Guptas’ school ‘donations’ refuted

● Education of f icials tell MPs they are unaware of any ‘social responsibility’ activities by family

North West government officials have debunked a claim by the Gupta family that it donated equipment to schools in the province and also ran a feeding scheme at some.

The Guptas allegedly mentioned this in a letter to the department of home affairs as motivation for their application for early naturalisation‚ saying they were making “social contributions” to the value of R1m.

MPs were left fuming when home affairs portfolio committee chair Hlomane Chauke told them that in the letter to the home affairs minister‚ Guptaowned Oakbay claimed to be running a feeding scheme at local schools and that “some children in the North West ate KFC for the first time in their lives thanks to the company”.

The provincial head of education and sports development, Stephinah Semaswe, told the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on home affairs it was not true that the Guptas made donations to the schools.

She said some of the schools on the supposed list of 77 schools that benefited from the family did not even exist.

Semaswe told MPs that Gupta-linked companies invited schools in the Bojanala region of North West to take part in a “design competition” for a wedding invitation – to draw invitation cards for the infamous Gupta wedding held at Sun City in 2013.

Winning pupils and schools received “tokens of appreciation” from the companies.

These ranged from crayons and hula hoops to sports equipment such as soccer and netball balls‚ bibs and soccer cones‚ and monetary prizes between R1‚000 and R15‚000.

Some of the schools on the supposed list of 77 schools that benefited from the family did not even exist

Semaswe also dismissed a claim that the company had painted two schools‚ saying it was only two classrooms that had been painted.

“It was a drawing competition and it indicated prizes that [would] be won,” she said.

“They even invited school principals to a lunch for prizegiving.

“So from where we are seated as a department‚ it is a token of appreciation‚” she said.

“We are not aware of any social responsibility by the Guptas or Oakbay in our schools. We are only aware of a competition.”

She also rejected the claims that Oakbay ran a feeding scheme or soup kitchen.

“We’re not aware of any feeding scheme by Oakbay‚ except it’s run by a company linked to them.”

Semaswe was appearing before the parliamentary inquiry into the Guptas’ early naturalisation alongside North West education and sports development MEC Sello Jonas Lehare.

Lehare also dismissed the Guptas’ claim that they donated to 77 schools in the province‚ saying his department’s investigation found that only 68 of the schools were in the department’s database – and only 33 of them received the prizes or tokens of appreciation.

He said they found it interesting that the schools that “benefited” were all close to Sun City.

MPs heard that a company called Sundown Ranch Sports wrote to school principals – bypassing the department‚ in contravention of law – on behalf of another company‚ JIC Mining, on April 15 2013 to invite their schools to take part in the competition.

A follow-up letter indicated the “themes” to be a well-wishing card‚ a congratulatory message and an invitation card.

The company later sent an e-mail reminding principals of a function where the gifts would be given to pupils and the schools as tokens of appreciation.

“This company secretly gained access to our province and quietly identified schools in and around Rustenburg and Moses Kotane – without the involvement of the department and any of its administrative levels‚ except for the principals‚” Lehare said

Parliament also heard that Oakbay and its letterheads did not appear in any of the correspondence to the schools‚ although the department’s initial investigation found that the two companies were linked to Oakbay.

The meeting was to continue later on Wednesday after an adjournment.