Johannesburg - The Gupta family had no immediate reaction to a government news briefing on the unauthorised landing of a jet chartered by the family at the Waterkloof Air Force Base.
Atul Gupta, chairman of Gupta-owned TNA media, was unable to take media queries on Friday.
“He is unavailable right now... and I don't know when he will be available,” said an assistant who answered his cellphone on Friday. She said she would relay queries to him.
TNA spokesman Gary Naidoo's cellphone went unanswered, and he did not immediately respond to questions sent via sms.
The wealthy and politically-connected Gupta family is celebrating the wedding of Vega Gupta, 23, to Indian-born Aaskash Jahajgarhia at Sun City, North West.
The jet, which was carrying wedding guests, landed at the air force base - a national key point - on Tuesday morning, to widespread criticism.
The private use of the military facility angered, among others, the African National Congress, the Democratic Alliance, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the Congress of SA Trade Unions, and the SA Communist Party.
The jet was moved off the base on Thursday afternoon.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe announced on Friday that the landing was not cleared by the proper authorities, and that five high-ranking officials and military personnel had been suspended.
They were: the Chief of State Protocol ambassador Bruce Koloane; SA Air Force (SAAF) command post Brig-Gen L Lombard; Air Force Base Brig-Gen TS Madumane; Movement Control Officer Lt-Col C Anderson, and Gauteng deputy provincial police commissioner Maj-Gen Phumza Gela.
The SA Police Union (Sapu) welcomed Gela's suspension.
“Although his suspension is associated with the Gupta family fiasco, Sapu feels his suspension is long overdue,” Sapu general secretary Oscar Skommere said in a statement.
“We have long been calling for his suspension and investigation into his role in the management of police in Gauteng... The suspension of Gen Gela will come as a relief to thousands of officers in Gauteng.”
Skommere said Sapu would not accept any attempt by senior officers to use junior officers as scapegoats in the (Gupta) fiasco.
He said it was well known that in the police environment, junior officers took their orders from commanders. - Sapa