Probe to shed light on Zuma, Guptas

THE COUNTRY will know in the next few weeks if President Jacob Zuma allowed the Gupta family to influence his decisions to appoint members of his cabinet.

The Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, has been probing state capture since early this year when the allegations emerged.

Kgalalelo Masibi, Madonsela’s spokesperson, yesterday confirmed that she will release her report before she leaves office on October 15.

Madonsela has lined up several of Zuma’s top ministers to interview on state capture.

She wanted minutes of the cabinet and declaration of financial interests of members of the executive.

Madonsela wanted to understand how decisions were taken to appoint cabinet ministers and board members of state-owned entities.

The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Madonsela had lined up 23 cabinet ministers and top officials in government. But she has already interviewed some of the ministers.

On Thursday, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe told journalists in Parliament that the public protector had subpoenaed ministers on their financial interests.

Madonsela has four weeks left before she leaves the position she has occupied for the past seven years.

State capture is her last major investigation in the country before she goes.

Her preliminary report could shed light on what went on behind the scenes in the appointment of ministers and board members of SOEs.

Zuma has denied claims that he is under the influence of the Gupta family.

Zuma has been under pressure in the past few months to quit after allegations of state capture emerged.

But he has refused to accede to the demands from some within the ANC and outside the party.

The conclusion of the preliminary report by Madonsela would be a first step in understanding if Zuma is under the influence of the Guptas, despite his longstanding denials.

The Guptas have also denied this claim and three weeks ago the family publicly released its financial results to indicate it was not benefiting from government business.

They said their company, Oakbay Investments, had only made 9 percent of its revenue from government business.

This was R233 million out of the total of R2.6 billion the family made in the last financial year that ended in February.

But Parliament has been the battleground where the opposition has called for Zuma’s head over state capture.

The Guptas were reported to be on their way out of the country with reports suggesting Dubai as their next destination. They also announced a few weeks ago that they would sell off their businesses in South Africa and were talking to international partners.