Publication: The Natal Witness Issued: Date: 2005-12-05 Reporter: EliseMarié Tancred Reporter:

Shaik ‘Paid for Woman for Zuma’

 

Publication 

The Natal Witness
Date 2005-12-05

Reporter

 Elise-Marié Tancred

Web Link

www.witness.co.za

 

A beautiful young woman was allegedly paid thousands of rands by convicted businessman Schabir Shaik to “take care of” and “entertain” former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

The young coloured woman, known as Robin, was apparently paid R30 000 a month for services rendered not only to Zuma, but also to Shaik and his business partners from time to time. However, her main task was to take care of the then-deputy president.

This emerged in testimony by Schabir Shaik-Ibrahim (sic *1) (no relation to the convicted Shaik), who was at the time managing director of Nkobi Tech Transport Systems, given to the Scorpions in October 2003 as part of the unit’s investigation into the arms deal.

A transcription of Ibrahim’s spoken testimony is in the possession of Afrikaans Sunday paper Rapport.

Zuma was, according to the testimony, regularly “entertained” by the young woman, who also at times acted as a liaison *2 officer for Shaik’s company, Nkobi Holdings.

Ibrahim, who is in Indonesia at present, said he saw the woman at Shaik’s business premises a couple of times. She could also not be reached as she is now living in the Netherlands with her husband and child.

“At the time it was said that she studied overseas and from time to time acted as a liaison officer for Nkobi Holdings,” Ibrahim testified.

Ibrahim said Shaik often talked to Zuma over a speaker phone in his presence, and at times even boasted about the young woman’s services. Ibrahim said the woman regularly collected cheques of between R20 000 and R30 000 from the office, which Shaik said were loans.

“I don’t believe those were loans ­ the money was never paid back,” said Ibrahim. He said Shaik’s secretaries, Bianca Singh and Candice Goodwood, knew her well. Shaik’s financial director, Colin Isaacs, also knew about her.

Neither Singh nor Isaacs wanted to comment.

With ackowledgements to Elise-Marié Tancred and The Natal Witness.


*1  Sabeer Sheik-Ibrahim

*2  Robin was a public relations officer for Nkobi Holdings, but liaison *3 seems a particularly apt retro-translation from The English to Die Afrikaans and back to The English, especially when pronounced with a whiff of L'Escargot.

*3 li·ai·son Pronunciation (l[] [] [] -z[] n[], l[] -[] []-)
n.
1.
a. An instance or a means of communication between different groups or units of an organization, especially in the armed forces.
b. One that maintains communication: served as the President's liaison with Congress.
2.
a. A close relationship, connection, or link.
b. An adulterous relationship; an affair.
3. Linguistics Pronunciation of the usually silent final consonant of a word when followed by a word beginning with a vowel, especially in French.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/liaison

*3  But it's all rather delicious: The French give the wonga to Schabir and Schabir arranges the nookie for his Top-Cover (but nevetheless samples the delights himself).

Meantime, Top-Cover froths about problems caused by a “fast-modernising society”, self-enrichment, ambition and a quest for power.