Guptas behind campaign on Absa — Malema
Malema claims security minister is paying for information on Ruperts
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema is claiming the recent campaign for Absa to pay back the money supposedly owing since the bank’s merger with Bankorp is sponsored by the politically connected Gupta family and state security.
The campaign to force Absa to pay back money owed by its predecessor Bankorp is sponsored by the politically connected Gupta family and the state security organisation, says EFF leader Julius Malema.
“[State Security Minister David] Mahlobo actually went and told people to [actually] go and find dirt on the Ruperts. Mahlobo has been going around shopping for wrong things against the Ruperts in exchange for money… If he dares challenge me, I will expose him. He must be careful,” he told a media briefing in Johannesburg.
He also alleged that state security money was being used to buy adverts.
State security spokesman Brian Dube refused to comment. The Guptas did not respond to requests for comment.
Black First Land First leader and former EFF MP Andile Mngxitama has called on Malema to join the campaign.
A leaked draft report by the public protector concluded that Absa should repay R2.25bn to the fiscus for an apartheid-era Reserve Bank bail-out for Bankorp between 1985 and 1991. Bankorp was acquired by Absa in 1992.
In 1997, the state asked CIEX — a UK-based asset recovery agency headed by retired British intelligence officer Michael Oatley — to investigate apartheid-era economic crimes in exchange for fees and commission, based on amounts recovered.
While a 2000 investigation by Judge Dennis Davis found Absa had paid for the continued assistance in the purchase price, the CIEX report, on which the public protector relied, found that billions were recoverable from Absa.
Attacks on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan alleging relationships with “white monopoly capital” have increased, with a number of fake Twitter accounts alleging he is protecting big banks such as Absa.
Malema said his party would deal with Absa in its own way. “The Absa nonsense is not legit and I will never be told by an opposition of the EFF how we must fight Absa.
“We are the ones who exposed Absa’s shenanigans, we didn’t reduce it only to this saga of the Reserve Bank money, we even went beyond that.”
In November 2015, Malema announced that the EFF would occupy every branch of Absa until it was given a “practical programme” of action on how the bank would intervene to resolve inequalities in society.
He reiterated this on Monday, but said the EFF would not announce when it would occur.
Malema also took aim at Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, saying that he regretted supporting her appointment. Doing so had been a “big mistake”, Malema said.
There are allegations that Mkhwebane could have altered the contents of the provisional report, compiled by her predecessor Thuli Madonsela.
Last week, Madonsela refused to comment on whether the content had been changed. Malema said he was inclined to believe that Mkhwebane had changed it “because of how she handles herself”.
“We just took a Gupta puppet from [the] Guptas’ kitchen and went to plant her there,” he said.
“She’s proving without fail that she was sent there to destroy that office.
“From today, we must stop calling her public protector, we must call her state protector,” Malema said.
The office of the public protector said it would not comment for now.
THERE ARE CLAIMS THAT MKHWEBANE COULD HAVE ALTERED THE REPORT