Johannesburg - Thuli Madonsela’s report on state capture has exposed the depth of the rot implicating President Jacob Zuma and his close friends, the Gupta family.
It was the cellphone records that placed all the implicated parties in the state capture allegations.
In her explosive report that has far-reaching implications for Zuma’s political career, Madonsela revealed that Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe had called Gupta patriarch Ajay Gupta 44 times, and the latter called the Eskom boss 14 times.
The cellphone records also place Molefe at the Guptas' Saxonwold, Joburg, home 19 times.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen visited the family’s house over the course of a week prior to his short-lived appointment as finance minister in December.
The contact between Zuma’s son Duduzane, Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas and businessman Fana Hlongwana and other Gupta associates was the vital link to the Guptas' alleged network to gain leverage in state contracts.
The web did not only end in the alleged influence in the appointment of cabinet ministers. It also sought to benefit the family in state contracts worth billions of rand.
The Guptas have said their companies made only R2.3 billion from state contracts. But Ajay Gupta told a government minister they wanted to increase their slice of the cake from R6bn to R8bn, and most of the cash was stashed in Dubai.
Madonsela has put Zuma in a tight corner by forcing him to appoint a commission of inquiry into state capture with massive resources.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng must appoint a sole judge to lead the inquiry, which must conclude its work within six months.
Zuma said on Wednesday he would study the report and respond later.
In a reply during question time in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said Zuma might not go now despite the scandals surrounding him. This was after Agang MP Andries Tloumma wanted to know if Zuma would resign following Wednesday's court order and the many scandals involving the president.
“I don’t think it is a question that deserves an answer from me. He is not a member of the ANC, that is his problem,” Ramaphosa said of Tloumma. “If he was a member of the ANC, he would know how things are done in the ANC.”
Madonsela’s report revealed that Jonas was offered R600 million by Ajay Gupta and R600 000 in cash. Madonsela said the cabinet and Zuma did not investigate the allegations against the Guptas.
She also weighed in on the intervention of the state in a matter between the Guptas and the four major banks.
“Cabinet appears to have taken an extraordinary and unprecedented step regarding intervention into what appears to be a dispute between a private company co-owned by the president’s friends and his son,” she said.
“This needs to be looked at in relation to a possible conflict of interest between the president as head of state and his private interest as a friend and father as envisaged (by) the Executive Ethics Code, which regulates conflict of interest and the constitution, which requires a high level of professional ethics,” Madonsela said.
She questioned the appointment of the Eskom board.
Madonsela also questioned the contracts given to Gupta-owned Tegeta and the prepayment of more than R500m to the company for the supply of coal.
Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said on Wednesday night thta they had noted the report, and they would respond to its contents later. But he defended the more than R500m prepayment to Tegeta.
“People feel we gave this company more than R500m, that this was out of the ordinary. It has been done before with other companies. They have now paid the money and we are settled with them,” he said.
The Guptas have not yet responded.
Political Bureau