While US President Donald Trump has been exonerated of collusion with Russia, South Africans should remain concerned about Moscow’s influence on our politics.
Last week Zuma elicited guffaws when he punted the Russian nuclear deal. “Nuclear could solve our problems, once and for all. Now we are in deep, we are therefore increasing the debt of the country with no hope to bring it down,” Zuma told Business Day. So too did David Mahlobo, the state security minister who became Zuma’s energy minister. October and November last year, Deputy President David Mabuza spent 15 days in Russia for “medical treatment”. Mabuza’s allegiance within the ANC appears malleable.
“Putin signed a decree in 2007 that provided for the integration and consolidation of all nuclear capabilities built up during the Cold War into a new civilian nuclear industry with global ambitions.