DAVID LEWIS: The stark lessons from the arrest of Duduzane Zuma
'We learn - and those who are contemplating a life of corruption should also learn - that even the mighty can fall'
EXTRACT
I am fascinated by media references hinting that the prosecution's case against Duduzane was strengthened following a conversation with Fana Hlongwane, the arms deal-connected businessman, who was present when Ajay Gupta is alleged to have offered Jonas the bribe.
Duduzane was in the room too, and if he is vulnerable to prosecution on that basis, then so is Hlongwane. We'll undoubtedly hear more about this. Others may want to contemplate who else was in the room when they cut their own corrupt deals.
Reading Jacques Pauw's The President's Keepers, I discerned two wings of the Zuma family's commercial empire. The first could be described as their "business" interests, with the Guptas as their primary, if not exclusive, partners. Jacob Zuma's son Duduzane exercised oversight of these interests. The other wing comprised the (even more) dodgy relationships with cigarette smugglers and other assorted criminals. Oversight of these was seemingly entrusted to Edward, Duduzane's more rough-hewn half-brother.Duduzane was no mere idle playboy. He had a complex set of relationships to oversee, major public sector tenders to secure for the Guptas and vast amounts of money to hide. His father couldn't do this alone. Jacob Zuma didn't have a great record in managing the family's money, and he also had a political party to keep in check and a government to run. Given the family's commercial interests, Zuma's key governmental task was ensuring that the wrong people were placed in the right jobs....
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