Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
THULI ASKED TO STEP IN
Call for probe into Zuptagate
PUBLIC Protector Thuli Madonsela has been drawn into the Zuptagate drama, along with Struggle veteran and Ahmed Kathrada’s foundation (AKF) which called for a probe.
At the ANC’s 90-member national executive committee ( NEC) meeting, which started in Pretoria yesterday, party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe was adamant there was “no pressure” on delegates in the wake of repeated calls from senior politicians to act on the alleged interference of the Gupta family in state affairs.
There has also been a call by the SACP for a commission of inquiry into the phenomenon of “state capture” and corruption charges have been laid against the Gupta family by the DA, which added its voice to the call for an investigation by Madonsela.
Madonsela’s office confirmed yesterday it had been asked by the Catholic Church’s Dominican Order to “conduct a systemic investigation into the involvement of the Gupta family in state affairs and the award of contracts to companies linked to the family”.
But proving corruption would pose a serious challenge, according to Professor Mtende Mhango, deputy head of the Wits School of Law, who said the first problem was that corrupt activities usually involved someone with the legal authority to grant the favour they were offering, or being asked for.
“So, the police officer says, give me R50 and I won’t give you a ticket, because he actually has the authority to give you a ticket and if you give him the R50 he won’t,” Mhango said.
In this case, the Guptas were alleged to have made the offer of ministerial positions to Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas and former chair of Parliament’s public enterprises committee Vytjie Mentor, but did not have the legal authority to give their offers effect.
More information would have to come to light before it might be possible to say there was a case to answer.
Writing on his blog Constitutionally Speaking, UCT law professor Pierre de Vos said it would constitute a criminal offence to offer a ministerial post in exchange for favours. “The (Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities) Act does not require the person offered the benefit to have accepted it.
“The offer alone constitutes a criminal offence.”
Mhango said, however, that for the purposes of a criminal prosecution the case would have to be proved beyond reasonable doubt, which would be hard to do on the basis of testimony from one or two people saying they had been made an offer by the Guptas.
“Right now we’ve only heard from a few people that have said, this was said, but the context, all of that, some people forget things by the time the case goes to court, all sorts of things happen.
“So one testimony would not be sufficient, at least for a case like this,” Mhango said.
Testing whether President Jacob Zuma had been influenced by the Guptas in making any decisions would also be difficult.
While the constitution specifically gave him alone the power to appoint and remove ministers, this didn’t mean he couldn’t consult before applying his mind and reaching a decision.
“All decisions the president makes have legal and political implications, so he is going to talk to somebody, and say, ‘look, I’m about to do this, what are your views?’ and then he goes and makes a decision,” Mhango said. “But here it’s alleged he was talking to people who are not even government officials, that is the problem.”
Nevertheless, it would be impossible to contradict Zuma if he said under oath, “Yes, I talked to so and so, but I went back and applied my mind and made a decision.”
Circumstantial evidence that pointed to the influence of the Guptas, such as David van Rooyen having allegedly arrived at the Treasury on his first day as finance minister with two of the family’s associates in tow and Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane having intervened to help them buy a coal mine, was likely to be called into question by counter submissions in any investigation.
“That is going to become very interesting,” Mhango said.
He had little faith in a commission of inquiry. “Commissions of inquiry in South Africa are the way things get buried.”
At the start of the NEC meeting yesterday, Mantashe told reporters the NEC “doesn’t work that way” when questioned on whether senior politicians were under pressure to act against alleged interference by the Gupta family in decisions taken by Zuma and his cabinet ministers.
The ANC had “a very important document called the constitution”.
“It is not about the NEC working because who is the loudest (and) when. It doesn’t work that way.
“The NEC works in terms of the constitution and it executes its work
in terms of what is expected of it, in terms of the constitution of the ANC. So there is no pressure,” he said.
He denied there was any “stand- alone item in the agenda of the NEC” about the issues associated with the Gupta family.
“We are dealing with the economy as an item on the agenda. Everything else falling within that issue will be debated in that item,” Mantashe said.
Zuma arrived late for the meeting as he had earlier addressed a campaign rally of the Congress of SA Students (Cosas) in Orlando, Soweto.
Zuma sidestepped the political storm around the influence of the Guptas when addressing the pupils.
Before his arrival at the gathering, security combed every inch of the venue, including setting up groups of pupils to look out for their peers in case they brought awkward placards or banners. Some security people were heard instructing pupils manning the gates leading to the stands to keep a watchful eye on anything that seemed to be a placard or a banner. here who was ever appointed by the Guptas or by anybody else,” he said.
Earlier in the week former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor said Zuma was present several years ago when the Guptas offered her the post of public enterprises minister, held at the time by Barbara Hogan.
On Wednesday Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas confirmed reports the Gupta family had approached him to take over as finance minister a few days before Zuma fired Nhlanhla Nene from the post. – Additional reporting by Mogomotsi Magome and Thabiso Thakali
craig.dodds@inl.co.za ● See pages 5, 22 and 23