Ministers helped to spin Guptas’ web
Gigaba, Brown had major role in placing family’s associates
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 South African state.
They also appear to add credence to a report on state capture by the Public Affairs Research Institute, released before the e-mails leak, which painted Gigaba as a central character.
Gigaba has dismissed the claims, and declined to comment further yesterday.
Brown’s spokesman, Colin Cruywagen, said Brown had repeatedly called for further investigation of allegations raised in the State of Capture report, to spare state-owned companies further reputational damage.
“Recent pronouncements on this matter by the ruling party, the president and the Hawks will come as a great relief to stateowned companies,” he said.
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.
The Gupta family has benefited from multibillion-rand state projects at entities where their associates and allies were appointed by Gigaba and Brown.
These include, among others, the provision by China South Rail (CSR) of locomotives for Transnet which saw the Guptas secure R5.3-billion in alleged kickbacks.
The door seems to have been opened for the Guptas when Gigaba was appointed public enterprises minister in November 2010 and continued until his move to Home Affairs in 2014.
Gigaba appointed 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 associate Salim Essa, who has in the past shared co-directorships with many of those appointed to sit on the Eskom and Transnet boards. They include: ý Iqbal Sharma: Gigaba appointed him to the Transnet board in December 2010 and attempted to appoint him as chairman in June 2011 but this was vetoed by the cabinet because of his links to the Guptas.
Gigaba then created Transnet’s Acquisitions and Disposals Board to supervise infrastructure tenders valued at more than R2.5-billion and appointed Sharma as chairman, who oversaw R25-billion in tenders awarded to CSR; ý Brian Molefe: Gigaba appointed him Transnet chief executive in February 2011, where he signed off on the CSR tender, among others.
Molefe was Eskom chief executive when the Guptas acquired Optimum Coal, which supplied the utility.
His role in that was questioned in thenpublic protector Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture report;
ý Anoj Singh: Gigaba appointed him Transnet chief financial officer in July 2012. He and Molefe signed off on Gupta-linked Transnet contracts.
Brown oversaw his appointment as Eskom chief financial officer in October 2015;
ý Mark Pamensky: Brown appointed him to Eskom’s board in March 2014. Until May this year, he sat on the Oakbay board.
He resigned as Eskom director in November last year after the release of the State of Capture report. He denies any impropriety;
ý Viroshni Naidoo: Gigaba appointed her to the Eskom board in June 2011. Her husband, Kuben Moodley, is special adviser to Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane;
ý Ben Ngubane: Brown appointed him to the Eskom board in December 2014. He was a co-director with Essa of Gade Oil and Gas;
ý Romeo Khumalo: Brown appointed him to Eskom’s board in December 2014. He resigned in April last year. He was a co-director with Essa in Ujiri Mining;
ý Nazia Carrim: Brown appointed her to Eskom’s board in 2014. She is married to Essa’s cousin.
ý Thamsanqa Msomi: Now Gigaba’s adviser. Leaked e-mails show he was the alleged middleman between Gigaba and Gupta associates seeking visa favours from Home Affairs. Brown appointed him to Denel’s board in 2015; and
ý Colins Matjila: Gigaba appointed him in June 2011 to Eskom’s board, where he chaired the tender committee and irregularly signed The New Age breakfast sponsorship benefiting the Guptas, which helped them start their TV station, ANN7.
He allegedly pushed for a “balance sheet optimisation contract” in which Essa’s Trillian company stood to score more than R400-million by reclassifying the prices of Eskom’s coal resources. – The Times