JACOB ZUMA
| Publicity | He's in the fast lane to the top in South Africa but there’s powerful evidence the man following the trail blazed by Mandela has been on the take. |
|
|
| Next on Foreign Correspondent, Andrew Fowler investigates if Jacob Zuma -- the man most likely to become the President of South Africa in – took bribes from a French arms company. |
|
|
| Jacob Zuma’s already fought and won a trial over rape charges. |
|
|
| Now he’s accused of corruption, racketeering, money laundering and fraud. But so far Zuma has avoided his day in court. |
|
|
| That’s in spite of the fact that the middle man, who was Zuma’s financial advisor, was convicted of bribing Zuma and given a fifteen year prison sentence. |
|
|
| However just last week, the charges against Zuma were dropped after what appears to have been a political deal struck between his lawyers and the prosecutors. Many South Africans who once rejoiced when Nelson Mandela was released are deeply saddened by the prospect of President Zuma, telling Foreign Correspondent: |
|
|
| “After 15 years of democracy, after 15 years of liberation, the party that led us to independence, how is it possible they can present someone who’s a criminal suspect as a President for the Republic?” |
|
| Re-enactment. Thales police raid. Interior car. Driving through Paris | Music | 00:00 |
|
| FOWLER: The heart of Paris, October the 9th 2001, officers from the French Economic Police Unit set out to conduct a raid. | 00:13 |
| Police arriving at Thales | Music | 00:21 |
|
| FOWLER: Their target, the headquarters of France’s biggest arms manufacturer – Thales. Armed with a search warrant, they were acting on behalf of the South African police. Once inside Thales they confiscated masses of documents, including evidence that Thales had paid bribes to a Mr X, a prominent South African politician. | 00:34 |
| Pro-Zuma rally |
| 01:04 |
|
| Mr X was none other than Jacob Zuma, leader of the African National Congress and most likely the next President of South Africa. Here on the outskirts of Cape Town, twenty thousand of South Africa’s poor have come to see and celebrate Zuma. | 01:12 |
|
| If there’s one thing that can be said about Jacob Zuma, he knows how to move. At sixty-six years of age, he can strut the political and populist stage like few others. | 01:36 |
| SUPER: 2006 | ZUMA: I have the love for the people. I dedicated my life to liberate them and myself. I dedicated my life to fight for freedom so that we are free. | 01:53 |
| Pro-Zuma rally. Zuma dances | FOWLER: Jacob Zuma might have helped win the battle against apartheid, but for the past four years he’s been fighting for his own political survival. | 02:05 |
| SUPER: 2006 | CROWD [chant]: Zuma! Zuma! Zuma! | 02:14 |
|
| FOWLER: When Foreign Correspondent first profiled Jacob Zuma back in 2006, he was mired in a criminal trial accused of rape. His supporters claimed it was a conspiracy to destroy his political career. | 02:21 |
| Man in crowd | MAN IN CROWD: Because we know all these things are happening as a conspiracy so that Zuma can never be the president.’ | 02:36 |
| Zuma interview | FOWLER: Zuma agreed. JACOB ZUMA: Absolutely I do. I do because of the manner in which they’ve been handled, they’ve been conducted, they’ve arisen. I certainly do. | 02:43 |
| Pro-Zuma rally | FOWLER: Conspiracy or not, the courts acquitted Zuma of rape and cleared his name. | 02:56 |
| Zuma sings with crowd |
| 03:05 |
|
| Jacob Zuma’s jubilation didn’t last long. No sooner had he been cleared of rape, he was charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the French defence giant Thales. | 03:08 |
| Driving to Simons Town | Music | 03:22 |
|
| FOWLER: To understand the strength of the evidence against Zuma, drive south from Cape Town to the postcard setting of Simons Town, one of the country’s main naval ports. | 03:26 |
| Sailor pipes Higgs on board |
| 03:37 |
| Higgs and Fowler on board warship | Rear-Admiral Robert Higgs is the head of Indian ocean operations. His fleet is small, but very modern. Central to his fleet’s fighting capacity is part of the combat system provided by Thales. | 03:47 |
| Higgs interview. Super: | FOWLER: How has the French system integrated into what you need? How is it working? HIGGS: I think it’s working very well. I think it is working very well. We went through… we have gone through a lot of operational test and evaluation. | 04:05 |
