Is Zuma to rich to care

A report capturing Jacob Zuma’s empire is intriguing and compelling. The report details of how the Zuma empire has grown and how the Zuma family have connected with business ventures, directorships and shareholdings. There is the link to criminal activities, bad management, abuse and corporate scandals. There are ongoing investigations against some family members relating to unethical actions. I wonder if we will ever know the outcome. Or will the Zuma empire remain above the law and continue to snatch all business opportunities until there is no more to take.

 One of the Zuma deals that in my opinion remains tragic is the Aurora Mine incident. The mine was stripped of its assets  (by the directors, one being Zuma’s nephew) while the workers were not paid.   The poor workers, the most valuable asset to any company who worked so hard to earn a few pennies were treated worse than animals.  How can anybody have a clear conscience knowing that they are the reason for causing poverty, starvation and depression. 

It is not enough to have business ventures in South Africa alone, the Zuma clan are digging them heals into deals across Africa and at the rate the empire is growing, the Zuma empire might become one of the most powerful, and richest empire in the world. Who knows the Zuma empire might even supersede the Bill Gates empire. 

SOURCE:

Jacob Zuma's family empire

http://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Jacob-Zumas-family-empire-20150430http://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Jacob-Zumas-family-empire-20150430

Besides a lucrative government job, members of President Jacob Zuma’s family have also scored contracts in the oil, gold, cigarette, diamond, airline and retail industries in the five years since he first took office.

The appointment of Zuma’s 25-year-old daughter Thuthukile to the almost R1 million-a-year position of chief of staff in Post and Telecommunications Minister Siyabonga Cwele’s office, reported by the Mail & Guardian on Friday, has caused an outcry.

But she is not the first family member to raise eyebrows.

Some of those with whom others have done – or attempted to do – business include a convicted killer and a Lithuanian billionaire with links to organised crime.

Other relatives have set up a number of charities which give little indication of how they spend their money and donations.

According to intensive research, it’s an empire which shows how the family’s business interests have ballooned since 2009.

The main man

President Zuma is the founder and patron of the Jacob Zuma Foundation and the Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust. He is also the chair of the Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative.

Masibambisane became steeped in controversy after the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries allocated R800?million in aid but then withdrew from the project.

Zuma’s cousin, Sibusiso “Deebo” Mzobe, is its deputy chairperson.

Zuma’s foundations and trusts have enjoyed the support of some of the country’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, including Patrice Motsepe, who in 2010 announced a R10?million donation over five years.

EduSolutions, the company at the centre of the 2012 Limpopo textbook scandal, also funded the trust and its CEO accompanied Zuma on a trip to the US.

According to its website, the foundation “prides itself on its ethics, integrity and credibility”, and is involved in housing, education and sports development.

The whole family

Sandton-based multinational, the Isthebe group of companies, describes itself as a “diversified family founded enterprise focusing on investments and operations”.

Five Zumas – Michael, Edward, Sikhumbuzo, Mxolosi and Priscilla – sit on its board or serve in executive positions. The company says it is “seeking and pursuing value enhancing and BEE deals” in areas including energy, oil, exploration, mining, agriculture, IT and engineering.

Edward Zuma

The president’s eldest son is responsible for “new business development” at Isthebe. According to the company’s website, he studied law after which he joined several law firms as a trainee. But he never completed his studies.

Edward joined a range of companies after his father became president and was at one stage involved in 34. He is now director of 10 active companies.

Edward came under fire for his business relations with alleged organised crime figures involved in the illegal cigarette trade. A host of cigarette bosses are under investigation by a special SA Revenue Service (Sars) unit for tax evasion, fraud and money laundering.

In February, City Press linked Edward to controversial cigarette manufacturer Yusuf Kajee, the CEO of Amalgamated Tobacco Manufacturing (ATM), who is being investigated by both Sars and the Hawks for widespread tax evasion, fraud and smuggling.

Edward was a director of ATM until 2011. Kajee and Edward remain business partners as directors of aspiring local low-cost airline Fastjet Holdings. Sars is also investigating another Fastjet director, Paul de Robillard, who has been implicated in fraud allegations and a murder plot.

Fastjet’s head office did not respond to questions about Edward’s director’s fee. The company’s UK directors earn between R600?000 and R930?000 a year, excluding meeting fees and share options.

Duduzane Zuma

He’s been involved in 21 companies, 12 of which are still active. When his father became ANC president in December 2007, Duduzane joined Mabengela Investments, Westdawn Investments and Gemini Moon Trading 254.

And when Zuma ascended to the country’s presidency, Duduzane became a director of several more.

