South African president's links to Indian family probed

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog questioned President Jacob Zuma on Thursday over claims he was influenced by the wealthy Indian Gupta family to appoint government officials and get state contracts.

In a statement, the watchdog said its head Advocate Thuli Madonsela met Zuma as part of its probe into the claims.

The Gupta family came under spotlight earlier this year when Deputy Finance Minister Mcebsi Jonas accused it of promising him a ministerial position after Zuma fired former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene. Other members of Zuma’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) also came forward and made similar allegations against the family.

The news had angered many South Africans, prompting Madonsela, whose term expires this month, to launch an investigation.

Madonsela is highly respected in South Africa for investigating Zuma’s misappropriation of public funds to upgrade his personal home in Nkandla village in KwaZulu-Natal province. Following recommendations in her report into that incident, Zuma was ordered by the constitutional court to pay back $538,000 used for non-security upgrades at his home during renovations funded by the state.

In the current probe, Madonsela’s office said she did not get answers on Gupta family's relationship with the president since his legal representatives argued the investigation would be handled by her successor, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who was appointed Thursday.

Zuma counts the Gupta family as his friends but denies them having ever influenced him in appointing certain officials.

The multi-billion dollar Gupta business is run by three brothers, who are all said to be in their 40s. They reportedly relocated to South Africa from India in 1993, a year before the end of white-minority rule in the country. Some of their business interests include mining, media and computers among many others.

They have also been accused of allegedly lobbying to get lucrative government contracts but the brothers have strongly denied all such claims in several media reports, claiming they are victims of a witch hunt. Three years ago, the brothers were also accused of unofficially landing a commercial plane at a military air force base in the capital Pretoria.