{"id":221603,"date":"2018-01-27T08:34:09","date_gmt":"2018-01-27T06:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=221603"},"modified":"2018-01-27T08:34:09","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T06:34:09","slug":"top-zuma-allys-office-raided-as-corruption-clampdown-intensifies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/221603\/top-zuma-allys-office-raided-as-corruption-clampdown-intensifies\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Zuma ally’s office raided as corruption clampdown intensifies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A South African police investigative unit said it\u2019s conducting a search-and-seizure operation at the office of African National Congress Secretary-General\u00a0 Ace Magashule, a close ally of president Jacob Zuma, in a sign of the authorities\u2019 accelerating probe of corruption allegations.<\/p>\n

The raid at Magashule\u2019s offices in the province of Free State, where he\u2019s the outgoing premier, is part of a probe into allegations that funds allocated for a dairy and farming project illicitly went to members of the Gupta family, who\u2019re friends with Zuma and are in business with his son.<\/p>\n

A similar operation is being conducted at the province\u2019s agriculture department, Hangwani Mulaudzi, a spokesman for the police unit known as the Hawks, said by phone.<\/p>\n

The Hawks\u2019s action is the latest move by the authorities to combat graft since Cyril Ramaphosa, 65, succeeded Zuma as leader of the ANC last month and pledged to restore investor confidence in the economy and public support for the ruling party.<\/p>\n

While parts of the criminal justice system ground to a halt during Zuma\u2019s scandal-ridden tenure, South Africa\u2019s shifting political landscape and mounting public pressure on the authorities to act against corruption are helping turn the situation around, said Mpumelelo Mkhabela, a political analyst at the University of Pretoria\u2019s Center of Governance Innovation.<\/p>\n

Losing Support<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Ace will finish his term,\u201d Mkhabela said by phone. \u201cThe ANC has made a commitment to fighting corruption and have realized that unless they follow through, they will lose support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week prosecutors moved to seize assets of Trillian Capital Partners, which was majority owned by an ally of the Gupta family, because of alleged unlawful payments by the state power utility.<\/p>\n

A commission of inquiry is also probing whether Zuma played any role in the Gupta family\u2019s alleged offer of cabinet posts to people including former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas.<\/p>\n

Ramaphosa said in an interview with Bloomberg television on Wednesday that the authorities are speeding up investigations to fight corruption, calling it a \u201cmammoth task.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magashule, who oversees the day-to-day running of the ANC, has admitted that his son worked for the Guptas but said there was nothing untoward in his relationship with them.\u00a0Zuma, his son and the Guptas have also denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Magashule won the post of ANC secretary-general by just 24 votes in December, defeating Ramaphosa\u2019s preferred candidate, Senzo Mchunu, in an election that was marred by allegations of rigging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law must be allowed to take its course,\u201d\u00a0Kusela Sangoni-Khawe, a spokeswoman for the ANC, said in an interview with Johannesburg-based broadcaster eNCA.\u00a0\u201cThose who are guilty of wrongdoing, regardless of whether it is a leader of the ANC such as the secretary general, they must face the full wrath of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Read: Rand makes further gains as Zuma feels the heat over his future<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A South African police investigative unit said it\u2019s conducting a search-and-seizure operation at the office of African National Congress Secretary-General Ace Magashule, a close ally of president Jacob Zuma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":221605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221607,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221603\/revisions\/221607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}