JOHANNESBURG — President Jacob Zuma’s birthday parties in 2015 and 2016 were sponsored by controversial facilities management group Bosasa.
Bosasa, led by CEO Gavin Watson, was found to have bribed prisons officials for tenders by the Special Investigating Unit and is currently under criminal investigation by the Hawks.
News24 can reveal that Bosasa paid about R3.5m for the parties through Zuma’s foundation, led by former South African Airways boardchair Dudu Myeni.
The revelations come hot on the heels of investigative journalist Jacques Pauw’s latest book, The President’s Keepers, that exposed Zuma receiving R1m a month, for at least four months after becoming President in 2009, from tender tycoon Roy Moodley.
There were family-only invitations for the birthday bashes at Dube House, Zuma’s presidential residence in Durban. Myeni, who chairs the Jacob Zuma Foundation, has denied any wrongdoing. The Presidency did not respond to detailed questions and Bosasa said it had no special relationship with the president. — News24.com
