#GuptaLeaks: The eight big cheeses
Compelling evidence of corruption by ministers and parastatal higher-ups can no longer be ignored
If the ANC is calling people to account about the Gupta leaks revelations, these are the four ministers and four state entity managers we think will have the toughest questions to answer.
Mosebenzi Zwane
Mineral Resources Minister
The Gupta leaks emails suggest that Mosebenzi Zwane travelled to Switzerland with the Gupta family to help them buy Optimum Coal mine. Zwane has told Parliament, both before the leaks and since, that this was not the case. Misleading Parliament can come with jail time for fraud.
The emails also show that Zwane, as Free State MEC for agriculture, supported a diary project there that appeared to channel provincial subsidies to the Guptas. The family later funded his tour of India, a benefit that could amount to corruption.
Zwane has not commented on the dairy (which collapsed) and India allegations, and could not be reached for comment.
Malusi Gigaba Finance Minister
Malusi Gigaba maintains that he did everything by the book, but the leaked emails paint a worrying picture of how he, while minister of home affairs, seemingly did a lot to help the Guptas get what they wanted.
Key here is his signature on an early citizenship application for several members of the Gupta family — and whether he had satisfied himself that the Guptas had made a legal application to the Indian government to renounce their citizenship. India does not allow for dual citizenship.
But it is Gigaba’s decisions in his previous job as minister of public enterprises that must be investigated to clear him of suggestions of wrongdoing. Under his watch, the Gupta empire succeeded in having their cronies appointed to the boards of state-owned enterprises that allowed them to feed off multibillion-rand deals.
If there is evidence that Gigaba received or even sought something in return, he could be in trouble.
Faith Muthambi
Public Service Minister
If ever there was a clear-cut case for an immediate criminal investigation, it involves former communications minister Faith Muthambi sharing confidential Cabinet documents with the Guptas.
She allegedly sent the Guptas confidential information about Cabinet meetings, the leaked emails show. Worse, she also forwarded them a copy of a presidential proclamation detailing her powers as communications minister even before President Jacob Zuma had signed the document.
If existing evidence against her stands up in court, Muthambi could be prosecuted in terms of the Protection of Information Act. If she is found to have committed a crime, she could receive a jail sentence.
Muthambi’s cushy relationship with the Guptas is further entrenched by the nearly R1-million in sponsorship her department gave Guptaowned newspaper The New Age.
She is now the minister of public service and administration.
Des van Rooyen Co-operative Governance Minister
Des van Rooyen has previously denied that the Gupta family paid for his brief jaunt to Dubai in late 2015; the Gupta leaks emails seem to show the family did exactly that.
The trip could amount to a corrupt benefit if there had been an expectation of reciprocity. The emails have so far not yielded evidence that Van