Dubai palace: Zuma must sue

The newspaper reported yesterday that leaked emails show the Guptas have purchased a R330 million mansion in the United Arab Emirates for Zuma.

The presidency immediately issued a statement denying the report, saying Zuma owned no property outside South Africa.

“The story in the Sunday Times newspaper today, 4 June 2017, that President Jacob Zuma owns a ‘palace’ in Dubai is a fabrication,” Zuma’s spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga said.

Zuma does not own any property outside South Africa and had not “requested anybody to buy property for him abroad”.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane says if Zuma failed to sue the paper for publishing false and defamatory information about him, “we can only assume the content of the story to be true”.

The Sunday Times reported that the Guptas had bought Zuma a larney Dubai mansion.

“Zuma’s home is Villa L35 on Lailak Street in Emirates Hills, billed as the ‘most expensive postal code’ in a city so flashy that the police drive Bugattis,” the newspaper reported.

The palatial property has 10 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a double grand staircase, nine reception rooms - all dripping with marble and gold fittings - as well as space for 11 cars.

It said a draft letter, apparently awaiting Zuma’s signature, was allegedly sent by Tony Gupta: “I am happy to inform you that my family has decided to make the UAE, and specifically Dubai, a second home and have already acquired a residence located at Emirates Hills, Dubai [Villa No L35, Lailak Street No1].”