MPs take on the Guptas
ANC parliamentarians demand answers on deals family entered with Denel
ANC MPs are increasingly losing patience with the Gupta family’s sphere of influence in procurement deals of stateowned companies such that they are considering summoning them to parliament.
This was a proposal by ANC MP Zukile Luyenge during a meeting between the parliamentary oversight committee on public enterprises and stateowned arms manufacturer Denel yesterday.
The meeting had been called to discuss progress Denel had made regarding disciplinary action against three of its former top executives – CEO Riaz Saloojee, CFO Fikile Mhlontlo and company secretary Elizabeth Africa.
The trio has since left the company between 2016 and 2017 after the Denel board had placed them on suspension following their refusal to comply with the board’s instructions to facilitate joint ventures with Gupta-linked firms Denel Asia and VR Laser SA.
President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane Zuma also has a stake in VR laser.
Parliamentarians said they did not understand why a stateowned enterprise needed “middlemen” to grow its business in the Middle East and arms procurement markets.
“We’ve heard that suppliers or some of the service providers in Denel are all owned by the Gupta family,” said Luyenge. “If that is the case, have the rightful supply chain processes been followed? If that’s not the case, then we ask the question, why is this Gupta name not blacklisted? … Let’s just call these Guptas and they must tell us how did they come to provide services at the level at which they are doing.”
Portfolio committees have the authority to summon anybody to appear before them in terms of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament Act.
Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan told Daniel Mantsha, the chairman of the Denel board, it had failed to demonstrate to the public that it had not been captured by certain families.
“We need to be convinced. How is it possible that out of all the entities that might be involved, an entity belonging to [a] particular set of families, is always the one that we go to.”
But Mantsha denied the arms maker had been captured. He suggested that MPs had been influenced by “fake news”.
“All these perceptions are not borne out by facts. Most of these perceptions are as a result of fake news that is filling our country …. No, no, no, we run the business in the best interest of the republic ... we have not been captured at all,” he said.
But ANC MP Mondli Gungubele cautioned him to “stick to the facts and not venture into a debate with MPs”.
The committee has resolved to call Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and his public enterprises counterpart Lynne Brown to further account on the matter. MPs ordered Denel to submit due diligence reports by law firms Dentons and ENS Africa, which apparently advised against Denel’s business ventures with Gupta-linked companies.