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Duduzane Zuma’s lawyers – and those of the mother of his baby boy who is two years old this year - quibbled over till slips, credit card bills and “start-up costs” for the child.
Emails contained in a tranche which City Press obtained over the weekend, show how the child’s mother wanted R30 000 a month in maintenance for the baby, and also wanted Zuma jnr to pay his share of the costs for a night nurse and her antenatal classes.
In an email to him sent in September 2015, his lawyer proposed a response to a letter sent by the mother’s lawyer, that said:
“Nanny must be included in monthly maintenance claims as referred to above and, if she has done any other work, such as household help, or will be doing so, this must be stated, as your client will then bear a portion of her cost for herself too,” the lawyer wrote.
“In total my client will pay the sum of R16 892.50, which he will round off to R17 000 in full and final settlement of all start-up, birth and pregnancy costs save and except for reasonable and necessary birth and pregnancy costs not covered by the medical aid, which your client is to properly list and explain…
“That will then resolve the pregnancy, birth and start-up costs once and for all,” says the letter from the woman’s lawyer.
Before this letter was sent, Zuma jnr’s lawyer had made an overture to pay her a lump sum instead of maintenance every month. AmaBhungane and Daily Maverick reported that Gupta lawyer Gert van der Merwe had advised Zuma jnr, and that he had paid the woman R3.5 million in a once-off maintenance payment.
Her lawyer wrote: “It is my instruction that an Actuary has to be appointed, at your client’s expense, to determine what the financial needs of the minor child will be until the age of minority [sic], and to use his/her findings as a starting point to calculate the once off lump sum payment."
City Press approached Zuma jnr for comment around 8am on Thursday by email and text message, however no comment was forthcoming.
City Press also approached Gupta spokesperson Gary Naidoo, spoke to him on the phone, and send the questions by email. However, no response was received and Naidoo remained out of contact for the rest of the day.
