Zuma said Thursday that he had no knowledge of the Guptas offering officials cabinet posts. “They are the reasons of government and once Nene was removed, you needed to replace him, that’s what I did”.
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“I’m saying, that issue will come, if it comes in the debate”.
The admission by deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas that he was offered the top job in the treasury by the Gupta family caused outrage in a country already alarmed by a series of corruption scandals. “That’s why he is the deputy minister”. (Associated Press)South African president Jacob Zuma, answers questions in parliament from the DA, Democratic Alliance political party in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, March 17, 2016.
“There is no pressure …”, African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told journalists on Friday as the party’s 90-member National Executive Committee (NEC) kicked off a meeting in Pretoria.
On claims that the Guptas had got billion-rand coal contracts to supply Eskom, they said they supplied one percent of Eskom’s needs.
“The NEC is unlikely to risk dismissing Zuma at this point, but it is clear his position is becoming increasingly untenable”, Ruth Bookbinder, an Africa analyst at Bath, England-based risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, said by email.
“Please keep your own counsel. Martyrdom is best left to Christ”, the text message read. The paper did not identify the sender and Jonas was not immediately available to comment.
He also added that the shock dismissal of Nhlanhla Nene Nene in December a year ago and the ongoing saga involving the investigation of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan by the Hawks, are pushing South Africa closer “to a catastrophic economic downgrade”.
The opposition has said that links between President Zuma and the Guptas were so close that they have been nicknamed the “Zuptas”.
“The rotten forces are on the back foot”, said Barbara Hogan, a former cabinet minister who was once a leading anti-apartheid activist.
“Forgive the cynicism but the few voices against the ANC’s colonisation by Zuma and his family benefactors does not yet constitute a groundswell”, it said in an editorial.
While the ANC NEC is expected to meet, former youth league leaders said they will protest at the venue and demand that Zuma be recalled.
The president told MPs that they should approach the Guptas to find out whether Jonas was telling the truth or not.
“We see now the extent to which the state is being captured”. Mr Zuma’s son Duduzane is a business partner of the Guptas – three brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh, who came to South Africa from India in the early 1990s.
The president, who has previously said his ties with the Gupta family are above board, has been plagued by scandals in recent years.
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He said he rejected the offer, but several other ministerial appointments have been widely reported as being due to the Guptas.
