Johannesburg - Be transparent with us: Are you involved in any corruption?
This was one of the questions posed to the politically connected Gupta family by the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) at a meeting in Sandton yesterday.
“I asked them some very tough questions. And they made a presentation which was fairly transparent. They answered all our questions adequately and to our satisfaction that they are not involved in any corruption,” said Ike Moroe, a member of the MKMVA’s national executive committee, speaking to The Star.
Read: Commission set to probe Gupta deal
The MKMVA convened a media briefing at the ANC's Luthuli House headquarters later to respond to “lies and malicious propaganda” that the Guptas had used their political influence to strong-arm global mining company Glencore into selling its distressed Optimum Colliery to one of the Guptas' companies, Tegeta Exploration and Resources, in December.
Optimum Colliery supplies power utility Eskom with coal for its Hendrina power station. Moroe questioned why no formal charges had been opened with the police against the Guptas if they dabbled in corruption.
He said the MKMVA, which has allegedly benefited handsomely from shares worth millions of rand from the Guptas, had called the meeting specifically to talk about Glencore.
“I asked some tough questions to put my conscience at rest. They own only 1 percent of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange,” said Moroe.
MKMVA national chairman Kebby Maphatsoe said those who had spoken out against the Guptas’ alleged influence on President Jacob Zuma were using the business family as a pretext for a regime change.
The “real enemies” of South Africans were not the Guptas but those “who are used by big business to scupper our efforts at radical economic transformation”.
Maphatsoe said that in 2010, similar allegations were made against the Guptas for their close proximity to the president and that it had become a trend to use their name when the ANC had a national conference.
At the time, the MKMVA “summoned” the Guptas and told them in no uncertain terms not to use Zuma’s name.
Yesterday’s meeting, said Maphatsoe, was aimed at getting the “correct facts” about how the Eskom deal was pursued.
Gupta family spokesman Nazeem Howa said he was in a meeting and could not talk. Calls to him later went unanswered. He also didn’t respond to an SMS query.
THE STAR