How Guptas, Oppenheimers infiltrated ANC

JOHANNESBURG. – Jacob Zuma did not bring the Guptas to South Africa. His folly is allowing the Guptas to be bigger than the Oppenheimers.:

Atul settled in Johannesburg and sold shoes downtown. Then he started a company — Sahara, named after the family hometown — importing computer parts and assembling them for sale.

And by chance, he made a personal connection to the ANC that would prove far more consequential.

During a trip home to India, Atul met a South African of Indian origin in New Delhi: Essop Pahad, the right-hand man of Thabo Mbeki, who was then Mr. Mandela’s deputy.

In an interview, Pahad recalled that he had ordered some tailor-made Nehru-style shirts. But he had to return to South Africa before they were ready. Atul volunteered to pick them up and personally deliver them to Pahad’s office in Johannesburg. After that, they ran into each other at functions at the Indian consulate.

“He talked about Ajay a lot,” Pahad said. “Then I said, ‘Who is this Ajay of yours?’ When Mr. Pahad finally met Ajay, he was immediately impressed. Ajay got the big picture in South Africa, and seemed to understand that there was a place in it for the Guptas.

When Mr. Mandela was released from Robben Island in 1990, Anglo American executives visited him at his home in Soweto. Other businessmen followed, to Mr. Mandela’s delight, according to an authorized biography describing how he stayed at the estates of white tycoons and accepted gifts from them.

Mandela was particularly close to Mr. Oppenheimer, who gave him money, said Michael Spicer, a former executive at the company. But nothing was free.

Oppenheimer put together a team of economic advisers for Mandela called the Brenthurst Group — named after the Oppenheimers’ palatial estate in Johannesburg. In meetings, ANC leaders joined the country’s top white businessmen to set the nation’s post-apartheid economic course, Spicer said.

Soon enough, Mr. Mandela, who had supported nationalizing the economy, endorsed pro-business policies. Some historians argue that the policies contributed to South Africa’s income inequality, and to an economy still based on cheap black labor.

But after becoming president, Mr. Mbeki moved to dampen the power of white businesses. He created his own group, which met at his residence each month, Pahad said. It included cabinet ministers, top businessmen, rising stars in the ANC and an unknown figure: Ajay Gupta.

Ajay said he enjoyed the meetings. Mbeki sometimes even dropped by for lunch.

Only a few years after settling in South Africa, Ajay had forged links to the highest levels of the ANC, thanks to his friendship with Pahad.

Even as the Guptas thrived off their ties to Mr. Mbeki’s allies, they were reaching out to his archrival, Zuma, the No 2 in the party.

The two leaders fought bitterly. So Pahad, Mbeki’s right-hand man, was surprised to learn that the Guptas had cultivated ties with the other side.