Publication	Cape Argus
Date	2006-08-19
Reporter	Wendy Jasson da Costa
Web Link	www.capeargus.co.za

There will be no song and dance when ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma is quizzed later this month at a R590-a-head business breakfast.

Not if the organiser of the event, Michael Sham, has anything to do with it.

"I want him to be on a platform where he talks instead of singing that bloody song," he said, referring to Zuma's trademark uMshini wam struggle song.

Among the questions Zuma will be expected to field is what he would do about corruption if elected the country's future president.

"It will be a robust question and answer session with Mr Zuma. There will be no polite clapping ... when we're finished we must be tired," said Sham.

Sham, who owns an events and marketing company, makes it clear that he has no links to Zuma, the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust or politicians in general and that the unemployed deputy president is not going to make a cent from the appearance.

Earlier this week Sham's company hosted an event where Springbok rugby players Schalk Burger and Bakkies Botha were among the guest speakers, with former Proteas bowler Fanie de Villiers starring as the master of ceremonies.

Although they were paid "because that's how they earn a second income", Sham emphasised that Zuma would not receive a speaker's fee.

"He stands to gain a helluva lot out of it. He stands to improve his profile. If he doesn't his profile is pretty bad among that part of the public (business), so he doesn't stand to lose anything," said Sham.

He had approached Zuma to address the business fraternity because as a business person he was intensely interested in Zuma's stance on a range of issues, especially since he could be the president in waiting.

"If he doesn't get convicted it doesn't seem as if his party will be able to hold him back," said Sham.

He said many other business people wanted to hear Zuma's views on crime, women's issues - especially since his rape case - the free market system and what he would do about the unions given that they were among his biggest supporters. "We never hear him talk."

Sham said it would be an hour-long breakfast of "hard discussions".

"I want to know if I must start ordering suitcases," he said, referring to South Africans who left the country when they heard that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison. Many probably would feel the same way if Zuma was to become the next president.

However, he stressed that he had heard many good things about Zuma as well. "Everyone who meets him says he's a nice man and not as stupid as he looks."

Zuma was also scheduled as the main speaker at a breakfast in Cape Town on September 1, but Sham said logistically it was impossible for this to go ahead and it would be rescheduled for another time.

Meanwhile, President Thabo Mbeki will have a less taxing time today with South Africa's captains of industry at the Pretoria Country Club.

The Friends of the President Golf Day is a chance for business leaders, politicians, sporting stars and television celebrities to network and it's strictly by "invitation only", according to organiser Nicholas Wolpe.

He also stressed that the event had nothing to do with politics.

There would be no speeches and it was just an opportunity to get to know and understand individuals, thereby "building relationships".

Wolpe, the director of event organisers Network Lounge, said he came up with the name for the golf day in 2004, while the networking idea was inspired by similar formations which were widely popular in Europe and America.

The Mail and Guardian reported that a R25 000 bottle of vintage whisky would be auctioned following a dinner.