CABINET ministers at the weekend again shielded President Jacob Zuma from any involvement in the landing of the Gupta jet at the Waterkloof Air Force Base.
Briefing the media in Pretoria yesterday, Minister of Justice Jeff Radebe, flanked by the other ministers in the justice, crime prevention and security cluster, said a full report into what has become known as Guptagate would be released this week.
He reiterated earlier statements that Zuma, who has close ties to the Gupta family, had not authorised the landing of the flight carrying about 200 wedding guests from India.
The guests were flown into Waterkloof in a private jet last month from were they were ferried to attend the lavish wedding of Aakash Jahajgarhia and Vega Gupta at Sun City.
“We are saying without any fear of contradiction that no minister was involved in this matter – the president was not involved in this matter and in any event the president is not responsible for authorising the landing ,” he said.
However, Radebe said there was no question that “undue influence”, “name dropping” and abuse of higher office had played a part.
“The Minister of Defence , her name was dropped, the Minister ofTransport , his name was dropped, the President’s name was dropped.
“It is an undisputed fact that there was no official note verbale from the Indian High Commission to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and therefore due process was not followed.”
He said an individual from the Indian High Commission communicated directly with individuals at the air force command post.
“The collusion of officials resulted in the irregular approval of the flight clearance,” said Radebe.
“The breach in this instance was a consequence of manipulation by the responsible persons, who contemptuously manipulated the system to advance the wedding objectives at all costs,” he said.
The government would now consider amending the definition of gross misconduct to include name dropping.
Despite the breaches, Radebe said all procedures, protocols and instructions from air traffic control were complied with while the plane was in South African airspace.
Radebe justified the involvement of officers and police vehicles as necessary for the safety of road users, taking into account the 121 vehicles hired by the family .
However, due to the lack of vigilance of the SAPS members deployed for escort duty, who did not identify the drivers as non-SAPS members, they placed reliance on those drivers.
He said this had enabled the cars fitted with illegal blue lights to push people off the road, cause delays and inconvenience other road users.
“The public outcry that followed was therefore justified.”
Radebe said the probe revealed that no SAPS or defence force helicopters were used and all of the black BMWs were hired from a private company.
In total, 194 government personnel were deployed and 88 vehicles were used. In addition, 296 private security officers were hired by the Gupta family, who also deployed two fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters to ferry their guests from the base to Sun City.
Radebe said the officials involved had been put on compulsory special leave and since the launch of the probe a number of officials and metro police officers had been suspended.
In light of the investigation by the directors-general in the cluster it was recommended that required disciplinary measures be fully carried out.
Five cases had been registered with the police relating to contraventions of the SAPS Act, the Road Traffic Act, the Companies Act, the Firearms Control Act, common law crimes and using security services contrary to the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority Act.
Zuma cleared of ‘Guptagate’
Briefing the media in Pretoria yesterday, Minister of Justice Jeff Radebe, flanked by the other ministers in the justice, crime prevention and security cluster, said a full report into what has become known as Guptagate would be released this week.
He reiterated earlier statements that Zuma, who has close ties to the Gupta family, had not authorised the landing of the flight carrying about 200 wedding guests from India.
The guests were flown into Waterkloof in a private jet last month from were they were ferried to attend the lavish wedding of Aakash Jahajgarhia and Vega Gupta at Sun City.
“We are saying without any fear of contradiction that no minister was involved in this matter – the president was not involved in this matter and in any event the president is not responsible for authorising the landing ,” he said.
However, Radebe said there was no question that “undue influence”, “name dropping” and abuse of higher office had played a part.
“The Minister of Defence , her name was dropped, the Minister ofTransport , his name was dropped, the President’s name was dropped.
“It is an undisputed fact that there was no official note verbale from the Indian High Commission to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and therefore due process was not followed.”
He said an individual from the Indian High Commission communicated directly with individuals at the air force command post.
“The collusion of officials resulted in the irregular approval of the flight clearance,” said Radebe.
“The breach in this instance was a consequence of manipulation by the responsible persons, who contemptuously manipulated the system to advance the wedding objectives at all costs,” he said.
The government would now consider amending the definition of gross misconduct to include name dropping.
Despite the breaches, Radebe said all procedures, protocols and instructions from air traffic control were complied with while the plane was in South African airspace.
Radebe justified the involvement of officers and police vehicles as necessary for the safety of road users, taking into account the 121 vehicles hired by the family .
However, due to the lack of vigilance of the SAPS members deployed for escort duty, who did not identify the drivers as non-SAPS members, they placed reliance on those drivers.
He said this had enabled the cars fitted with illegal blue lights to push people off the road, cause delays and inconvenience other road users.
“The public outcry that followed was therefore justified.”
Radebe said the probe revealed that no SAPS or defence force helicopters were used and all of the black BMWs were hired from a private company.
In total, 194 government personnel were deployed and 88 vehicles were used. In addition, 296 private security officers were hired by the Gupta family, who also deployed two fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters to ferry their guests from the base to Sun City.
Radebe said the officials involved had been put on compulsory special leave and since the launch of the probe a number of officials and metro police officers had been suspended.
In light of the investigation by the directors-general in the cluster it was recommended that required disciplinary measures be fully carried out.
Five cases had been registered with the police relating to contraventions of the SAPS Act, the Road Traffic Act, the Companies Act, the Firearms Control Act, common law crimes and using security services contrary to the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority Act.
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