David Bullard has met Jacob Zuma - to apologise for all the nasty names he has called him in the past decade. We asked him:

Are you looking for a new job?

I was, but I've now got a couple, so I'm not looking for a job in politics, that's for sure.

You're not looking to be the new Parks Mankahlana or Bheki Khumalo?

Very definitely not Ranjeni Munu-samy. That would not be the most attractive proposition. But I wouldn't turn down an ambassadorship to somewhere like Geneva, or anywhere swanky. Preferably a wine-growing area.

Do you think Zuma and Mbeki have had good media advisors?

I think Zuma's had better advisors in the past few months. But when I sat down with him, I said I had a few problems, like the Machine Gun song. He's a very reasonable man - I was staggered at how willing he was to accept an apology from someone who's obviously irritated him a lot.

Do you still think he is a dunce?

No. I think that, rather like Ronald Reagan, he needs to be very well advised. He's very personable. Very savvy and a very skilled politician. Having seen his performance overseas - he was very reasonable, certainly a marked improvement from last year - he's been well trained.

Like a circus bear?

No, not at all. It's politics. People within the ANC have realised that as head of the ANC he couldn't really continue - he had a comic element to him. He couldn't really be taken seriously. But since Polokwane, he has had to have a bit more gravitas. As with every American politician running for the election, they have all been tutored.

Do you think he's corrupt?

I don't know. There are charges, they need to be brought this year. It's difficult because there's so much infighting in the ANC. To the moderately intelligent observer, there may also be a bit of a Xhosa-Zulu tribal issue too. But I think we would all like to hear about the arms deal and Mr Mbeki, too. With Shabir Shaik serving time, it's very difficult to say the man's completely innocent. But some might say: "Is it corruption?" or, rather, "Oiling the wheels of industry or the economy?"

Is he a moral authority?

No. he isn't. But he was elected by the majority of the people in Polokwane. It has nothing to do with you or me - it's a fait accompli. We need to say we need a government to run the countr, and to make it work.

Do you think he thinks you're racist?

No, not at all. I don't think that Mondli Makhanya thinks that either. It was just a convenient excuse to get rid of me.

Did you meet Zuma as a PR stunt?

No, to save myself R1.2 million, for which I was being sued.

Why didn't you apologise at the time?

I've just been humiliated in the past four weeks. And I rather know what the feeling is like, to be persecuted by a newspaper. The hounds have been in full cry against me - and I now realise that what is written can cause a lot of harm. The policy of the Sunday Times was to "nail Jacob Zuma". We were a hunting pack to "get Zuma". You don't consider the man, you just think he's a target and your words are terribly witty. But now I've seen the other side …

Does that mean that you regret being so personally scathing of Zuma in the past?

Yes, I do.

But wasn't that satire?

Well, it was, but it also went beyond the bounds. I think he had a reasonably good case for crimen injuria. It's been very gracious of him to forgive and drop the case.

Have you gone soft?

I would suggest probably not. Reposition the guns. I've got a lot of getting even to do with fellow columnists.

With acknowledgements to Murray William and Cape Argus.