Pretoria – Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela raised concerns over the long standing relationship between President Jacob Zuma, his son Duduzane, and the wealthy Gupta family in her contentious “State of Capture” report released on Wednesday.
“It is worrying that the Gupta family was aware or may have been aware that Minister [Nhlanhla] Nene was removed six weeks after Deputy Minister Mcebisi Jonas advised him that he had been allegedly offered a job by the Gupta family in exchange for extending favours to their family business,” said Madonsela.
“Equally worrying is that Minister [Des] Van Rooyen who replaced Minister Nene can be placed at the Saxonwold area on at least seven occasions including on the day before he was announced as minister. This looks anomalous given that at the time he was a member of Parliament based in Cape Town.
Madonsela said another “worrying concern” was that Nene was axed after Jonas advised him that he was going to be removed.
“If the Gupta family knew about the intended appointment, it would appear that the information wad shared in violation of Section 2. 3 (e) of the Executive Ethics Code which prohibits members of the executive from the use of information received in confidence in the course of their duties otherwise than in connection with the discharge of their duties,” said Madonsela.
Madonsela said failure to follow up on the allegations made by Jonas “may infringe on provisions of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Activities Act” which places a duty on persons in positions of authority who know, or ought to reasonably have known or suspected, that any person has committed an offence under the Act must report such knowledge to police.
African News Agency