"No amount of slander and smear will detract us from the objective of working together with the people of the Western Cape to liberate them from a racist and exclusionary government," ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in a statement.

This followed a report in the Mail & Guardian which alleged that Zuma hosted crime bosses, including Quinton "Mr Big" Marinus and Americans leader Igshaan Davids, commonly known as "Sanie American", at the presidential estate in Rondebosch in 2011.

According to the report, the meeting’s facilitator, Lloyd Hill, thanked the president for meeting the group, saying in Afrikaans that this was their chance to ask Zuma for what they wanted, and also assured them that "die ou ballie is net so ‘n naai soos ons [the old timer is a fucker just like us]".

According to one version of the meeting, Marinus or Davids reportedly said they would win the Western Cape back for the ANC.

One of them also said he was having problems with the SA Revenue Service and, according to the M&G, Zuma reportedly said he would look into that matter.

Kodwa said the report was a rehash of accusations made by the DA in 2012.

"The allegations are today, as they were then, slanderous and baseless," he said.

"They are intended to decampaign the African National Congress in the Western Cape ahead of the 2016 local government elections."

DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Friday that Zuma's so-called relationship with Western Cape crime bosses underscored the "moral bankruptcy of his leadership".

"This is a new low for a broken president who regards South Africa and its safety as a secondary priority in his bid to cling to power," he said in a statement.

"Thousands of innocent South Africans are killed by gangs and gang violence every year, yet President Zuma would rather cosy up to gangsters than deal decisively with the scourge of gangsterism."

Maimane said the truth needs to come to light. The DA is planning to lodge a complaint with the Sars corruption hotline asking for a full investigation into the matter, he said.

It also intends submitting parliamentary questions to the presidency, asking for details on the alleged meeting and submitting parliamentary questions to the minister of finance regarding the alleged interference at Sars.

News24
Link: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/anc-undeterred-by-report-of-zuma-meeting-with-gang-leaders-20151120