Guptas accuse Jonas of lying, say he must prove his claims

Durban – The Gupta family on Thursday accused Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas of lying and challenged the minister to prove his claims. 

In a statement responding to Jonas’s admission that he had been offered former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene’s job, a family spokesperson said: "These latest allegations are just more political point scoring between rival factions within the ANC. To be clear: any suggestion that the Gupta family or any of our representatives or associates have offered anyone a job in government is totally false."

The family told Jonas to file an affidavit under oath to prove that the meeting took place. This echoed its stance about claims made by former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor, who claimed the family had also offered her a job.

"We challenge Minister Jonas to provide a full account of the supposed meeting that took place, under oath, in a court of law.

"Minister Jonas is attempting to cover up and divert attention away from his own relationships and practices. We are confident questions about his own ethical standards will be exposed.

"We will not provide any further running commentary on what is now just a politically-motivated campaign against us."

On Thursday, Jonas confirmed that the politically connected Gupta family had offered him the job of finance minister, but that he had rejected it.

In a statement he said: "Members of the Gupta family offered me the position of Minister of Finance to replace then-Minister Nene.

"I rejected this out of hand. The basis of my rejection of their offer is that it makes a mockery of our hard earned democracy, the trust of our people and no one apart from the President of the Republic appoints ministers."

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.