Gupta family
The Gupta family is a wealthy and influential business family from India, with close ties to former South African President Jacob Zuma and his administration. The family's most notable members are the brothers Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh "Tony" Gupta—as well as Atul's nephews Varun, and US-based Ashish and Amol.
The family's business empire in South Africa spanned a variety of industries, including mining, media, and technology. The family name has become synonymous with corruption in South Africa as well as undue influence, and state capture.
They have been sanctioned by multiple countries for their activities, with investigations ongoing in both South Africa and the United States. Many prominent South Africans and politicians have been linked to the family's alleged corrupt activities, including members of the ruling African National Congress party. The Gupta family has since fled South Africa and has been spotted in Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and Vanuatu. In 2023, the UAE refused to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta to India where they face charges of fraud and money laundering.
History
The family migrated from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to South Africa in 1993 to establish Sahara Computers. The family was based at the Sahara Estate in Saxonwold, Johannesburg, a compound comprising at least four mansions, until 2016 when they left South Africa for Dubai, United Arab Emirates.In 2016, Atul Gupta became the seventh-wealthiest person in South Africa, with an estimated net worth of R10.7 billion, based on JSE-listed holdings.
The family has been the focus of extensive international scrutiny and caused much political controversy as a result of their close ties to Jacob Zuma before and during his presidency. Their strong connections to Zuma, both personal and through their company Oakbay Investments, have led to widespread speculations of corruption and undue influence. These ties have also led to accusations of state capture: it is alleged that the government has undertaken activities and decisions, decided some high-level appointments, and directed state enterprises, for the Gupta family's direct or indirect benefit, or in agreement with the family.
In 2015, the Guptas' influence on the presidency was described by anti-corruption campaigner and former trades unionist Zwelinzima Vavi as being a "shadow government." Multiple Members of Parliament and ministers have stated that they were offered government positions by, or on behalf of, the Gupta family, in return for beneficial commercial decisions once appointed.
In 2017, it was discovered that British PR company Bell Pottinger, acting on behalf of Gupta-owned Oakbay Investments, had deliberately manipulated and inflamed racial tensions, stirred up racial hatred, and made accusations of "white monopoly capital," using a large number of fake Twitter and other accounts online, as part of a campaign to portray Oakbay and those connected to it as victims, apparently intended to deflect corruption claims. Bell Pottinger subsequently collapsed in the wake of the scandal.
Interests
The family has operated a number of companies in different industries, including information and communications technology, mining, engineering, media, real estate, and leisure.Their first venture into South Africa was in the early 1990s, with the establishment of Sahara Computers and Sahara Systems PLC, the former being a hardware distribution company.
In mining, the family's investments have included:
- Oakbay Resources and Energy — a mining and processing company that supplies such products as gold, uranium, platinum, coal, and diamonds, as well as conducting trackless/mechanised mining, track bound mining, breast mining, down-dip mining, and open-pit gold operation. It began trading on the JSE on 28 November 2014.
- * The Shiva Uranium Mine — a uranium and gold mining and processing company in Hartbeesfontein, North West.
- Tegeta Exploration and Resources — coal mining and exploration company
- Westdawn Investments Ltd — a contract mining company
- Black Edge Exploration
- VR Laser Services — a steel-plate processing centre for the mining, rail, transport, and defence industries.
- TNA Media — a company that published the now-defunct The New Age, a national daily newspaper.
- Infinity Media — aired the now-defunct — a 24-hour news channel.
Other interests include Confident Concepts. On 8 September 2016, Oakbay Investments released their annual audited results: for the financial year ending on 29 February 2016, the company's group revenue totaled R2.62 billion.
Sales of business units (August 2017)
On 21 August 2017, Oakbay announced the sale of both media units, Infinity Media and TNA Media, to a firm named Lodidox, owned by Mzwanele Manyi. Per the company's statement, Oakbay would sell its shareholding in Infinity Media for R300-million and its two-thirds stake in TNA Media for R150 million. The sale was vendor-financed, which entailed the lending of R450 million worth of shares to Manyi-owned Lodidox by Gupta-owned Oakbay so the sale could occur. The Economic Freedom Fighters criticised the deal, stating that it simply disguised continued Gupta ownership.On 23 August 2017, Oakbay announced the sale of Tegeta Exploration and Resources to Swiss-based Charles King SA for R2.97-billion. Oakbay stipulated that the purchaser safeguard mine employment and maintain a minimum of 30% of shares allocated to a BEE partner.
