By Ebi Kesiena
South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma, accused of being a graft enabler, on Saturday criticised as “unlawful” and “full of gossip” a judicial report detailing how rampant corruption gutted state coffers during his nine-year tenure.
He plans to challenge sections of the report, a product of a marathon four-year probe into what is known as state capture.
The web of corruption hollowed out state companies in the continent’s most advanced economy to the benefit of a few wealthy individuals and firms.
Zuma’s foundation spokesman Mzwanele Manyi told a media conference Zuma regarded the report as “unlawful and highly irrational”.
“It is predictably full of gossip, innuendo and conjecture. It is very short on concrete evidence,” said Manyi.
“The report is therefore a classical case of the fruits of a poisoned tree.”
Zuma set up the special probe panel himself, after a damning report by the national ombudswoman about corruption at state enterprises forced his hand.
The report accuses Zuma of being “a critical player” in the plan to pillage state firms through the Gupta family of business tycoons.
The Guptas allegedly influenced top government cabinet appointments, including those of cabinet ministers, and secured business deals with giant state-owned companies on wildly favourable terms.
Two of the three Indian migrant brothers who fled the country the same year the corruption probe started four years ago were arrested earlier this month in Dubai pending extradition to South Africa.
