Guptas’ ‘Treasury top post’ offer to be raised in Parliament

10 March 2016 - 13:11 By TMG Digital and RDM staff

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is seeking a public statement on claims made in the Financial Times newspaper that the Guptas met with deputy finance minister‚ Mcebisi Jonas‚ to ask him if he wanted to become minister. The party’s David Maynier said on Thursday that “it is imperative that the deputy minister breaks his silence” and he will be submitting a parliamentary question asking:Whether he met members of the Gupta family and discussed the top post at the National Treasury; andWhether he was offered a financial inducement by members of the Gupta family. Maynier said Jonas’ “best move would be to make a public statement‚ rather than zigzagging his way around the hard questions”.Maynier said the Financial Times reported that Jonas was asked if he “interested in the National Treasury’s top post”.After Jonas apparently turned them down‚ President Jacob Zuma stunned the nation by firing Nhlanhla Nene and replacing him with the little-known Des van Rooyen.After serious economic damage was wrought by this decision‚ Zuma was forced to back down and replace Van Rooyen after three days in office with Pravin Gordhan.Gordhan was visiting the UK to brief investors when the FT published its article under the headline 'South Africa: The power of the family business'.The article said: "The claim is that under Mr Zuma’s watch‚ predatory networks of patronage and cronyism are effectively looting the state‚ with the phrase “state capture” now part of the South African lexicon. And as scrutiny on their interests and role mounts‚ the Guptas are increasingly portrayed as a symbol of the malaise afflicting the nation."On the Jonas meeting‚ the newspaper reported that the Guptas "denied a claim‚ made to the FT‚ that weeks before Mr Van Rooyen’s appointment they had asked Mcebisi Jonas‚ deputy finance minister‚ if he was interested in the Treasury’s top post at a meeting at the Gupta home." ..

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