Relationship with Jacob Zuma
The Gupta family has been the focus of extensive international scrutiny and caused much political controversy as result of their close ties to former President Jacob Zuma, before and during his presidency. Zuma's close relationship with the family is also a source of tension within his own party, the ANC. Both Zuma and the Guptas, however, deny that the relationship has granted any undue influence to the family.The Guptas and then-Deputy President Zuma first met at a function hosted by the Guptas at their Sahara Estate in 2003. Since then, the family have been involved in a number of events involving Zuma and his family. The family is also known to have been a supporter of Zuma during his power struggle for leadership of the ANC with then-president Thabo Mbeki in 2005.
The family is known to have employed one of Zuma's wives, Bongi Ngema-Zuma. Moreover, one of Zuma's sons, Duduzane Zuma, was a director in a number of Gupta-owned firms, but has since resigned from all positions held at Gupta-owned businesses; and one of his daughters, Duduzile Zuma, was made a director of the Gupta-owned Sahara computers in 2008, and has also since resigned from that position.
The Guptas' influence on the presidency has been described by Zwelinzima Vavi, the former General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, as a "shadow government." Donwald Pressly, of the South African business publication Biznews, has stated that comments made by then-Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa about the state capture of public enterprises by people with political connections was referring to the close relationship between Zuma and the Guptas. One of South Africa's opposition parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters, stated that the Guptas "have de facto colonised South Africa, with Zuma being the chief colonial administrator." The Guptas have denied this allegation, saying that they have never taken any benefit from the relationship with Zuma.
Prior to its national executive committee over the weekend of 18–20 March 2016, spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said that the ANC was concerned about state capture. As result, in March 2016, the ANC launched an investigation into state capture and the Gupta family. In May 2016, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe said that it would be a "fruitless" exercise for the party to continue to investigate allegations of state capture against the Gupta family as they had only received one written submission on the matter. A spokesman for the ‘Hawks’, serious-crime investigative unit set up by the Zuma administration, stated that reports of corruption charges being filed against three ministers and the Gupta family were "baseless."
As part of the company's annual results announcement in September 2016, Oakbay Investments stated that government contracts accounted for 9% of the company's sales. Oakbay also stated that its largest mining company, JIC Mining Services, has never had a government contract, while Sahara, the second biggest contributor, has had no government contacts following a deliberate decision taken by the board in 2008.
Zupta
The term Zupta refers to the close relationship between the Gupta family and Jacob Zuma, particularly used by detractors of both Zuma and the family.The portmanteau—a combination of "Z" from "Zuma" and the "upta" from "Gupta"—was first coined by the Economic Freedom Fighters at the 2016 South African presidential State of the Nation Address when they disrupted the event by repeatedly chanting "Zupta must fall" to express their dissatisfaction with this relationship.
"Guptagate" wedding controversy
On 30 April 2013, an Airbus A330-200 chartered aircraft run by Jet Airways carrying 217 guests from India was cleared to land at the South African Air Force base at Waterkloof for the wedding ceremony of Vega Gupta to Aakash Jahajgarhia at Sun City, North West. This event caused a significant controversy that led to the African National Congress and other political parties, as well as the South African National Defence Union, to denounce this irregular use of the air force base. The ANC issued a statement calling for "those responsible for giving the family permission to come into the country without going through the normal channels be 'brought to book'."In the aftermath of the event, India's High Commissioner Virendra Gupta said publicly that the Indian High Commission had been given permission to land the plane at Waterkloof Air Force Base. He explained that the Commission communicated through its defence adviser with the chief of defence for foreign relations in the SA National Defence Force.
The landing was cleared by Bruce Koloane, then-chief of state protocol at the Department of International Relations, who insisted that the flight was a "sensitive" official visit. Koloane was demoted after an investigation concluded that he used Zuma's name to illegally authorise the landing. President Zuma was scheduled to attend the wedding but cancelled after the incident became public. The family apologised for the incident, stating that they had applied for special permission to land as a number of the guests were Indian government ministers and that it was promoting tourism to South Africa. The incident prompted a significant outcry, so much so that it was dubbed "Guptagate" by the South African media.
In 2017, it was revealed that the wedding was paid for by funds, laundered through Dubai, and granted to a Gupta-linked company by the Free State Province government, purportedly as part of the Vrede Dairy Project.
In January 2018, the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority seized R220 million that Free State Department of Agriculture under Mosebenzi Zwane had paid to the Gupta family as part of this project, calling it a "scheme designed to defraud and steal monies from the department". The Hawks unit of South Africa's Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation raided the offices of Ace Magashule, the Premier of the Free State, in connection with the project.