“He’s behind me, isn’t he?”

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has confirmed that they will investigate whether President Jacob Zuma and his reported donors paid all taxes owed on the donations to him.

The investigation is the direct result of a complaint laid by the Democratic Alliance with SARS following a report broken by the Mail & Guardian last Friday. SARS is obliged by law to follow up on any such complaint.

The report outlined in shocking detail the breadth and depth of the network of private business people that President Jacob Zuma accepts monetary gifts from.

A multitude of political analysts have pointed out that the existence of Zuma’s donation network constitutes a serious breach of state security, owing to the fact that Zuma could be beholden to the private interests and agendas of a small but powerful group of business people.

[Sources : IOL, M&G]