Opposition leader Mmusi Maimane on Monday vowed that he will be launching different initiatives to ensure that millions of rand allegedly paid to President Jacob Zuma are unearthed, and that the president is found guilty of violating the Executive Ethics Code due to non-declaration of the financial “gifts”.
“I can today confirm that President Jacob Zuma did not declare any [additional] salary earned in the 2009/10 financial year in the register of his financial interests.
"The only mention in the register of Mr Roy Moodley was the president’s use of Mr Moodley’s Durban beachfront property in 2016.
"This, in our view, constitutes a breach of the Executive Ethics Code,” Maimane told journalists at the Union Buildings after he emerged from analysing Zuma’s declaration of interests.
Maimane said the reason for his request to inspect Zuma’s public declarations was to verify whether Zuma had, as required by law, declared the R1 million per month income allegedly “received from Royal Security – a company owned by his close friend and tenderpreneur Roy Moodley” during the first months of his presidency in 2009.
This follows recent revelations contained in investigate journalist Jacques Pauw's explosive book, The President’s Keepers, which claims that according to a South African Revenue Service (Sars) source, Zuma was on the payroll of Royal Security for at least four months after he assumed the role of president.
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Maimane, however, said his perusal of Zuma’s declarations on Monday confirm the strong links between the head of State and Moodley.
“This confirms the relationship with Mr Moodley. What we want to know is where was the R1 million [per month] declared, and was the appropriate tax paid for it.
"What was that money for? No one pays you a R1 million per month for no specific reason. There must be further investigations that take place.
"Why was the money not declared in the public record? If nothing was wrong, it ought to have been publicly declared. That is what the Executive Ethics Code prescribes,” said Maimane.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane, surrounded by members of his communication team and security, during a visit to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday. PHOTO: ANA
Maimane said he will now be submitting an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to gain access to Royal Security's employment records for the 2009 year.
He said while Royal Security is a private entity, Section 70 of the PAIA Act allows for such access in the public interest.
In addition, Maimane said the DA will also be approaching Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, requesting her to probe Zuma.
“In light of the president’s prima facie breach of the Executive Ethics Code, I will be laying a complaint with the Public Protector, advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, requesting her office to investigate the matter and come to a timeous finding with suitable recommendations,” said Maimane.
“The Executive Members Ethics Act (82 of 1998) requires the public protector to investigate any alleged breach of the code of ethics on receipt of a complaint, and to submit a report on the alleged breach of the code of ethics within 30 days after receipt of a complaint. We will keenly await such a report.”
Maimane said the inspection of Zuma’s declared interests also revealed that the South African head of state received gifts from numerous individuals and heads of state, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.