Company searches reveal how much the Zuma clan has benefited from their relationship with the controversial Gupta family. Duduzane is on the board of JIC Mining Services alongside Rajesh Gupta.

JIC is owned by Oakbay Investments, another Gupta company. He is also on the board of other Gupta-owned firms including Sahara Holdings and Shiva Uranium.

Mining insiders say Duduzane’s executive directorship of Shiva Uranium could earn him as much as R3?million a year.

He is also a nonexecutive director of Westdawn Investments, which owns JIC Mining Services – a job that a senior mining analyst, who asked not to be named, said could net him R1?million a year.

A former ANN7 employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Duduzane owns 30% of the company that runs the news channel. Last year, newspaper reports linked

Duduzane and the Gupta family to an illegal mining operation in Mpumalanga.

Duduzane was also involved in one of South Africa’s most high stakes corporate scandals – the Sishen saga for control of one of the country’s most valuable mineral deposits in the Northern Cape.

The scandal involved allegations of fraud, Hawks raids on government offices and bitter wrangling between the mineral resources department, Imperial Crown Trading, Sishen Iron Ore and ArcelorMittal SA.

Duduzile Zuma

Duduzile Zuma was involved in 13 companies but resigned from five, including the board of the Guptas’ Sahara

Computers. She sits on the board of Duzi Investment Holdings, which claims to have investments in Zambia’s financial sector, Angolan housing projects, and infrastructure development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Neither Duduzile nor Duduzane responded to requests for comment.

Other kids

Gugulethu Zuma, the daughter of AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, joined Nyenyedzi Productions and Vukani Africa Events and Training, among other companies.

Gugulethu was cast in the popular television series Isidingo in 2009 and It’s For Life on DStv’s Mzansi Magic in 2011.

Nokuthula Zuma also starred in the sitcom produced by Nyenyedzi Productions, which they established with sister Thuthukile after their father became president.

The presidential Twitter account came under fire when it was used to promote the show. Nokuthula and Thuthukile are both involved with Born Free Investments 660.

Brother Michael

The president’s younger brother, Michael Zuma, was involved in 27 companies, resigned from two, and is now the director of 15 active firms. Michael admitted last November he had used the Zuma name to secure government contracts for a company to build RDP houses.

He is still listed as an active director in the Midway Two group, a large services company under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit in connection with a R1?billion police tender and other alleged tender irregularities.

Midway Two director Danny Naicker said Zuma was no longer involved and had resigned his directorship, although he still had to sign the documents to confirm this. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Wives

Zuma’s second wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, controls an array of business interests and is a director of seven companies. She founded the MaNtuli Zuma J Foundation to “assist new and already existing nonprofit and nongovernmental organisations”.

Tobeka Madiba-Zuma has varied business interests and a foundation that bears her name. She bought a large home in Durban in 2011 in the name of the Madiba Family Trust and commissioned renovations of almost R9?million.

Bongekile Ngema-Zuma controls the Sinqumo Trust, used in 2011 to buy a house for more than R5?million in exclusive Waterkloof, Pretoria. Ngema-Zuma is the founder of the diabetes charity, the Bongi Ngema-Zuma Foundation.

Nephew

City Press reported in May that Khulubuse Zuma was sitting on a R100?billion oil fortune in the DRC after that country’s president Joseph Kabila gave him two oil concessions.

In recent years, Khulubuse became involved in 32 registered local companies and remains actively involved in seven.

Khulubuse and his uncle’s lawyer, Michael Hulley, are directors of seven companies, six of which are dormant, among them Aurora Empowerment Systems and Labat Africa, which they formed to try and raise capital for Aurora.

Aurora owned two mines that were stripped while their workers went unpaid.

A convicted murderer appeared as the alleged middleman in deals Khulubuse tried to broker to rescue Aurora. Robert Huang was convicted and sentenced in 1998, but served no time. Sars and the Hawks are investigating Huang for alleged complicity in fraud and tax evasion in a multibillion-rand racket at the Durban Harbour.

Another Khulubuse business associate was Lithuanian-born “billionaire” Boris Birshtein, a businessman and gold trader whose CV boasts three bogus doctorates. Birshtein is the principal shareholder and chairperson of investment firm Royal HTM, which he claimed was registered in Canada but is actually registered in South Africa. Khulubuse Zuma has been a director since 2009.

The New York Times linked Birshtein to Russian organised crime figures. He was also accused of ferrying gold in his private jet from Kyrgyzstan to a Swiss bank.

Khulubuse’s media adviser, Vuyo Mkhize, said his client “doesn’t possess the capacity to conduct background checks on everyone he goes into business with”.

Mkhize said Royal HTM never traded and is being deregistered. “There is hardly a country on the continent that he has not been frequenting, scouring for business opportunities,” Mkhize said.

