Former President Jacob Zuma's name appears in newly released documents from the US Justice Department as part of the Epstein files. Zuma's foundation has dismissed reports as speculative. The references relate to a dinner in London in 2010 during a state visit.
The United States Justice Department has released over 3 million additional pages of documents in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump last November. This release follows an order from the Trump administration to publish files related to criminal probes into Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender who was friends with Trump in the 1990s, in compliance with a transparency law passed by Congress last month. The documents include a series of emails referencing a dinner arranged at London's Ritz Hotel on March 5, 2010, while Zuma was on a state visit to the United Kingdom. The Jacob Zuma Foundation has dismissed media reports on these revelations as speculative narrative building and regards the matter as closed. An email from Mark Lloyd on March 4, 2010, invites someone named Vera to a small dinner hosted for then-President Zuma, encouraging attendance to add some real glamour to the occasion. A response indicates acceptance from someone describing herself as a Russian model who has lived in London for two years. Another email, purportedly from Epstein to British diplomat Peter Mandelson on March 5, 2010, states that Mark Lloyd was hosting Zuma the following day at the Ritz and that he had invited someone whose name was redacted but described as beautiful. A March 6 email to Epstein, the day after the dinner, from Mark Lloyd describes Zuma as a more impressive character than expected, who displayed more gravitas and none of the macho bluster portrayed in the tabloid press. These disclosures have drawn fresh attention to Zuma's international connections during his presidency, though no direct links to Epstein's crimes are mentioned.
