South Africa: Zuma’s legal fight gets R10m lift from taxpayer

It was revealed yesterday that President Thabo Mbeki’s office is to fork out R10m for former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s legal fees, despite recent public statements that the matter was still “under consideration”. Two months ago, the Pietermaritzburg High Court heard from Zuma’s defence counsel in his fraud and corruption trial that assistance with legal costs should come from the state, but that at that stage it was “nonexistent”.