Johannesburg: South Africa’s wealthy Gupta family, which has been accused of holding undue political sway over President Jacob Zuma, said on Thursday it would defend itself at a judicial inquiry demanded by an anticorruption watchdog.
The carefully worded Public Protector report into alleged influence-peddling stopped short of saying crimes had been committed but said a judge must probe a scandal that has rattled markets in Africa’s most industrialised economy and increased the risk of ratings downgrades.
Titled “State of Capture”, the 355-page report by the constitutionally mandated watchdog listed several allegations against Zuma, the Guptas, two cabinet ministers and executives at state-owned firms. It did not reach conclusive findings.
The three Indian-born Gupta brothers — Ajay, Atul and Rajesh — are accused of using their friendship with the president to influence cabinet appointments.
Zuma denies granting undue influence to the brothers, who run a business empire from media to mining.
They have denied seeking it, and will defend their corner at the planned inquiry, their lawyer, Gert van de Merwe, said.
“We will participate and we will participate comprehensively,” he told eNCA television.
“I’ve always said that if we apply for review of the report of the Public Protector, it will be on the basis that we’ve not been afforded the opportunity to participate,” he said.
The Guptas, who refer to themselves in statements as the ‘Gupta Family’, were studying the report, he added.
Members of the Gupta family, which made more than $500 billion from business dealings with the government, boasted to one government figure that they made Zuma’s son into a multimillionaire, according to testimony revealed in the report.
Zuma has so far been protected by the governing party’s national executive committee _ but the damaging report may help Zuma’s enemies turn the panel against him.
If that were to happen, Zuma could be removed from office by the party before his presidential term expires in 2019.
It’s difficult to gauge how likely that may be. But the problems are piling up for Zuma: He also faces the possibility of having to deal with 783 corruption and racketeering charges, which were dropped just before he came to office as president in 2009. In April, the High Court overturned that decision, and if Zuma’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal fails in the near future, he may face prosecution.
The report issued Wednesday was produced by the former public protector, Thuli Madonsela, just before her term expired last month. (The public protector is an independent investigator established under the South African Constitution.) Her office assembled evidence of possible wrongdoing by Zuma, members of the Gupta family, companies associated with it and with Zuma’s son, Duduzane Zuma, and the board of the state-owned electricity provider, Eskom.
It stopped short of determining whether crimes had been committed, but called on Zuma to set up a judicial inquiry into his own inner circle within 30 days.
Thousands of people, many of them associated with opposition parties, demonstrated Wednesday in Pretoria, the seat of government, calling for Zuma to step down. The report came one day after the Nelson Mandela Foundation, set up by the country’s revered former president, said Zuma had “failed the test” of national leadership, and called on the governing party to put the country in safe hands.
Jacob Zuma initially took legal action to suppress the public protector’s report, but withdrew the action Wednesday. However he accused Madonsela of violating his rights and said he may yet challenge the report in court.
In the past, Zuma has acknowledged his friendship with the Guptas but denied any wrongdoing.
Zuma is alleged to have called a government official responsible for the government advertising budget, Themba Maseko, in late 2010 and told him: “The Gupta brothers need your help. Please help them.”
At a meeting at the Gupta family mansion north of Johannesburg later that day, the report said, Ajay Gupta told Maseko to direct government advertising to a newspaper the family was starting up. If any government ministers resisted, he reportedly said, “We will deal with them. If you have a problem with any department, we will summon ministers here.”
Later, when Maseko didn’t cooperate, Ajay Gupta threatened to “sort him out” and replace him with someone more cooperative, the report said.
