A huge civil suit involving staggering claims about the involvement of President Jacob Zuma, State Security Minister David Mahlobo and government intelligence agents in the formation of a new labour union aimed at destabilising anti-ANC labour union the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) is due to be heard in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday.

Rapport and City Press revealed in April and May this year that Thebe Maswabi, a founding member of the Workers Association Union (WAU), was suing Zuma, Mahlobo, Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko and Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula for R120m.

Maswabi claimed that he had allegedly received large bundles of cash from covert intelligence agents to establish the WAU in Rustenburg in 2014.

According to Maswabi, he had been told to set up the new union so that it could draw support away from labour leader Joseph Mathunjwa’s Amcu.

Maswabi also claimed that Zuma had orchestrated the project and that he had met with the president several times before the plan was implemented. This included a meeting with Zuma in London.

Cellphone connection

But the WAU ultimately failed to draw large numbers of platinum mine workers away from Amcu, and the payments made to Maswabi by the covert agents stopped, he claimed. He was left to pay the WAU’s debts himself, including the outstanding bills for houses and offices the new union had rented.

The defendants, who were represented by the state attorney’s office in Pretoria, originally filed a notice of intention to defend Maswabi’s claim. But in mid-2016 this reporter received word that Maswabi reached a settlement out of court with Zuma and others.

However, News24 recently learnt that Maswabi was pursuing the matter and that it would finally be heard on Friday.

Rapport’s original investigation found that a cellphone number listed on the WAU’s registration document at the Department of Labour belonged to Monde Gadini, husband of Zuma’s legal adviser Bonisiwe Makhene.

Gadini also happens to be closely associated with the State Security Agency’s (SSA) special operations unit, a shadowy intelligence outfit that has come under fire for getting involved in politically-motivated intelligence projects.