South Africa needed to know exactly how much the Guptas were worth and how they acquired their money, the convenor of the Save SA campaign, Sipho Pityana, said yesterday.
He was responding to an article in the Sunday Times that said that Atul Gupta, a close friend of President Jacob Zuma, was now the seventh-richest South African and the country's richest black businessman.
His personal wealth is estimated at R10-billion.
"The information in the Sunday Times Rich List about the wealth accumulated by Gupta is shocking," said Pityana.
"For one man to have acquired so much wealth, so fast, is in itself very disturbing.
"But when it is a man whose every business activity is being questioned because of [allegations of] corruption and money-laundering, and a penchant for peddling posts in public office, we really have to say that there is something wrong here, and it needs an investigation.
"If South Africa ever needed full transparency on the Guptas' net worth - and how they acquired it - we need it now."
He said that the president had a huge amount to answer for.
"As was clearly shown in the public protector's report, State of Capture, Zuma stands at the centre of not only the Guptas' [reputedly] illicit economic empire, he actively facilitates it," said Pityana.
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