Johannesburg - The upmarket Johannesburg house that former deputy president Jacob Zuma lives in now has a new owner, a company run by a former personal assistant of his ex-wife.
Hola Recruitment & Selection Services, a recruitment agency based in Johannesburg, bought the Forest Town house from its previous owner, Mohamed Sayed Hoorzook, for R3.6m last month.
According to the registrar of companies, Hola has only one active director by the name of Zephroma Sizani Dubazana.
When contacted by City Press, Dubazana - who has now changed her surname to Dlamini - refused to comment about the purchase.
"I am the chief executive officer of this company. It is a private company and I would therefore not want to comment about its activities.
"My advice is that you go back to the people who told you about this for more information. I really do not want to say anything more," she said.
The relationship between her, her company and the former deputy president is still unclear.
But City Press has established that Dubazana worked as private secretary for minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma when she was still the national health minister in the 1990s.
When Dlamini-Zuma was appointed foreign affairs minister, Dubazana joined private business. She became a director of Hola Recruitment on July 18 2000.
Other company directors at the time were cellphone company MTN's current chief executive Phuthuma Nhleko and connected businessman Max Maisela.
According to the deeds office, Hola Recruitment took up a R3.6m bond with Absa to buy the house.
The property was purchased on June 22, eight days after Zuma's axing from cabinet, but was only transferred to Hola Recruitment on September 16.
Hoorzook, whose business interests include picture-framing enterprises, had bought the house in 1998 for R845 000.
Zuma moved into the house about two months ago and the property was in the news a few days later when it was raided by the Scorpions, as part of a nationwide search-and-seizure operation linked to their probe into the ANC deputy president's business dealings.
The popular ANC leader is scheduled to appear before the Durban Regional Court on October 11 in connection with charges arising from his relationship with his former financial adviser and friend Schabir Shaik who was convicted of corruption and fraud in July.
The Shaik trial did not only find a "generally corrupt relationship" between Zuma and Shaik, but also portrayed the former deputy president as a financially-ruined individual who could hardly make ends meet.
That is why news that he had moved into a R3.6m house at a leafy Johannesburg suburb, less than two months after President Thabo Mbeki axed him as his deputy, came as a surprise to many who wondered how he could afford such an expensive property.
When City Press visited the area, police were still guarding the house, indicating that Zuma was still living there. Zuma was unavailable for comment. - NEWS24
Hola Recruitment & Selection Services, a recruitment agency based in Johannesburg, bought the Forest Town house from its previous owner, Mohamed Sayed Hoorzook, for R3.6m last month.
According to the registrar of companies, Hola has only one active director by the name of Zephroma Sizani Dubazana.
When contacted by City Press, Dubazana - who has now changed her surname to Dlamini - refused to comment about the purchase.
"I am the chief executive officer of this company. It is a private company and I would therefore not want to comment about its activities.
"My advice is that you go back to the people who told you about this for more information. I really do not want to say anything more," she said.
The relationship between her, her company and the former deputy president is still unclear.
But City Press has established that Dubazana worked as private secretary for minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma when she was still the national health minister in the 1990s.
When Dlamini-Zuma was appointed foreign affairs minister, Dubazana joined private business. She became a director of Hola Recruitment on July 18 2000.
Other company directors at the time were cellphone company MTN's current chief executive Phuthuma Nhleko and connected businessman Max Maisela.
According to the deeds office, Hola Recruitment took up a R3.6m bond with Absa to buy the house.
The property was purchased on June 22, eight days after Zuma's axing from cabinet, but was only transferred to Hola Recruitment on September 16.
Hoorzook, whose business interests include picture-framing enterprises, had bought the house in 1998 for R845 000.
Zuma moved into the house about two months ago and the property was in the news a few days later when it was raided by the Scorpions, as part of a nationwide search-and-seizure operation linked to their probe into the ANC deputy president's business dealings.
The popular ANC leader is scheduled to appear before the Durban Regional Court on October 11 in connection with charges arising from his relationship with his former financial adviser and friend Schabir Shaik who was convicted of corruption and fraud in July.
The Shaik trial did not only find a "generally corrupt relationship" between Zuma and Shaik, but also portrayed the former deputy president as a financially-ruined individual who could hardly make ends meet.
That is why news that he had moved into a R3.6m house at a leafy Johannesburg suburb, less than two months after President Thabo Mbeki axed him as his deputy, came as a surprise to many who wondered how he could afford such an expensive property.
When City Press visited the area, police were still guarding the house, indicating that Zuma was still living there. Zuma was unavailable for comment. - NEWS24
