Now up to NPA to prosecute Guptas & Co

It is now in the hands of the National Prosecuting Authority to prosecute several “facilitators and followers” and members of the Gupta family implicated in state capture.

This is a recommendation made by the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture in part 1 of the report which was handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday.

Part of the looked deeper into the relationship between government departments, state-owned enterprises and the now defunct The New Age (TNA), Gupta-owned media house.

Volume 2 of the first part of the report states that public funds were “siphoned” to the company and its owners.

“What is less clear to the public is how this was achieved and, perhaps more importantly, how it can be avoided in the future,” the report notes.

The New Age had contracts with SAA, Eskom and Transnet,held lavish business breakfasts with the public broadcaster, the commission chaired by acting chief justice Raymond Zondo says could not be justified by the boards of the various SOEs.

These took place between 2011 and 2017.

“Over the period 2011 to 2017 TNA produced The New Age newspaper, and a television show in partnership with the SABC known as The New Age Business Briefings or Breakfasts. Government departments and state-owned enterprises used scarce public resources to secure advertising in or sponsorships with TNA that defied logic and legal requirements.

“TNA serves as an example of the way in which state capture took hold in South Africa. It shows the extent of the Guptas’ influence in the public sector in South Africa as well as the Guptas’ strategy to replace officials that were not compliant with their looting scheme,” the report says.

In order for the successful siphoning of public funds, according to the report, certain people had to be placed in strategic people, known as facilitators and followers, to allow for public money to flow and eventually land in the pockets of people.

According to the explosive document, former Eskom CEO Colin Matjila, former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe and former Transnet general manager Mboniso Sigonyela who was responsible for advertising and sponsorships.

The report found that former president Jacob Zuma had replaced former Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) CEO with Mzwanele Manyi as CEO or director general Mzwanele Manyi.

“The influence they (Guptas) 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 rand of public money to enrich their media business,” The report reads.

It said during Manyi’s term as DG of GCIS, millions of rand were spent on TNA in circumstances where there was no credible readership information nor certified circulation figures for the newspaper.