'Why not use the name's magic?'

17 April 2011 - 03:04 By Sunday Times Reporter
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"If my name provides some magic in what I'm doing, all the better for me," Khulubuse Zuma recently told the UK's Financial Times.



In the interview, he shrugged off accusations that he was exploiting his relationship with his uncle. He is the son of President Jacob Zuma's younger brother, Michael.

Khulubuse was a taxi driver who also apparently chauffeured his uncle on his return from exile in 1990.

H e has established and acquired more than 13 companies, ranging from mining to transportation, since 2008.

At that time, Zuma, who was president of the ANC, was the country's president-in-waiting.

Khulubuse started a security company in Durban and ran a fleet of taxis in the 1990s.

According to the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office, he registered five companies, including Aurora Empowerment Systems, in 2008. The next year, he was listed as a director of three more and last year added another four. He may hold stakes in a lot more businesses as an investor.

He has interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and India.

In 2008, he bought a 630m² home for R1.9-million in Umhlanga's Somerset Park, northern Durban, and owns a fleet of cars.

His friends include businessman Sbu Mpisane, Zuma backer Vivia n Reddy and national police commissioner Bheki Cele.

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