25 reasons why the Guptas must leave or be made to leave the country immediately #guptasmustgo

10 February 2016

1. The Guptas are influencing Zuma on the R1 trillion nuclear deal: after they acquired uranium mines, they stand to benefit greatly from the deal through supplying uranium. Zuma has been advised that the country cannot afford this nuclear deal, but because the Guptas family stands to benefit, it is being forced through. The nuclear deal will plunge South Africa into a massive fiscal crisis, collapsing South Africa's currency, ratings, and ability to provide basic services to its people.

2. Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene was removed and replaced with Des van Rooyen because the Guptas said so. The thoughtless action of removing a Minister of Finance weakened South Africa's currency, making it more expensive for SA to import goods and services from outside the country, and making life of ordinary South Africans more oppressive. A weakened currency has a tendency to increase inflation, further burdening ordinary South Africans.

3. The Guptas are exploiting the resources of this country, enriching themselves through corruption, under the guise of freedom. They illegally influence the issuing of mining rights, and have effectively taken control of key parastatals such as the SABC, TRANSNET, ESKOM, SAA and now DENEL.

4. In their network of influence, they have premiers of the Free State and North West provinces, ministers, chairpersons and Chief Executive Offices of state-owned enterprises. They also have control over many critical decisions that they, and the puppets they control, financially benefit from.

5. They call individual members of the ANC National Executive Committee to tell them which ministerial position they have been awarded, prior to the official announcement by Zuma. Fikile Mbalula was told by Atul Gupta that he was going to be Minister of Sports before Zuma announced the decision.

6. They have taken over key decisions of the ruling party, including bankrolling the re-election of Zuma as president of the ANC in the 2012 National Conference. In this way, the Gupta Empire tightened the screws on their control of the ANC and the state.

7. In the Free State Province, through Mosebenzi Zwane, they Guptas introduced programmes amounting to millions of rands, influenced by Ace Magashule, and partnered with his son in a business - the same thing they had previously done with Jacob Zuma's son. The partnership promised to build a dairy scheme. No dairy scheme was built, yet they gained millions of rands from the project.

8. They took charge of South African Airways (SAA), and took decisions on things such as media subscriptions. Consequently their newspaper, The New Age (TNA), is the most distributed and paid for newspaper throughout SAA platforms, including their check-in counters, lounges and flights. In 2011 SAA alone purchased 5 927 000 copies of TNA. They opened offshore accounts for their beneficiaries, including Malusi Gigaba, the one who thoughtlessly displayed the fact that he has additional income from no additional work. 

9. The Guptas have shown plenty of interest in South African Airways but their interests go beyond the contracts they aim to have with company. The ultimate intention is to incur huge debt for the airways, and then to buy it and turn into a private Gupta airline.

10. The TNA is involved in state corruption. This is reflected in the unreasonable and unexplained government expenditure in advertising since its conception. Not excluding the fact that the circulation and readership figures of The New Age are not audited by Audit Bureau of Circulations, SAA spent R2.4 million with the paper in the 2014/2015 financial year. This is according to the parliamentary answer that then Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene gave in parliament in 2015. 

11. Another state entity, Eskom, was reported to have signed off a R43 million contract to sponsor the New Age Business Breakfast over three years.

12. Additionally, the Department of Trade and Industry spent R2 million worth of advertising with TNA in the space of three years. Justice and Correctional Services spent R1.5 million, and the Department of Higher Education spent R2 million in the same period.

13. In 2011/2012 government spent at least R27 million on advertising in just over two years, whilst R37 million was spent by government departments and state owned entities.

14. The Gupta family, through TNA and ANN7, are using constitutional values – such as freedom of speech- to mask corruption, money laundering, and racketeering.

15. The New Age and ANN7 are bankrolled by government departments and entities, with the Free State government spending millions of rands on Gupta media platforms.

16. The SABC has been pushed into an unexplained cooperation with The New Age for a television breakfast show, which in terms of basic media business laws cannot be co-hosted with the owners of a rival television station. The compromised and semi-literate SABC Chief Operations Officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, even appears on the rival ANN7 Awards ceremonies alongside Zuma because the Guptas said they should be there.

17. The cooperation between government departments, parastatals and the Gupta agencies is a criminal arrangement facilitating money laundering and racketeering. A direct benefit to the Guptas is an indirect benefit to Jacob Zuma and his family.

18. In 2010, the Guptas managed to appropriate the mining licence of Kumba iron ore, effectively hijacking the mining rights of a company that was supposed to convert the licence from old order mining rights to new order mining rights. Imperial Crown Trading (ICT), an entity which is partly owned by Duduzane Zuma, the son of Jacob Zuma, and the Guptas, tried to frustrate Kumba iron ore through a court case, which they lost at the Supreme Court of Appeals in 2013. The fact that the Guptas lost the court case highlights the fact that they have no respect for the law.

19. The Guptas were behind the decision to replace Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi. This decision was taken in Saxonwold and, as a matter of fact, the presidential convoy was in Saxonwold the day before Zwane was announced as a Minister of Mineral Resources. Zwane was appointed to allow the Gupta Empire to have control over mineral rights and policy in a manner that will benefit the Gupta family. In his previous role as MEC of the Free State, Zwane had served Gupta interests excellently through a dairy project that the provincial government paid millions for, but which had never materialized. This is the subject of an investigation by the Public Protector.

20. The same Zwane has been instrumental in ensuring that the Guptas acquire Optimum Coal mine from Glencore. He travelled to Switzerland on taxpayers’ expense to negotiate on behalf of the Guptas.

21. Zuma wants to purchase a jet for R4 billion, even though the actual cost of the jet is far less, because companies associated with the Guptas were going to supply the jet. They are already leasing jets to the Presidency, such as the one used by Ramaphosa in the recent past visit to Japan. National Treasury under Nhlanhla Nene correctly illustrated that such a purchase is not necessary. The R4 billion jet will further contribute to a fiscal crisis.

22. The Guptas and Zuma’s son have again been reported to have “partnered” with Denel to sell weapons to countries in Asia. We have crooks gaining access to South African weapons technology.

23. The landing at the Waterkloof airbase by the Gupta family, breaching national security and violating our sovereignty, was but one of many criminal indiscretions by this family facilitated through the assistance of Zuma and state security agencies. They treat black, and particularly African, workers like trash. This was exposed during their wedding in Sun City Hotel, but is consistent through all their companies, which do not respect basic workers' rights. 

24. The Guptas' influence over Zuma led the then Minister of Intelligence Siyabonga Cwele to push three State Security Agency (SSA) officials, Gibson Njenje, Jeff Maqetuka and Mo Shaik to resign when they investigated the improper relationship between Zuma and the Guptas. SSA was concerned that the relationship between Zuma and the Guptas compromised national security.

25. The Guptas in 2011 made a proposal to Siyabonga Cwele to provide interception and surveillance software to the SSA. In the same year, Mail & Guardian reported that the SSA was, “routinely accessing citizens' private SMS, phone and email conversations ... illegally.” M&G further stated that the office for interception centres is located in Sandton houses. The Guptas happen to live in Saxonwold.

Issued by Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi, National Spokesperson, EFF, 10 February 2016