‘I’m not done yet with the Guptas’: whistle-blower

Former ANC parliamentarian Vytjie Mentor has warned the Guptas that she is not yet done with them, after she alleged this week that the family offered her a ministerial job.
The Gupta family – who have strong ties with president Jacob Zuma, and have been accused of having sway over government decisions – insist they are not involved in local politics.
In a post on Facebook on Monday, Mentor alleged that the Guptas had previously asked her to become Minister of Public Enterprises, “provided that I would drop the SAA flight-route to India and give to them.
“I refused and so I was never made a Minister. The President was in another room when they offered me this in Saxonworld.”
The Guptas have denied Mentor’s claim and called on her to make the submission in a signed affidavit.
The Presidency stated that Jacob Zuma “has no recollection” of the former MP.
The “president has no recollection of Ms Mentor and is not aware of the alleged incidents in her career that she has reportedly written about on social media”, it said.
No one except the president has the power to offer Cabinet positions to members of the ANC, the ruling party said on Wednesday.
The former chairperson of the portfolio committee on public works, published a new post on Wednesday:
“I chaired the ANC National Parliamentary Caucus when President Zuma was a Deputy President. He sat next to me and spoke through me and and with me in Caucus each Thursday when Parliament was in session.
“I sat with him in the ANC’s Political Committee each month too. He is the one whi was sent by the TOP 6 then to tell me that the ANCChas deploted me to be the Chair of Caucus then . He is the one who introduced me to the ANC Caucus then as a new Chair of Caucus.
“I had a bi-monthy with him in his Tuynhuis Offices then. He knew me right from when he arrived from exile. He met me frequently on the ground in the Northern Cape on many occasions.
“I know President Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe will never ever say they have no recollection of me.
“As for the Guptas. I am not done yet, a lot still need to be told… will leave this here for now. I will only talk to the media if necessary from Friday late. The scoundrels can continue to insult and bark. If anything happens to me or my family, you all know who to suspect. I am NOT scared thou. I know my Redeemer Lives!”
A report in last week’s Sunday Times alleged that the Gupta family wanted to “capture” the Treasury by appointing a new head, and sacking as many as four employees who apposed the nuclear procurement programme.
The Sunday Times reported that the influential family allegedly met with deputy minister of finance, Mcebisi Jonas, to offer him then-finance minister Nhlanhla Nene’s job.
The paper cited highly placed sources for its information, while a representative of the Gupta family denied the allegations.
In an interview with the Financial Times, both president Zuma and Ajay Gupta denied the family had any influence over politics or had benefited unduly from their relations.
“We are business people and we have nothing to do with politics,” said Gupta, in a rare interview.
According to Gupta, the eldest of three brothers, only 1% of the more than R5 billion ($325 million) annual revenue generated from their businesses is derived from government contracts.
“It’s rubbish, completely rubbish,” Gupta said, in response to questions about whether his family has influenced ministerial appointments. “These are all rumours and you cannot give a reply to the rumours. You cannot justify it.”
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