''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 ''Special Assignment'' current affairs programme on SABC. Pauw was a founding member and assistant editor of the anti-apartheid Afrikaans newspaper Vr ...

, a South African

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

, about allegedly corrupt and compromised power networks in the

South African government The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa. Executive authority ...

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: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

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 name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

Synopsis

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

mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

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 Indian-born family with business interests in South Africa, whose most notable members are brothers Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh "Tony" Gupta—as well as Atul's nephews Varun, and US-based Ashish and Amol. The family ow ...

groomed the children of

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

(ANC) politicians to gain political influence and that

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

's 2017 campaign for ANC president was funded by a cigarette company engaged in corruption. It also contains details of the state capture 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 A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

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 to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...

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 governments ...

by civil society organisations including the

Right2Know Campaign The Right2Know Campaign is a South African non-profit advocacy organisation established in 2010 to reduce state secrecy in the drafting of laws, increase access to information, and protect freedom of expression especially on the internet. As part ...

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 in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

. 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 subje ...

Busisiwe Mkhwebane Busisiwe Mkhwebane is a South African advocate, prosecutor and ombudsman, who has served as the 4th Public Protector of South Africa from 2016 to 2022. Early life and education Mkhwebane was born in Bethal in the then Transvaal province (now ...

, 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 The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

. 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 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 manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...

. In February 2018, the

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

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 known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

, 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 commercia ...

and received the Nielsen Booksellers' Choice Award.

References

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