| Control room of ship | We’ve used it when we’ve exercised with other navies and we used it when we were exercising with NATO. | 04:20 |
| Higgs | We’ve used it continuously in everything we have been doing. It is the heart of the ship. | 04:25 |
|
| Music | 04:31 |
| Fowler and Hiss on deck | FOWLER: That the French got the contract, stunned many in the defence industry. They were never the first choice, but Jacob Zuma saw to it that the business went their way. | 04:34 |
| Fowler and Young in documentation centre | YOUNG: Andrew this is our documentation centre. In this room there’s about a million scanned pages of documents all backed up on to DVD etcetera. | 04:48 |
|
| FOWLER: If it wasn’t for Dr Richard Young, the payments to Jacob Zuma may never have publicly surfaced. | 04:57 |
|
| Young’s company was expected to win the South African defence navy contract until Jacob Zuma stepped in. | 05:04 |
|
| The million plus pages of documents are all to do with a successful lawsuit Richard Young brought against the South African Government. Jacob Zuma at the time was South Africa’s Deputy President. | 05:17 |
|
| ‘How much did he personally benefit from the Thales bribe?’ | 05:30 |
| Young at computer. Super: | DR RICHARD YOUNG: Well the bribe was recorded as five hundred thousand rand per year until African Defence Systems starts paying dividends that was calculated to be a million rand. | 05:34 |
| Young and Fowler at wall chart | FOWLER: Despite Richard Young winning his lawsuit and being paid more than two million dollars compensation by the South African Government, Thales kept the military contract. | 05:49 |
|
| DR RICHARD YOUNG: So this French company actually has control over the architecture and the future upgrade and maintenance of the South African navy’s combat system. FOWLER: So the bribe was worth paying? DR RICHARD YOUNG: Indeed it was. It was cheap at the price. | 05:57 |
| Traditional Zulu huts | Music | 06:45 |
| Fowler drives to Kwa Zulu Natal | FOWLER: The reason why Richard Young lost out to the French can be found more than a thousand kilometres away in Kwa Zulu Natal. | 06:23 |
| Schoolgirls | This is Zuma country. The kids have every reason to be happy, Jacob Zuma built them a brand new school. | 06:41 |
| Zuma’s compound. Fowler drives to compound | Jacob Zuma also built this – a palatial Zulu compound to house his four wives and 18 children. We called in to see if the President-most-likely was home. | 06:52 |
| Fowler at compound entrance | We were out of luck. The boss was out on the campaign trail. | 07:15 |
| Zuma’s compound | What’s not so amusing is where the money came from to pay for the rural retreat. Court documents show it came from Thales. | 07:24 |
| Feinstein | FEINSTEIN: He owed the builder, as I understand it, at least a million rand at that time. | 07:35 |
| Fowler and Feinstein in kitchen | FOWLER: Andrew Feinstein knows where all the skeletons lie when it comes to Jacob Zuma and the arms deal. As a former ANC member of Parliament, Andrew Feinstein headed an investigation into the arms deal. Now in London, he’s published a book on the corruption he witnessed and Zuma’s money problems. ANDREW FEINSTEIN: I think at that particular time, | 07:43 |
| Feinstein. Super: | that this investigation was unfolding, he had a dire need, because this builder was threatening to go public with the fact that Jacob Zuma was unable to pay him the million rand that he owed him. But in addition to that, he had the need to keep this very large family in a manner to which the family of the Deputy President of the country and the ruling party should be kept. | 008:07 |
| Zuma arriving at court | Music | 08:36 |
|
| FOWLER: When the scandal broke, it cost Jacob Zuma the Deputy Presidency of the country. Since then, it’s been an ongoing battle of Zuma versus the State. DR RICHARD YOUNG: Six years | 08:37 |
| Young at computer | of investigation and apparently 38 court appearances so far. | 08:48 |
| Computer screen | FOWLER: The case against Zuma is that he didn’t act alone. His long time financial advisor Schabir Shaik was the middleman. Shaik has been very generous to Zuma over the years. DR RICHARD YOUNG: At the end of the day they’re | 08:55 |
| Young at computer. Super: | talking about Schabir Shaik providing more than 4 million rand. | 09:10 |
