request and shared refreshments.

"Moynot said Zuma arrived when the meeting was over, but the decision reached was explained to him, and he said he was happy with the result."

Judge Squires found that Moynot's evidence was "more probable" and that the "evidence suggests that Zuma's visit was about more than that".

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Colombian deputy president was in SA for a workshop on restorative peace, reports Sapa.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and The Star.