https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

1

Zuma’s presents range from flowers to free rent

15th March 2010

By: Sapa

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

President Jacob Zuma's much-awaited declaration of interests lists gifts and sponsorships ranging from a rose bowl from Absa boss Maria Ramos to free accommodation for his first wife in Morningside.

It states that Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma enjoyed the "use of property in Morningside, Durban courtesy of Mr Malek at a value unknown".

Advertisement

It was widely reported late last month that the President's wife had been living in Abdul Rahim Malek's eight-bedroom house in Morningside free of charge since 2005.

The story made headlines when Malek gave the first lady notice to move but subsequently relented, saying she could continue living there with her two children.

Advertisement

The declaration of "interests, gifts and responsibility" reveals the names of companies and organisations to which Ntuli-Zuma, fellow first ladies Sizakele Zuma and Thobeka Madiba and the President's fiancée Bongekile Gloria Ngema are linked.

But it is his first wife who holds the lion's share of active company memberships with nine altogether and serves as director for two non-profit companies - Heavenly Promise and the MaNtuli Foundation.

Under sponsorships for his spouses, the President declared that Ntuli-Zuma and Sizakele Zuma were the guests of Yvonne Chaka Chaka at Sun City when the singer celebrated 25 years in music industry.

Ntuli-Zuma's gifts include a tea set and a lamp shade from US first lady Michelle Obama, while Sizakele Zuma received a foot spa from former British first lady Cherie Blair.

Diplomatic gifts bestowed on the President included blue pyjamas from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who also gave Zuma two bathrobes, two sets of bedsheets, two jackets, two pairs of sunglasses, two leather bags and a tie in July last year when Italy hosted the Group of 8 summit.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak weighed in with a multi-coloured carpet.

Closer to home, Zuma's gifts include a party thrown by Khulabuse Zuma - the President's nephew and a prominent KwaZulu-Natal businessman - and the Nkandla community to celebrate his election as President. The cost of the party is not listed.

Neither is that of a Christmas party for Orphans in Nkandla organised and paid for by the JZ Education RDP Trust Fund, on behalf of the President.

The rose bowl and flowers was sent to Zuma by Ramos in November.

Nomonde Mapetla, chairperson of Khula Enterprise Finance, gifted the President with oranges, olives, honey and fresh dates.

Zuma made the declaration last Wednesday, eight months after he was due to do so and under intense pressure from media and opposition parties. By law he was supposed to declare his assets, liabilities and financial interests within 60 days of taking office.

His lawyer Michael Hulley said that the process was delayed by "anomalies" in the code of ethics, one being that the President was supposed to adjudicate his own acceptance of gifts as the code of ethics states that members of the executive need his permission to accept gifts worth more than R1 000.

ANC spokesperson Brian Sokutu suggested that the delay was caused by the sheer size of Zuma's family. He now faces an internal disciplinary process for breaching protocol.

The declaration does not mention Zuma's dependent children or any business interests.

Hulley could not be reached for comment on whether this was declared as part of the secret register of members' interests.

 

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      FEEDBACK

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here


About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za