Outa wants Faith jailed
TREASON, CORRUPTION CHARGES LAID AGAINST MINISTER Muthambi ‘violated, threatened and endangered SA’s independence’.
Minister of Public Service and Administration Faith Muthambi is facing possible charges of high treason and corruption for leaking state secrets to the Gupta family and for her untoward conduct to benefit the Guptas while she was Minister of Communications.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) yesterday morning laid the charges at the Brixton police station, where it handed an affidavit and a bundle of supporting documents to the station’s management.
Dominique Msibi, portfolio director for special projects at Outa, said the matter emanated from the #GuptaLeaks e-mails obtained from a Sahara computer server that showed that Muthambi, then as minister of communications, sent a series of e-mails to Tony Gupta on confidential matters of Cabinet policy.
The Gupta e-mails show that Muthambi sent the e-mails between July and August 2014, immediately after her appointment as minister of communications.
“These e-mails were either sent directly from Muthambi to Tony Gupta or indirectly from Muthambi to Sahara company CEO Mr Ashu Chawla, who in turn forwarded Muthambi’s correspondence to Tony Gupta and Duduzane Zuma, President Zuma’s son. The latter has acted as a conduit between the Guptas and President Zuma,” Outa’s legal affairs head, Stefanie Fick, said in an affidavit.
The information Muthambi sent allegedly included a copy of the presidential proclamation giving Muthambi a range of powers to usurp Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele’s powers over broadcasting policy and Sentech. Muthambi sent this Cabinet information to Tony Gupta via Chawla, apparently for vetting.
Msibi said the minister shared this confidential information with the Guptas in breach of the law. “When the court finds Faith Muthambi guilty, this should mean a sentence of life imprisonment,” Msibi said.
Outa wants Muthambi taken to task for irregularly appointing Hlaudi Motsoeneng as SABC COO, despite the recommendations of the parliamentary ad hoc committee and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on Motsoeneng. Between April 2011 and November 2015, Motsoeneng promoted SABC business relations with the Gupta-owned TNA Media.
“Under Hlaudi, the SABC concluded agreements with TNA Media in terms of which the SABC would broadcast The New Age businesses breakfasts at a loss to the SABC, while TNA Media amassed considerable profits and media exposure from the broadcasts,” Fick, said in the affidavit.
The SABC resources were diverted to fund ANN7, a Gupta-owned news channel, and the SABC paid production costs of the business breakfasts, while the broadcaster generated no revenue from the briefings. It further paid huge subscriptions to The New Age newspaper that started with R238 356 in 2011 and grew to close to R1 million in 2015-16.
Fick said Muthambi’s conduct constituted high treason, as she violated, threatened and endangered South Africa’s independence and security. Fick also said the minister violated The Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004 pertaining to alleged corrupt activities between her and the Guptas.
“We want her to be held criminally liable for these misdemeanours,” Msibi said.
Questions e-mailed to Muthambi’s office were not answered by the time of going to print. –