{"id":20877,"date":"2013-07-03T17:18:48","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T15:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/will-zuma-pitch-for-his-july-vip-tent\/"},"modified":"2013-07-03T17:18:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T15:18:48","slug":"will-zuma-pitch-for-his-july-vip-tent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/will-zuma-pitch-for-his-july-vip-tent\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Zuma pitch for his July VIP tent?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        \t                                <!-- Main Editorial Image --><br \/>\n                    \t\t\t      \t\t\t                                      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/aa33a_2405257069.jpg\" alt=\"zuma and Sizakele Makhumalo\" title=\"\" class=\"pics\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"captions_credit_article\">INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">A website selling R5 000 tickets to a VIP marquee at the Durban July listed President Jacob Zuma and his wife, Sizakele Makhumalo-Zuma, as the main hosts. File photo: Cindy Waxa<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">\n<p class=\"related_articles\">Related Stories<\/p>\n<ul class=\"menu_tab_lists_related\">\n<li><a class=\"related_articles\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iol.co.za:80\/news\/south-africa\/kwazulu-natal\/2-500-bottles-of-spirits-for-the-durban-july-1.1541229\">2 500 bottles of spirits for the Durban July<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--PSTYLE=WT Web Text--><\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Durban &#8211; Will President Jacob Zuma be attending this year\u2019s Durban July \u2013 or not? That was the question being asked on Tuesday after a website selling R5 000 tickets to a VIP marquee at the event listed him and his first wife, Sizakele Makhumalo-Zuma, as the main hosts. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">MM Lounge\u2019s website also listed the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti, KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Senzo Mchunu, ANC MP Ruth Bhengu and ANC MPL Lizzy Shabalala as guests. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">The invitation reads: \u201cMr JG (Jacob Ggedleyihlekisa) Zuma, the chairman of the Masimambisane Rural Development Initiative (MRDI) and Mrs Sizakele Zuma, the chairwoman of the Mashobane Foundation, cordially invite guests to the business lounge marquee.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">But Zuma\u2019s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said emphatically: \u201cHe will not attend the Durban July. He was never scheduled to attend it.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">He would not confirm or deny if Zuma was not attending the event, which he has attended before, because of Nelson Mandela\u2019s deteriorating health. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cI will not give you answers that suit you. It (the Durban July) was not on his (Zuma\u2019s) diary,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Tickets for the fundraising event cost R4 995 and only 250 have been made available. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Guests will have access to a drinks bar, betting totes, a \u201cchill\u201d area, dance floor, photo area and shuttle services to and from selected hotels, VIP parking, helicopter-pad access and separate ablution facilities. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">The \u201clist of honourable guests\u201d, which Zuma and Makhumalo-Zuma are listed with, will be hosted by television personality and businesswoman Penny Lebyane, Pamela K and radio personality Sthandwa Nzuza. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Guests will also enjoy performances by Zakes Bantwini, Khaya Mthethwa, NaimaK, DJ Mel, DJ Sox, DJ Simtho and a five-piece jazz band, the website states. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">On Tuesday, Mchunu declined to comment and referred The Mercury to the Mashobane Foundation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Mashobane chief executive Noah Nyawo said an \u201cerror\u201d had been made by their IT service provider. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">The website listed the politicians as \u201cpossible guests\u201d on its home page but a PDF format invitation, downloaded from the website, listed the ANC politicians as \u201cattending guests\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Nyawo said it would be rectified. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">The funds raised would go towards Mashobane and MRDI, of which Zuma is the chairman and his controversial cousin Sibusiso \u201cDeebo\u201d Mzobe is the deputy. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">City Press reported last year that the Masimambisane was the engine room driving \u201cZumaville\u201d, the development near Zuma\u2019s home village, Nkandla. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Mzobe confirmed his attendance at the July. He explained that a group of businessman had come up with the idea of the marquee to support MRDI and the Mashobane Foundation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Dubbed \u201cthe mayor of Zumaville\u201d, he insisted that the funds would not be used on the Nkandla compound. Instead, they would go towards \u201cfarming\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cHe (Zuma) won\u2019t be in the marquee,\u201d said Mzobe. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\"><strong>The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS A website selling R5 000 tickets to a VIP marquee at the Durban July listed President Jacob Zuma and his wife, Sizakele Makhumalo-Zuma, as the main hosts. File photo: Cindy Waxa Related Stories 2 500 bottles of spirits for the Durban July \u00a0 Durban &#8211; Will President Jacob Zuma be attending this year\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-20877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}