Johannesburg – Conspiracy theorists point fingers at President Thabo Mbeki in an explosive TV documentary alleging former deputy president Jacob Zuma is the victim of a trial by media orchestrated by people within the ANC. 

In one of the most startling of the publishable comments in the four-part series, former Judge Willem Heath says he “would leave room for the possibility that Mbeki may be involved or may have played some role which wasn’t proper but there’s no evidence to indicate that”.*1

In footage filmed long before this weekend’s convulsions in the ANC, Heath also says there’s “been a lot of infighting within the ANC and part of that infighting was because members of the ANC were unhappy with decisions that Mbeki had taken, and not taken”.

The former corruption-busting judge, who apparently believes there isn’t a winnable case against Zuma, says Mbeki “has set many bad examples in the past as President of this country, and he’s got a record which he should set straight and which he could improve on”. 

Businessman Brett Kebble, who has had run-ins with former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, makes allegations in the video which could be construed as defamatory. 

In the opposite camp BEE tycoon Saki Macozoma is interviewed at length.

The documentary says two ANC factions are competing for political power and the financial rewards that accompany such power. This is billed as struggle between the “progressive elitists” and “supporters of broad-based empowerment”.

It is claimed the progressive elitists “threw a party on the same night that Zuma was fired”. 

Journalists on the tape include Anton Harber, Barry Sergeant, Vusi Mona, Sam Sole, Mondli Makanhya, Jeremy Gordin, Ranjeni Munusamy, Tim Cohen, Snuki Zikalala, Elias Maluleke and Martin Williams. 

Director of the production, Liesl Göttert, says when she started working on the series, “I was convinced Jacob Zuma was just another corrupt politician. We started out by investigating the role of the media and questioned whether it abused its mandate in deliberately moulding public perception. 

“Over the past two years we stumbled upon countless statements that support a conspiracy theory,*2 on and off camera.

“Even though I do not agree with all the interviewees’ statements in our series, the results of our investigation suggest Zuma may very well be innocent of corruption.

“A carefully crafted conspiracy most certainly had as its aim the goal of having him removed from public office.”

She had planned to start selling copies of the The Zuma Media Trial in DVD and video format, but distribution has been suspended pending the conclusion of legal advice on the sub judice rule. Read more on the website www.zumamediatrial.com.

With acknowledgements to Martin Williams and The Citizen.

*1 There's plenty, plus.

*2 Must be true then.