The Jacob Zuma Foundation has issued a scathing denial following reports that the name of South Africa’s former president appeared in newly unsealed documents related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The foundation described the revelations as a “baseless attempt” to tarnish Zuma’s reputation through “guilt by association.”
The controversy stems from a tranche of 3.1 million pages released by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Among the documents are emails from March 2010 suggesting that Epstein helped facilitate an “intimate dinner” for Zuma at London’s Ritz Hotel during his official state visit to the United Kingdom. One email, reportedly sent by an Epstein associate, invited a Russian model to the event to “add some real glamour to the occasion.”
The correspondence further suggests that Epstein may have sought a private meeting with Zuma the following day, though the files do not provide definitive evidence that such a meeting took place or that Zuma was aware of Epstein’s criminal history at the time. At the time of the 2010 visit, Zuma was a sitting president staying at Buckingham Palace as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II.
In a formal statement, the Jacob Zuma Foundation insisted that the former president had no personal or business relationship with Epstein. “The attempt to drag the name of President Zuma into this sordid American scandal is a desperate distraction,” the statement read. The foundation argued that Zuma’s official schedule was managed by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and that any unofficial social gatherings should not be conflated with the “heinous crimes” committed by Epstein.
The appearance of Zuma’s name has sparked a political firestorm in South Africa, where opposition parties are already calling for an investigation into whether any state resources or diplomatic influence were compromised. Legal analysts note that while being mentioned in the files does not constitute evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the high-profile nature of the connection adds a new layer of scrutiny to Zuma’s international dealings during his presidency.
As global investigators continue to sift through the massive document dump, the Zuma Foundation has vowed to challenge any “defamatory” reporting. For the African diaspora, the inclusion of a former African head of state in the Epstein files underscores the vast, global reach of the financier’s network and the ongoing challenges of institutional accountability.
