South Africa: Jacob Zuma sought to hand state assets to allies, finds corruption report
Source: The Guardian
Jacob Zuma sought to hand state assets to allies, finds corruption report
Inquiry says South Africa’s ruling ANC ‘should be ashamed’ by alleged efforts to steal vast sums
Jason Burke in Johannesburg
Sun 1 May 2022 20.02 BST
Last modified on Mon 2 May 2022 00.12 BST
Jacob Zuma has been accused of systematic and “unlawful” efforts to give business allies control of billions of dollars worth of state assets, by the judge charged with investigating wrongdoing during the former president’s years in power in South Africa.
Raymond Zondo, who was appointed in 2018 to lead an inquiry into allegations of systematic corruption under Zuma’s rule, handed his latest report to the current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Friday.
The 1,000-page document accuses businessmen brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta of being the beneficiaries of Zuma’s efforts to fire competent officials, intervene in management decisions, appoint compliant ministers and influence the award of contracts worth huge sums.
Zondo said that the Guptas, who came to South Africa from India in the 1990s and built a sprawling commercial empire, had identified Zuma as someone “whose character was such that [the Guptas] could use him against the people of South Africa, his own country and his own government to advance their own business interests”.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/01/jacob-zuma-sought-to-hand-state-assets-to-business-allies-finds-corruption-report