“As a private citizen?...?he has no duty to publicly disclose details of his business dealings.”

Jacob Zuma’s family money tree

South Africa Register to Vote

All over South Africa, voter registration kicked off this weekend and political parties were in top form. The gloves are off as parties try to gain membership by promising a better future for all. What is hilarious is some of the posts on social media. Of course, the die-hards defending the ruling African National Party (ANC) performed outrageously at some stations.

There were many posts informing people not to be ignorant or selfish and not to lose site of the lack of vision and unity that might lead the majority back into apartheid, calling all to vote for the ANC.

 It is a pity people have a vision of honesty and move away from the past.

The official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) as usual remained dignified and called for people to vote for change. Change that would benefit all South Africans and changes that would lead to economic prosperity. I actually believe the DA is a party that delivers on promises made and the recent release of the Government Performance Index report found that 12 out of the 20 best run municipalities in the country are governed by the DA. In contrast to this, the worst 20 performing municipalities are all governed by the ANC.

Link to article

https://www.da.org.za/2016/02/da-delivers-9-out-of-10-best-municipalities-in-sa-are-da-governed/

Actions speak louder than words. Promises made are often not kept, well most of the time and the gullible people vote for the ruling party merely because they cannot vision a better future under an honest government. I think the corruption, tender fraud and other criminal aspects happening within government today are the most challenging problems and people have become accustomed to the wrong way of life. 

White people you are on your own

We all know that for years there has been a dominate dislike of white people in South Africa and the rise in farm murders is only a small factor. With democracy, came freedom, but freedom was not enough, the call for land reform, affirmative action and high rise in crime impacted adversely on the minority group.

An article giving rise to a petition to allow white South Africans to qualify for European Citizenship is gaining momentum. The petition is attracting signatures from all over the world and states reason of fear and persecution. It is true, there are so many white people who are suffering, one as to look at the growth of white squatter camps around the country to know how desperate living conditions have become. Work is scarce and white people do not always qualify for a position because of affirmative action quotas. 

There is one particular comment from this article that I want to share and response to it.

I am wondering why there is so much hate in the minds of people who claim to speak for Liberty.

I for 1 do not call it hate. I just think of it as trying to bring in balance. We need to do to them what they did to our forefather. It's not revenge or hate just balancing nature.

Perhaps the harshest comment I read was, “the whites must go and we must close the airports. They must use the boats like the Syrians, Libyans and Somalis to cross the sea on their way to Europe. Let them drown!

Source:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/579424/Europe-overrun-white-South-Africans-right-to-return

White South Africans 'fearing for their lives' ask EU for right to 'return'

The online call to action demands the European Commission (EC) allows all white South Africans to obtain automatic European citizenship.

The petition has already gained more than 1,000 supporters in just half a day.

Rodrigo de Campos, who started the campaign, is gaining support for his belief that the "white South African population currently faces ethnic cleansing and persecutions" at the hands of the ruling ANC government, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party and "various individual anti-white aggressors".

He also says: "Over 4000 white farmers have been brutally murdered, often including torture and rape and mutilation."

An increasing number of supporters believe the solution to this is for white South Africans - and white Zimbabweans and Namibians - to be allowed to "return" to whatever nation the majority of their ancestors are from - which in most cases is the Netherlands or the UK.

The petition compares white South Africans to Jews being allowed citizenship in Israel.

It says: "Based on the Israeli government's policy of allowing all Jews the right to return to Israel, we believe it is not only advisable but morally obligatory that Europe should allow all white South Africans the right to return."

Currently, South Africans, of any colour, applying for British Citizenship have to tick all the boxes people from any other country outside the EU have to.

This includes having lived in the UK for at least five years before applying - usually on a work visa.

South Africa even has a "purely" white town, Orania

The white South African population currently faces ethnic cleansing and persecutions

Rodrigo de Campos

Susan Mulder, who signed the petition from Cape Town, said: "My life and the lives of my children are at risk daily.

"We love SA but are no longer welcome here in the country our ancestors built.

"We have no option but to ask for your help."

Another supporter of the petition is Marischka Davies, living in Liverpool. She said: "I am a naturalised British citizen yet my mom is stuck on her own in South Africa. 

"She should be growing old with her daughter and granddaughter.

"She has been attacked with an AK47 held to her head and is alone and traumatised. She deserves to be free from living in fear."

While Matty de Bruyn, in Cape Town, simply said: "There is no hope for the white man in South Africa."

There are just over half a million South Africans living in Britain.

According to census date, more than 800,000 white South Africans moved overseas - mainly to Britain, Australia and New Zealand - between 1991 and 2001.