The Gupta's are a household name in South Africa for all the wrong reasons. Anything to do with bad business and corruption ,add the previous President Jacob Zuma and you will most likely find it leading to one of their doors. I am going to do a series on of a few of their highlights and how powerful they were and the influence they wielded. I am going to start in the middle somewhere to give you a flavor and there is so much on these bad boys.
Three years ago in 2015 during Zuma's second term Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas was summoned to a meeting at the Guptas mansion. He was then offered the role as Finance Minister replacing his boss Mr Nene. If he accepted the promotion he was in line to receive $50 000 cash immediately and a lump sum of $50 million into an overseas account of his choice. He could take the cash right there and then if he accepted. They informed him that Nene was becoming a problem and needed to be replaced. He declined and rushed off to tell his boss Mr Nene. After discussions both of them thought it was impossible that they had the power to remove him and only the President could do that.
Just over six weeks later Nene was summonsed to the Presidents office to meet Zuma. He was then informed that he was finished and his job as Finance Minister would be terminated with immediate effect. Nene returned to his car and sent a text to Jonas "the axe has fallen".
Des van Rooyen being sworn in.
Within hours a new Finance Minister was announced a certain chap by the name of Des van Rooyen. A funny choice as no one had really heard of him and he was a back bencher with no experience regarding finance what so ever. The Rand plummeted in value as no one had the same faith in this joker. A reporter asked him a question about the Dollar/Rand exchange rates and his answer was" he wasn't concerned about the Dollar as he dealt in Rand's" . This sent the country into a flat panic as he wasn't joking. The entire country knew we had a muppet as our new Finance Minister and this was serious with a capital C.Just two days in and the country's currency lost just under 10 percent in value. The lowest it had ever been, he was replaced after only 4 days in the job. Zuma had no choice but to fire him.
I would like to know if he kept his bribes from the Gupta's as he had done his part and taken on the role. . The Hawks (South Africa's FBI lol) placed van Rooyen at the Gupta's residence 9 times and funny enough on the day before he was sworn in as the new minister. They used his mobile phone to track his whereabouts.
Nene has since been re appointed as finance Minister under the new President Ramaphosa as at least he wasn't a bad egg it seems. It's hard to tell these days as they all look as though their hands have been in the cookie jar at one point or another, but he looks genuine.
I will follow this up with the introduction of how they came to be in South Africa as they are not nationals but come from India. Just very strange how one family can manipulate and maneuver so fast and become so powerful.
Images courtesy of ewn.co.za and pininterest.com