SA needs full transparency on the Guptas’ net worth and how they got it – Pityana

South Africa needs full transparency on the Guptas’ net worth and how they acquired it‚ the convenor of the Save South Africa campaign and renowned businessman Sipho Pityana said on Sunday.

He was responding to the lead article in the Sunday Times which said that Atul Gupta‚ a close friend of President Jacob Zuma was now the seventh-richest South Africanand the country’s richest black businessman‚ with his personal wealth estimated at R10 billion.

“The information in the Sunday Times ‘Rich List’ about the wealth accumulated by Atul Gupta is shocking news. For one man to have acquired so much wealth‚ so fast‚ is in itself very disturbing. But when it is Atul Gupta‚ a man whose every business activity is being questioned because of corruption‚ money-laundering and his penchant for peddling posts in public office‚ we really have to say: there is something fundamentally wrong here‚ and it needs a full and proper investigation‚” Pityana said. What was equally disturbing was that the Sunday Times’ assessment was probably just the tip of the iceberg‚ he said.

“We can only imagine what other illicit earnings are stashed away – or have left the country in suitcases – in addition to Atul Guptas’ listed assets. Not to mention those of the rest of his crooked family. “If South Africa ever needed full transparency on the Guptas’ net worth – and how they acquired it – we need it now‚” Pityana added.

As usual‚ the President had a huge amount to answer for‚ he said.

“As was clearly shown in the recent Public Protector’s report‚ ‘State of Capture’‚ Jacob Zuma not only stands at the centre of not only the Guptas’ illicit economic empire‚ he actively facilitates it. He abuses our Constitution‚ he consistently disrespects the rule of law‚ and involves members of his own family in the looting. “This also explains why the President has resorted to ducking and diving over the appointment of a full judicial enquiry into the scale of state capture. We now understand why he wants to avoid facing a proper investigation alongside his partners-in-crime‚ the Guptas‚ and it is all the more reason for people to join the Save South Africa campaign by signing its People’s Motion of No Confidence in Zuma.

“A final point to note is the overall picture that this this ‘Rich List’ exposes: that despite all Zuma’s public statements about the importance of black economic empowerment and the growth of black industrialists‚ the net effect is less than zero. It is clear that‚ under Zuma’s watch‚ black ownership of the economy is shrinking and the entire black economic empowerment project has regressed. It is yet another of Zuma’s dismal failures‚ and he must stop trying to fool South Africans into thinking he has anything else at heart than his own enrichment and the enrichment of his cronies. He must go‚” Pityana asserted.