''The President's Keepers: Those Keeping Zuma in Power and out of Prison'' a 2017 book by

Jacques Pauw Jacques Pauw is a South African investigative journalist who was an executive producer of the SABC Special Assignment, ''Special Assignment'' current affairs programme on SABC. Pauw was a founding member and assistant editor of the anti-aparthei ...

, a South African investigative journalist, about allegedly corrupt and compromised power networks in the

South African government The Government of South Africa, or South African Government, is the national government of the Republic of South Africa, a parliamentary republic with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary ...

under

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

Synopsis

In eighteen chapters and an epilogue, the book details the creation and functioning of a "shadow

mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

state" created by and surrounding President

. Pauw makes a number of serious allegations about Zuma, including that he did not pay taxes during his presidency, that he was illegally paid R1 million ( $70,000) a month by a private company while president, that he failed to pay back loans, and that he has poor financial acumen. The book also makes a number of accusations concerning criminal and other misconduct by various associates of Zuma. These include that the

Gupta family The Gupta family is a wealthy and influential business family from India, with close ties to former South African President Jacob Zuma and his administration. The family's most notable members are the brothers Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh "Tony" Gupt ...

groomed the children of

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) politicians to gain political influence and that

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma (; born 27 January 1949), sometimes referred to by her initials NDZ, is a South Africa, South African politician, medical doctor and former anti-apartheid activist. A longstanding member of the African National Con ...

's 2017 campaign for ANC president was funded by a cigarette company engaged in corruption. It also contains details of the

state capture State capture is a type of systemic political corruption in which private interests significantly influence a state's decision-making processes to their own advantage. The term was first used by the World Bank in 2000 to describe certain Central ...

of the

South African Revenue Service The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the revenue service of the South African government. It administers the country's tax system and customs service, and enforces compliance with related legislation. It is governed by the SARS Act 34 of ...

(SARS) and the wasteful creation of a R1-billion (around US$70,000,000) spy network within the State Security Agency (SSA) that allegedly engaged in widespread corruption.

Reception

Within four days of the book's publication it was cited in

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

questions directed at the president by the opposition Democratic Alliance. On 3 November 2017, the SSA issued a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

letter against Pauw and NB Publishers, arguing that the book contravened the Intelligence Service Act. SARS also stated that they would consider initiating criminal charges against Pauw for publicising confidential tax records. The actions by the SSA and SARS were criticised as

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

by civil society organisations including the Right2Know Campaign and Corruption Watch, as well as by the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by t ...

. The

Public Protector The Public Protector in South Africa is one of six independent state institutions set up by the country's Constitution to support and defend democracy. According to Section 181 of the Constitution: * These institutions are independent, and subj ...

Busisiwe Mkhwebane Busisiwe Mkhwebane is a South African advocate and prosecutor served as the 4th Public Protector of South Africa from October 2016 until her impeachment in September 2023. Following her impeachment, she served as a Member of the National Assem ...

, also cautioned the public against purchasing the book, and the family of SSA head

Arthur Fraser Arthur Fraser is a South African civil servant and former intelligence operative who was head of the State Security Agency from 2016 to 2018 and National Commissioner for Correctional Services from 2018 to 2021. He was previously an anti-apartheid ...

said that they would consider taking legal action against Pauw for what they said were inaccuracies in the book. NB Publishers and various book stores said that they would continue to distribute the book, which they said contained factual information that was in the

public interest In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired ...

. Indeed, fear that the book would be banned caused a spike in its sales: it sold out of its first print run of 20,000 books within 24 hours of the SSA's cease and desist letter and became an international best seller. Because of the resulting shortage of books, combined with the threat of censorship, a digitally pirated version of the book was widely shared in the week after the cease and desist letter. A launch of the book on the evening of Wednesday 8 November 2017 was cancelled after a power outage. During the launch, Pauw told attendees that he expected to spend years fighting legal battles. He also said that he had received anonymous

death threats A death threat is a threat, often made Anonymity, anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to Psychological manipulation, manipulat ...

. In February 2018, the

Hawks Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and othe ...

searched his home and guesthouse in Riebeek-Kasteel, Western Cape in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation. However, in September of that year, SARS, by then under new leadership, announced that it would drop its litigation against Pauw. According to audited six-month sales figures, the book sold 193,895 copies, around 26,000 of which were

ebooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

, by late March 2018. As of May 2018, around 197,000 copies had been sold.

Awards

The book won the International Freedom to Publish Award from the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercial ...

and received the Nielsen Booksellers' Choice Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:President's Keepers Jacob Zuma South African non-fiction books Political books Deep politics 2017 non-fiction books Investigative journalism books Non-fiction books about organized crime African National Congress politicians Works about corruption Corruption in South Africa Books about the African National Congress