Staff Reporter
Newly published US government records relating to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein include emails in which aides discussed arranging a private London dinner in 2010 for then South African president Jacob Zuma.
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The US Justice Department said on Friday it had released about 3.5 million pages in response to a law requiring publication of government-held Epstein materials, alongside thousands of videos and images, many with redactions to protect victims’ identities.
Zuma’s name appears in a chain of emails dated March 2010, during his official visit to the United Kingdom.
In one message dated 4 March, Mark Lloyd — described in the correspondence as assisting Epstein — wrote to a woman named Vera: “I have been asked to help arrange a small dinner tomorrow night for President Jacob Zuma of South Africa at the Ritz Hotel at 7pm”.
A separate email indicated Epstein also alerted a British political figure to the plan, writing: “Mark Lloyd is having dinner for Zuma tomorrow night at the Ritz.”
The correspondence does not, on its face, allege wrongdoing by Zuma, nor is there evidence that Zuma attended the meeting.
The emails also refer to inviting a Russian model to the dinner, and include a follow-up description of Zuma’s demeanour.
Epstein, who faced US federal sex-trafficking charges, died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.
His associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was later convicted in federal court of sex trafficking-related offences.
Neither the Jacob Zuma Foundation or the MK Party, which Zuma now leads, had issued an official statement on the matter via their verified social media accounts at the time of publication.
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However, Mzwanele Manyi, the spokesperson for Zuma’s eponymous foundation, told News24: “The Jacob Zuma Foundation will not participate in speculative narrative building disguised as investigative journalism, the matter is closed.”
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