• Former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has officially joined twitter in a bid to connect with his supporters. One of the first things he did was to expose a fake twitter account which was defrauding people in his name.

    Fraudsters on the Internet have taken the opportunity of the recent court judgment that requested the former president to pay for legal costs he incurred as a result of the criminal prosecutions brought against him while he was still in office.

    Earlier this week, a High Court judge sitting in North Gauteng, South Africa ordered former president Jacob Zuma to pay for legal costs dating back to 2005. The court also set aside all previous standings and decisions by the state attorney and presidency who had said that the country will pay the fees.

    Delivering the verdict, the judge said:

    “The state is not liable for the legal costs incurred by Mr. Jacob …. Zuma in his personal capacity in criminal prosecutions instituted against him in any civil litigation, related or incidental thereto and for any other associated legal costs.
    “The state attorney is directed to compile a complete and full accounting of all legal costs that were incurred by Mr. Zuma in his personal capacity in the criminal prosecution instituted against him.”

    South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), in March this year took the former president to the law in a bid to get a court injunction that would force Zuma to pay back over $1.3 million in taxpayers’ money which the party claims was used to fight “personal” legal battles.

    At the time of filing the case, leader of the Democratic Alliance, Mmusi Maimane, requested that every agreements between Zuma and President Cyril Ramaphosa in paying Zuma’s legal fees must be made public.

    Well, after the judgment was passed, some fraudulent individuals used a Twitter page to solicit for funds in the name of the former president with the aim of duping unsuspecting citizens you were deceived that they were assisting Zuma pay the debt. 

    The account is soliciting funds to pay for the legal fees which the court asked Zuma to pay without government's help. 

    This prompted the former president to join twitter today and call out the frustrater.

    Zuma's first tweet was to announce his arrival, he posted a video of himself saying:

    “Hello, everyone. I have decided to move with times to join this important area of conversation because I hear that many people are talking about me."

    It was followed by a second tweet in which he simply wrote ‘This is false’ over a quoted tweet that was soliciting for funds in his name.

    The Account with user-name  @Muke25700481 had posted:

    Capitec Bank

    JG Zuma

    Acc 1270361331

    Fundraising for uBaba it goes direct no middle man

    SA is a giving Nation,let's say thank you MSHOLOZI!!

    Header Image: THULI DLAMINI