"Verily with me is my Lord, He will most certainly guide and protect me."

Schabir Shaik said these words to the media and a small crowd of onlookers on the steps of the Durban High Court shortly after Judge Hilary Squires sentenced him to 15 years in jail.

The businessman and former adviser to Deputy President Jacob Zuma said he would resign as director and chief executive of his Nkobi group of companies immediately.

Shaik also said Jacob Zuma was his friend and that he had helped him because he believed in "ubuntu *1".

When asked if there was a conspiracy against the deputy president, Shaik said: "If there is a conspiracy, let the Lord deal with it".

Shaik was sentenced on two counts of corruption and one of fraud, all relating to his relationship with Zuma.

He said he would be back to apply for leave to appeal on July 26.

With ackowledgement to Sapa.

*1 I think the isiZulu/isiXhosa concept of Ubuntu is one extending to all humanity, or at least all those envisioned within the horizons of those who formulated the concept and/or coined the term.

It cannot extend only as far as one, albeit extended, family based in a rural village in Northern kwaZulu-Natal. Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu - a person derives their humanity from (all) the people

Also refer : http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheDefinitionOfUbuntuMarketingTheNewLinuxDistro.aspx