Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma coaxed government departments into committing nearly R900m to a programme run by an NGO he chairs and which is run by his cousin, City Press reported on Sunday.

The Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative is a private NGO chaired by Zuma and run by Deebo Mzobe.

A multimillion-rand state food security programme, set to be approved by Cabinet later this month, has in effect been subcontracted to Masibambisane, which will co-ordinate the campaign on behalf of government.

Asked why government needed a middleman like Masibambisane to run the food-security initiative, Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, a staunch proponent of Masibambisane, said the NGO’s purpose was to “network” and bring partners into the initiative.

She added that no government money would flow to Masibambisane.

  City Press