South Africans Turn to Madonsela to Investigate Gupta Contracts

Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela has confirmed that she was on Friday approached by the Dominican Order to conduct a systemic investigation into the involvement of the Gupta family in state affairs, and the award of contracts to companies linked to the family.

According to a press statement on the Public Protector’s website the Dominican Order – a group of Catholic priests and Brothers in Southern Africa – have requested that the Public Protector investigate allegations that the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mcebisi Jonas, and a former Member of Parliament, Vytjie Mentor, were offered cabinet positions by members of the Gupta family “in exchange for favourable executive decisions and beneficial business interests”.

They also requested the Public Protector to investigate whether the appointment of Des van Rooyen as Minister of Finance was known beforehand by the Gupta family as has been alleged.

In the statement, issued by spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi, it said the Dominican Order further asked the Public Protector to look into allegations that two “senior advisors” linked to the Gupta family were appointed to the National Treasury, alongside Van Rooyen, without following proper procedure.

“In addition to these, the Dominican Order, asked the Public Protector to look into all business dealings of the Gupta family with any of the government departments to determine whether there were irregularities, undue enrichment, corruption and undue influence in the award of tenders, mining licenses, government advertisements in the New Age Newspapers and any other government services,” it said.

Madonsela has not yet confirmed if she will accept the request, and it could take up to five days before an announcement is made.

According to the Public Protector’s office, the complaint will be subjected to the Public Protector’s standard assessment process, which seeks to establish if the Public Protector has jurisdiction to investigate the allegations and also to ascertain if there is any merit to the claims.

The assessment process can take up to five working days. Only after this process is completed will the Public Protector make a decision on whether to investigate the matter or not.