Meet “half pregnant” Yusuf Kajee – independent tobacco player with strong Zuma connection

There were some memorable meetings during our UK sojourn from 2016 to May last year. One of them was this on-the-record interview with independent cigarette manufacturer Yusuf Kajee, owner of Pietermaritzburg-based Amalgamated Tobacco. Kajee, accompanied by business partner Paul De Robillard, expressed himself so freely that, at the time, publishing all his opinions would most likely have landed us in an expensive law suit. So after a fruitless attempt to engage with parties he attacked, I put the 45 minute interview to one side, promising myself to return to it at a more appropriate time. In recent weeks, much of what Kajee alleged is now in the public domain. And with a couple of hard hitting books putting tobacco back in the limelight and government's controversial banning of cigarettes, there is plenty of interest in the industry and the controversial personalities who play in it. So here's the edited version of what was originally a 45 minute gospel according to devout Moslem Yusuf Kajee – business partner of Jacob Zuma's son Edward; the man who lost a kidney to poisoning; arch enemy of Paul O'Sullivan; and someone SARS apparently calls "Mr Half Pregnant". Fascinating. – Alec Hogg 

I'm at the Mayfair Hotel in London with Yusuf Kajee, a colourful, controversial entrepreneur character from South Africa. Yusuf, tell us a little bit about your background, your family, how they came to South Africa?

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