JOHANNESBURG – Former South African president Jacob Zuma’s name has emerged in the latest collection of documents released by the US Department of Justice relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The files, comprising three million pages released on Friday, contain among others email correspondence about a private dinner arranged for Zuma on the final evening of his March 2010 state visit to the United Kingdom.
The documents allege the dinner took place on 5 March 2010 at the Ritz Hotel in London. Email exchanges also allege that a Russian model was invited to attend the gathering, which was organised by Mark Lloyd, described as a known associate of Epstein.
In an email dated 4 March 2010, Lloyd wrote to a woman identified only as Vera: “I am a friend of Jeffrey Epstein and I have been asked to help arrange a small dinner tomorrow night for President Jacob Zuma of South Africa at the Ritz Hotel at 7:00pm tomorrow evening. Jeffrey suggested that I invite you, as you would be certain to add some real glamour to the occasion.”
The recipient, who identified herself as a Russian model represented by Select model agency, accepted the invitation.
A separate email from Epstein to Peter Mandelson, who served in the cabinets of former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, stated: “mark lloyd is having dinner for zuma tomorrow night at the ritz„ i have invited a beautiful russian named [redacted] to attend.” It remains unclear whether Mandelson attended.
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In a follow-up email sent to Epstein the day after the dinner, Lloyd wrote: “We all found Jacob Zuma a much more impressive character than we had expected, he displayed more gravitas and none of the macho bluster he is generally portrayed as having by the tabloid press.“
Epstein later referred to the Russian model in an email to an unknown correspondent as “my new future ex“.
The dinner allegedly took place on the final day of Zuma’s three-day state visit, which ran from 3 to 5 March 2010. Zuma, accompanied by his wife Tobeka Madiba Zuma, stayed at Buckingham Palace for two nights at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II. His last official engagement was a meeting with NGOs working in South Africa at South Africa House in London on the afternoon of 5 March.
The Jacob Zuma Foundation has dismissed the reports as a smear campaign, stating that the documents do not establish any unlawful or improper conduct by the former president.
There has been no previous indication that Zuma and Epstein were connected.
Zuma’s MK Party also did not respond to requests for comment.
