South Africa: Jacob Zuma, Gupta brothers embezzled public cash to complement now defunct media home, says report

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma together with Indian-origin Gupta brothers, who had “considerable” affect over him, misappropriated enormous quantity of public cash, together with diverting tens of millions of rands to complement the now defunct The New Age newspaper, in accordance with a probe report on corruption throughout Zuma’s tenure from 2009 to 2018.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday acquired the primary of the three elements of the report of the South African Commission of Inquiry into State Capture from the chairperson of the Commission, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
The report has been made public, nevertheless, the federal government mentioned it will likely be capable of touch upon it solely after learning all of the three elements. The remainder of the elements shall be handed over to the president by February-end.

The first half offers with the Gupta household’s New Age newspaper, the destruction of South African Airways (SAA) by Zuma’s consigliere Dudu Myeni, the seize of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the corruption of the state procurement system via the tender system.
The New Age (TNA) newspaper was began by the three Gupta brothers — Ajay, Atul and Rajesh (Tony) — who migrated to South Africa from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur city and are actually believed to be in self-exile in Dubai as authorities search their extradition to face graft costs.
The report mentioned the Guptas wielded nice affect over Zuma, as they set about looting billions from state enterprises earlier than fleeing the nation.
“The evidence before the Commission paints a picture of a calculated strategy by the Guptas to appropriate public funds from state-owned enterprises,” it mentioned.
Gupta brothers. (File picture)
It was key to their efforts to have facilitators inside the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and authorities departments, corresponding to Government Communication Information Services (GCIS), who would be sure that the entities dedicated tens of millions of rands to the TNA regardless of there being no discernible worth for the entities or authorities departments, the report mentioned.
“The influence they (Gupta brothers) exerted over former President Zuma was considerable. They managed to ensure that a well-performing and principled public servant was removed at lightning speed when he refused to accede to their demands to divert millions of rands of public money to enrich their media business,” it added.
This was a reference to the resistance that the Guptas met after they tried to coerce GCIS head Themba Maseko to divert 600-million rand to TNA. Maseko was later dismissed allegedly on the instruction of Zuma.

Underlining that Zuma changed Maseko with a facilitator, within the type of Mzwanele Manyi, the report mentioned that in Manyi’s time period as GCIS Director-General, “millions of rands were spent on TNA in circumstances where there was no credible readership information nor certified circulation figures for the newspaper”.
“It is inconceivable that this would have been allowed to occur if Mr Maseko had remained at the helm of GCIS,” it mentioned.
The Commission additionally discovered that senior officers, together with some board members at SOEs, had been complicit in irregular transfers of big sum of money to TNA, via contracts that had been adjusted to misrepresent the worth of the offers to watchdogs like Parliament and the Public Protector via recasting the agreements as one thing completely different to what they actually had been.
The contracts concluded by the SOEs had been typically patently irregular and wasteful by definition as a result of their worth merely couldn’t be established, the report mentioned.
in accordance with the Commission, the TNA investigation reveals that state seize thrived at SOEs, even if crucial legal guidelines to stop it had been in place. The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) clearly and definitively made every of the TNA contracts illegal.
“State capture thrived because the people given power and authority in the SOEs simply flouted its terms. One way to prevent this in the future is to ensure that those who ignored their legal obligations are held to account for their conduct,” it mentioned.
The Commission really helpful that the position of Brian Molefe – former chair of nationwide rail transport supplier Transnet and Collin Matjila and former chairperson of nationwide electrical energy provider Eskom – be investigated within the misrepresentation of contracts with TNA by the National Prosecuting Authority, with a view to costs of fraud and/or contravention of the PFMA.

The Commission additionally really helpful that the legislation enforcement companies ought to examine a doable case of corruption in opposition to Tony Gupta, on the idea of the testimony of former Acting Chair of the state-run South African Airways Board – Vuyisile Kona.
Kona had informed the Commission that Tony had initially provided him R100,000 and later R500,000 in October 2012. After he refused to simply accept the bribe, Kona was fired from his job.