[imagesource: Michele Spatari/AP]

At this stage, knowing what we do about Jacob Zuma’s leading role in State Capture and subverting anything remotely resembling a functional government, it takes a jaw-dropping claim to grab headlines.

Well, during yesterday’s State Capture Inquiry proceedings, former minister of safety and security Sydney Mufamadi delivered.

South Africans hardly bat an eyelid at tales of gross corruption these days (the Gauteng Department of Education squandered R431 million in three months on unnecessary ‘deep cleaning’ and ‘decontamination’ of schools? How quaint.), but there is something about Mufamadi’s claims that are blockbuster.

For the details, here’s TimesLIVE:

Former president Jacob Zuma, as the head of state and ANC boss, turned the State Security Agency (SSA) into his personal fiefdom, the state capture inquiry heard on Monday.

If Zuma was not allegedly financially benefiting from SSA coffers, he was using the agency to persecute his enemies and thwart public dissent against his administration or provide protection to his political allies.

If you’ve ever wondered how Zuma funds his never-ending legal battles, consider that between 2015 and 2017, it’s alleged that the SSA funnelled between R2,5 million and R4,5 million to Zuma every month.

It’s not just the money, either. Mufamadi (above) says that two people were crucial to helping Zuma wield the SSA’s power to shield him from various legal woes, and strengthen his hold on the ANC.

David Mahlobo (below), then the minister of state security (and currently the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation), and former SSA special operations unit boss Thulani Dlomo headed up operations, and “operatives pledged allegiance to Zuma instead of the country”:

The special ops unit, Mufamadi opined, was a “rogue unit”…

Among successful missions of the special ops unit, said Mufamadi, was the neutralisation and infiltration of the Zuma Must Fall Movement, particularly in February 2016 at the state of the nation address (Sona) in parliament.

The movement, SSA believed at the time, planned to call for Zuma’s head outside parliament in the form of a 5,000-people protest, but after SSA spooks infiltrated them and destabilised their plans, the turnout was just 50 people.

Thankfully, one of the unit’s biggest failures saw Cyril Ramaphosa ascend to the presidency, ahead of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Say what you want about President Ramaphosa, but a handover to another Zuma acolyte would have been downright catastrophic.

Mufamadi did stress that he had never witnessed Zuma receiving the money himself, and further evidence has been requested by the commission with regards to these claims.

One more thing, via News24:

Mufamadi also detailed how his panel had received evidence that the SSA had planned to deal with bad publicity about South Africa, Zuma and the agency itself by infiltrating and influencing the media.

“They say the project was launched in the 2015/2016 financial year, with a budget of R24 million, and they say one of the largest amounts…was R20 million, given to a media agency, apparently for services rendered for eight months.”

That agency was African News Agency, which soon became synonymous with horrid on-air gaffes and an obvious pro-Zuma slant in its coverage.

Finally, there’s this:

According to Mufamadi, his panel had also been informed that the SSA had devised a project aimed at the recruitment of toxicologists to test Zuma’s food and bedding.

It had a R500 000 a month budget, which was subsequently increased to R1.5 million a month.

One of the fruits of this project, Pretorius said, was “to discover expired cooldrinks” in Zuma’s pantry

Your tax money hard at work there, friends.

We have become so desensitised to the looting and plundering of our resources that, for many, this is just going to fly under the radar.

Meanwhile, we should never lose sight of the fact that this isn’t, in any way, how a normal country functions.

This is staggering, a real revelation if true. Too big, I fear, for people properly to process. R4.5m a month for Zuma, in cash, from the security agencies? An unbelievable crime on an unprecedented scale. https://t.co/SLmBrZz6W3

— Gareth van Onselen (@GvanOnselen) January 25, 2021

[sources:timeslive&news24]