| Shaik walking outside court house | FOWLER: It’s how the two men have been treated so differently that caused the ongoing furore in South Africa. Schabir Shaik got a mammoth 15 year sentence for bribing Jacob Zuma. | 09:18 |
| Inside courthouse | Zuma, charged with corruption, racketeering, money laundering and fraud in 2007, has managed to fend off the courts ever since. | 09:36 |
| De Lille | PATRICIA DE LILLE: The arms deal is really the basis for all the decay and all the corruption that we see today in our country, that’s really where it all started. | 09:49 |
| De Lille campaigning | FOWLER: Patricia de Lille is one of the few politicians in South Africa prepared to stand up to the Zuma machine. Her independent Democrat Party is growing by the day, target number one – Jacob Zuma. | 10:02 |
| Rally | DJ AT RALLY: [Addressing supporters] The story goes on, the story won’t stop. The story goes on, the story won’t stop. Zuma, you can run, but we can see you. Zuma, you can run, but we can see you. | 10:25 |
| De Lille addresses rally | FOWLER: For six years Patricia de Lille has battled away at Zuma, demanding he be brought before the courts. DE LILLE: Right now, | 10:46 |
| De Lille interview. Super: | the way leaders are behaving is as if they are above the law. That if you are a political leader you must be treated different from the common criminal. It’s sending out the wrong message. | 10:54 |
| Shaik leaves court | FOWLER: Four weeks ago the first signs that both political leaders and common criminals may not be held accountable appeared. They centred on Schabir Shaik the man gaoled for 15 years for bribing Jacob Zuma. | 11:10 |
| Hidden camera. Fowler at hospital | Schabir Shaik isn’t in a gaol. He’s been holed up in this hospital for months, reportedly suffering from stress related problems | 11:26 |
|
| and reportedly under tight security. FOWLER [to security guard]: General enquiries? SECURITY: You need to find out about a patient? FOWLER [to security guard]: Yes, yes. | 11:38 |
|
| FOWLER: We got past the first security in a matter of seconds. Surely when we asked for Schabir Shaik the alarm bells would ring. | 11:46 |
|
| FOWLER [To receptionist]: We’ve come to see Schabir Shaik. RECEPTIONIST: He’s in B2 West… the B block is this one right here. | 11:54 |
| Fowler to lift | FOWLER: No alarm bells here. The precise directions took us straight to Schabir Shaik’s ward. | 12:01 |
| Fowler at nurses’ station | FOWLER [to nurse]: Tell him Andrew Fowler from ABC Television Australia is here. | 12:09 |
|
| FOWLER: The only resistance we encountered came from Shaik himself. Schabir Shaik wasn’t taking visitors. FOWLER [to nurse]: Could you ask him if he would speak to us? NURSE: He said he’s not expecting you. FOWLER: Just why the security | 12:19 |
| Fowler walks hospital corridor | was so lax became apparent two days after our visit. | 12:34 |
| Shaik leaves hospital | Schabir Shaik, friend of Jacob Zuma, was effectively paroled on medical grounds and sent home. Many wondered if Zuma was about to get off the hook too. | 12:37 |
| Pro-Zuma rally | Zuma’s supporters were once again in the streets, the corruption charges had been dropped. | 12:58 |
| National Prosecuting Authority press conference | The National Prosecuting Authority announced there had been an ‘abuse of process’ in the handling of the case, which could be seen as political interference. | 13:07 |
| Mpshe addresses press | MOKOTEDI MPSHE: In the light of the above, I have come to the difficult conclusion it is neither possible nor desirable for the NPA to continue with the prosecution of Mr Zuma. | 13:16 |
|
| FOWLER: At no time in his 45 minute announcement did the Acting Head of the NPA suggest the evidence against Jacob Zuma was flawed. | 13:29 |
| Zuma sings to crowd | Jacob Zuma will almost certainly be elected the country’s next President. For many, the fact that Jacob Zuma never stood trial to have his guilt or innocence proven will cast a shadow over the country. ANDREW FEINSTEIN: The rule of law, the basic foundation of our democracy, of the equality of all before the law, | 13:44 |
| Feinstein | will have been destroyed. And in a country that suffers from one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world, | 14:11 |
| Pro-Zuma rally | South Africa can ill afford for its most senior leader to be post the April 22nd election, to be the one most flagrantly undermining that rule of law. | 14:24 |
|
| Reporter: Andrew Fowler Editor: Nick Brenner Camera/Producer: Wayne Harley | 14:47 |