Outa demands proper probe into its charges against Zwane
Treason, corruption, theft, fraud and extortion charges brought against Mining Minister Mosebenzi Zwane at the Randburg police station on Monday by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) had to be thoroughly investigated, said Ben Theron, chief operating officer of the civil action group.
Theron, who lodged the affidavit, laid out in detail the basis for the charges, drawing on e-mails that were on a server at Sahara Computers, a business owned by the Gupta family and to which Outa has access.
Zwane rose quickly from relative obscurity to mining minister where he has courted controversy after controversy since his surprise appointment in September 2015.
He allegedly supported a Gupta-backed company, called Tegeta, in securing the Optimum coal mine from Glencore, flying with the family to Switzerland for talks with Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg; unveiled a radical overhaul to the Mining Charter without the collaboration of the mining industry and, most recently, proposed a moratorium on all new mining and prospecting rights and transfer of mineral rights.
The department did not respond to requests for comment on the Outa affidavit. Mired in legal challenges, Zwane’s name regularly crops up in the leaked e-mails as having a close relationship with the Gupta family, dating to his time as Free State agriculture MEC in 2012.
In his affidavit, Theron outlined how Zwane allegedly pushed a dairy business the way of the Guptas, after which they gave him and his choir an allexpenses paid visit to India; lobbied Nedbank to support the Guptas and relied on the family and its associates to formulate responses to media queries. There were numerous trips to Dubai and India on the Gupta account. Nearly R1.7bn in rehabilitation funds built up in Optimum and Koornfontein collieries were irregularly released and flowed to the Baroda Bank, which held Gupta accounts, Theron alleges.
Zwane “intentionally and unlawfully participated in activities which violated, threatened and endangered the existence, independence and security of the Republic”, Theron said.
HE ALLEGEDLY SUPPORTED GUPTA-BACKED TEGETA IN SECURING THE OPTIMUM COAL MINE