How Gigaba oiled Gupta machine
Door for Guptas opened when Gigaba became public enterprises minister
Minister and his successor packed SOEs with family yes-men to facilitate looting of state
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and his successor as public enterprises minister, Lynne Brown, peppered state-owned companies with Gupta family associates and connections.
Leaked e-mails detailing the Gupta family’s interactions with key government ministers and officials have focused the spotlight on Gigaba’s role – whether witting or unwitting – in the capture of the SA state.
They also appear to add credence to a report on state capture by the Public Affairs Research Institute, released before the e-mail leak, which painted Gigaba as a central character.
Gigaba has dismissed the claims and declined to comment further on them when approached.
Brown’s spokesman Colin Cruywagen said that, since January, the minister has repeatedly called for further investigation of allegations raised in the State of Capture report – to spare state-owned companies further reputational damage. He said recent pronouncements on this matter by the ANC, President Jacob Zuma and the Hawks “will come as a great relief to state-owned companies”.
Koffi Kouakou from the Wits School of Governance said it was clear from the actions of ministers like Brown and Gigaba that South Africa had a governance crisis.
“It’s clear that Gigaba and Brown have committed serious oversight blunders, breaching rules of ethical governance whose behaviour borders on crimes of governance.
“There were rules they knew of which they should have followed, which they didn’t.”
The Gupta family has benefited from multibillion-rand state power and infrastructure projects in entities where their associates and allies were appointed by Gigaba and Brown.
The door to state deals, or special favours, for the Guptas seems to have been opened from the moment Gigaba was appointed public enterprises minister in November 2010 and continued through to his move to the home affairs ministry in 2014.
Gigaba appointed a swathe of directors – now known to be connected to the Guptas – to arms manufacturer Denel, Eskom and Transnet.
A regular character in the Gupta links to these directors is their trusted associate Salim Essa.