Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane
Photo by: Duane Daws
President Jacob Zuma said on Monday, in response to a parliamentary question that he had reprimanded Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane for falsely stating that Cabinet had agreed to an inquiry into major banks’ decision to break ties with the Gupta family.
“I reprimanded the Minister of Mineral Resources for the statement,” Zuma replied to a question posed by Democratic Alliance finance spokesperson David Maynier.
Maynier asked whether he had engaged with Zwane on the matter and what the details were of that interaction.
In late September Zuma was forced to repudiate a statement by Zwane that a commission of inquiry would not only probe the banks’ conduct but whether there had been any fault on the part of the finance ministry after four banks broke ties with the family.
However Zwane a few weeks later reiterated his statement in the National Assembly, and subsequently in a written reply to a parliamentary question. It was seen as an indication of tensions within Cabinet over the Gupta family and Cabinet spokesperson Jeff Rabebe told reporters that he only learnt of his colleague’s pronouncements in the media.
In her report on allegations of improper dealings between the family, the executive and the Guptas, former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Zwane potentially acted unlawfully in helping to negotiate the sale of the Optimum coal mine to the Gupta’s Tegeta exploration, in which the president’s son Duduzane is a sizeable shareholder.
“It is potentially unlawful for the minister to use his official position of authority to unfairly and unduly influence a contract for a friend or in this instance his boss’ son at the expense of the State,” she found.