Acsa board member resigns

The scandal surrounding the Gupta family has claimed its latest victim with the resignation of Airports Company SA (Acsa) board member John Lamola.

Business Day has seen a copy of Lamola’s resignation letter that was sent to Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi.

Lamola said he wanted to resign from the Acsa board after he learned from a report in the Sunday Times that the Guptas had allegedly played a role in his appointment. Lamola’s name was on a list of five names to be placed on the Acsa board that the Guptas allegedly gave to an adviser of former transport minister Ben Martins in 2012.

Lamola and three other people on the Gupta list, advocate Kenosi Moroka, Bajabulile Luthuli and Chwayita Mabude, were appointed to the Acsa board in December 2012.

The Sunday Times also reported that the decision by Martins to use a legal opinion to reject the Gupta family’s proposals for board members contributed to him being removed from his post in July 2013.

All of them except Lamola were removed in February by former transport minister Dipuo Peters and then reinstated by Maswanganyi on May 31 following a Cabinet reshuffle.

In his resignation letter, Lamola said he was “shocked and saddened” to learn “that my selection and appointment to the board of Acsa in December 2012 was a prior subject of discussion among non-state individuals”.

Business Day has seen no evidence that these directors furthered the Guptas’ business interests. Moroka previously told Business Day he had never spoken to the Guptas. Luthuli, Mabude and the Gupta family did not respond to queries.