Zuma faces demands to quitMadonsela''s report suggests crimes South Africa''s former public protector, Thuli Madonsela, ordered that a judicial commission be set up to probe President Jacob Zuma''s relationship with the Gupta family. South African President Jacob Zuma is under increasing pressure to quit after the nation''s graft ombudsman ordered a judicial inquiry into possible criminal and corrupt dealings between government officials and the prominent Gupta family. After thousands protested against state corruption in Pretoria on Wednesday, a 355-page report said Zuma and some ministers may have breached the government''s code of ethics in their relationship with the family, who are Zuma''s friends and in business with his son.
It details allegations that the Guptas may have influenced the appointment of cabinet members and received special treatment for a coal business linked to the family and Duduzane Zuma.
The allegations of corruption at the highest levels of government are the latest blow to Zuma''s presidency. The report was released on a dramatic day when Zuma abandoned his request to the High Court to block its publication and protesters demanding an end to state corruption demonstrated in Pretoria.
Since taking office in 2009, he''s been implicated in a series of scandals, including a March 31 ruling by the nation''s highest court that he had violated the constitution by refusing to repay taxpayer funds spent on his home.
“It further erodes confidence in President Zuma, who is reeling already,” Daniel Silke, director of the Political Futures Consultancy in Cape Town, said by phone.
“Having this report in black and white from a source like the public protector is the final straw in the curtailment of the Zuma era before his term ends in 2019.”
Among the most striking revelations in the report are an allegation by deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas that the Guptas offered to pay him R600 000 in cash and deposit R600 million into an account of his choice, if he took up the family''s offer to become finance minister and remove key treasury officials who were thwarting the family''s business ambitions. The Guptas have denied making the offer.
The ombudsman said Zuma''s failure to investigate Jonas''s allegation may have violated the executive ethics code. Zuma fired the respected Nhlanhla Nene as his finance minister in December and gave the post to little-known lawmaker David van Rooyen. The ombudsman''s report was completed just days before Thuli Madonsela''s seven-year term as graft ombudsman came to an end and she was replaced by Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who didn''t oppose the court bid to halt the report''s release. Zuma and the Guptas have denied wrongdoing.
Madonsela said she should have taken a harder stance against Zuma in her report, and accused the president of breaking his word by failing to answer her questions and failing to show up for planned meetings. Zuma is legally bound to abide by her directives, she said.
“I regret listening to lawyers who represented the broader legal community that I should tread softly with this report mainly to avoid a successful court review of the report,” she said by phone from Johannesburg. In her report, Madonsela said she had decided to direct that a judicial commission be set up to probe Zuma''s relationship with the Guptas because her office hadn''t been given sufficient funds to complete the job.
Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, which originally asked the public protector to investigate his relationship with the Guptas, called on Zuma to resign.
“Given the scale of the state capture that is detailed in the report, which he has allowed and indeed fostered, he cannot continue in office,” he said in an e-mailed statement.
BLOOMBERG