Johannesburg: The son of South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma, accused by witnesses of acting as a conduit in a major web of state graft, said on Tuesday he was not corrupt but a victim of political crossfire.
Duduzane Zuma, 35, was testifying before a judicial inquiry probing allegations that his father organised a systematic plunder of government coffers in a scandal known as "state capture”. "I’m looked at as a criminal, I’m looked at as this face of corruption, this guy that’s plundered trillions out of this country,” Zuma said as he wrapped his two-day testimony.
"So I just like to say to the public out there I’m not corrupt, I have not taken money from anybody, I never have and I never will.” He has been named in the media and by various witnesses that have appeared before the inquiry, as having been a channel for the Guptas, a wealthy migrant business family that allegedly had a corrupt relationship with his father. While Zuma was in office, the Guptas won lucrative contracts with state companies and allegedly held sway over his choice of cabinet ministers. (AFP)
Duduzane Zuma, 35, was testifying before a judicial inquiry probing allegations that his father organised a systematic plunder of government coffers in a scandal known as "state capture”. "I’m looked at as a criminal, I’m looked at as this face of corruption, this guy that’s plundered trillions out of this country,” Zuma said as he wrapped his two-day testimony.
"So I just like to say to the public out there I’m not corrupt, I have not taken money from anybody, I never have and I never will.” He has been named in the media and by various witnesses that have appeared before the inquiry, as having been a channel for the Guptas, a wealthy migrant business family that allegedly had a corrupt relationship with his father. While Zuma was in office, the Guptas won lucrative contracts with state companies and allegedly held sway over his choice of cabinet ministers. (AFP)