Even the deputy president’s office was fair game. Investigations show they zeroed in on some of the nation’s most sensitively placed staff, including the head of the Presidential Protection Service as well as Zuma’s chief of staff, his private secretary and a chief director in the deputy president’s office.

In certain instances, some of these officials appear to have returned favours, potentially subverting their positions in the Union Buildings for the Guptas’ benefit.

The fact that Saxonwold’s most influential family attempted to recruit people close to the president raises questions about the nature of their relationship with Zuma: were they trying to spy on him? Or were they putting in place a back channel allowing him to communicate with them via trusted intermediaries?

Since the #GuptaLeaks provide mere glimpses of these relationships, only the president, the Gupta brothers and the officials in question know the whole truth. The four officials we feature here have all denied impropriety or said they carried out their duties with professionalism.

One official, however, said she would “be more vigilant and judicious in professional relationships” in future. The Presidency and the Guptas did not respond to detailed questions.

Major-General Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla: head of Presidential Protection Service (2010-date) and long-time bodyguard to Zuma

As the Scorpions anti-corruption unit were raiding Zuma’s Johannesburg home in August 2005, two vehicles screeched to a halt outside the gates. Out poured several automatic rifle-toting members of the elite Presidential Protection Unit.

A tense armed stand-off ensued between Zuma’s protectors and his would-be prosecutors. Zuma – then a private citizen – was entitled to protection by this elite South African Police Service unit, who guard the country’s current and former presidents and deputy presidents together with their families.

Among the protectors who rushed to Zuma’s side that day was Dladla.

Ever since then, their fortunes have closely tracked one another. Zuma escaped the corruption charges and became president; Dladla rose rapidly through the police ranks to head the Presidential Protection Service, as it is now called. Both are controversial figures.

Zuma’s indiscretions are well known, but Dladla escaped attempted murder charges in 2010 after he was accused of spraying three Uzi submachine gun rounds at an elderly motorist in Durban who got in the way of Zuma’s blue light cavalcade.

Zuma paid tribute to Dladla at a funeral in 2011, thanking him and other members of the so-called Echo Squad for standing by him during his darkest days in politics, including thwarting an alleged assassination attempt when he was deputy president.

The relationship has only grown closer: investigative magazine Noseweek alleged in 2012 that Dladla commanded a secret spy unit within the protection service, tasked with monitoring Zuma’s rivals and ensuring his re-election as ANC president.

It now appears that Zuma’s friends, the Guptas, became equally enamoured of Dladla – and rewarded him for his specialist services.

An early clue of their relationship includes an August 2010 email chain from the #GuptaLeaks showing that a Sahara sister company intended to send Dladla and his then wife, long-serving Presidency official Mogotladi “Mo” Mogano (see below) on a weekend getaway to the Maldives.

Both Dladla and Mogano told us they never travelled to the Maldives, with Mogano confirming that “whilst Sahara did make an offer, my then partner and I did not receive tickets and did not undertake the offered travel”.

However, the emails indicate that Gupta executive Ashu Chawla went as far as requesting a Johannesburg travel agent to “issue and email me the [air] ticket” for the couple, quoted at R9 290 per person on Emirates.

A source, who asked not to be named for their own safety, told us that the Guptas at one stage prepared documents transferring legal ownership to Dladla, but then the property burned down.

A second source in the Presidency independently recalled how a house where Mogano was living with Dladla in 2010-11 had burned down.

Mogano referred our queries about the property to Dladla, who claimed that his company never traded but remained silent on the circumstances in which he appears to have made extensive use of a Gupta-owned property.

What use did the Guptas make of their connections with Dladla? An unsigned 2013 affidavit unearthed in the #GuptaLeaks shows Tony Gupta explaining to the police how he procured VIP blue light escort services for the family’s wedding guests.

The Guptas were in trouble because the black BMW escort vehicles they used had been illegally fitted with blue lights and false number plates.

Gupta’s affidavit, submitted as part of the police investigation into the wedding debacle, makes the astonishing claim that the president’s top bodyguard was responsible for procuring the illegal VIP escort service.

Gupta states: “I requested General Dladla to advise me on road transport security under circumstances explained to him … where guests arrived at Waterkloof Air Force Base and had to travel by car through rural areas to Sun City.”

“I indicated that I would pay for these services without any reservation. I am aware of an initiative within the South African Police Service where members of the public can insist on protection/control services at a prescribed fee.

“General Dladla requested me to furnish him with information and inter alia the flight schedules of the guests,” Gupta states, after which Dladla appears to have taken care of the Guptas’ needs.

“On or about 30 April 2013, I noted certain protection vehicles and members of the SAPS accompanying the group of guests from Waterkloof … to Sun City. I did not find this awkward given the requests mentioned,” says Gupta.

“I expected an invoice from the SAPS for the services rendered … On or about 30 April 2013, I received an invoice from a company called S & M Transport … indicating a request for payment for an amount in excess of R500 000. I did not expect an invoice from S&M Transport and I do not know who S&M Transport is. I further do not know who Salomie Manamela is and I had no arrangement with the aforesaid person to send me an invoice for ‘escort services’.”

Gupta, who was in serious trouble at the time, may have been playing dumb but the identity of S&M Transport and Manamela remains a mystery.

But that was the end of the matter: there is no mention of the company or Dladla’s alleged role in securing its services in the inquiry’s final report.

Responding to our questions, Dladla flatly contradicted Gupta, saying he played no part in “any logistic arrangements either at Sun City or at Waterkloof Air Base”.

However, he confirmed that he “provided an affidavit to SAPS which set out the facts as part of an investigation which was held”. This investigation’s findings have never been made public, but all indications are that both Dladla and Gupta wriggled off the hook.

Like a cat with nine lives – again, mirroring his boss, Zuma – there is one final similarity. Michael Hulley, Zuma’s private legal advisor, prepared Dladla’s responses to our questions.

Denying that he had been captured by the Guptas, or acted to further their interests, Dladla said: “I have performed my duties in relation to President Zuma as a member of SAPS with the discipline and professionalism that it deserves.”

Lakela Kaunda: deputy director-general and head of private office of the president (2009-); chief operating officer in the Presidency (2014-)

Lakela Kaunda is Zuma’s fiercely loyal chief of staff, who has worked beside him in various roles since the mid-1990s.

Emailed diary appointments contained in the #GuptaLeaks show Rajesh “Tony” Gupta accepting a flurry of diary appointments with Kaunda on four occasions between 11 December 2012 and 31 January 2013.

On the fourth occasion Kaunda met Gupta, the email calendar shows a “Bruce” attending – a possible reference to Bruce Koloane, the then chief director of state protocol.

Kaunda’s own meetings with Gupta shortly before this raise questions about her role in the Waterkloof landing debacle.

Koloane was subsequently forced to resign for her role in facilitating the Gupta wedding plane landing at Waterkloof air base, and several military officers who approved the landing later testified they believed instructions had emanated from “Number One” – a codename for Zuma.

Kaunda does not dispute the meetings with Gupta, only that Koloane was not present.

He could not be contacted to verify this. Kaunda also denied playing a role in facilitating the Guptas’ aircraft landing needs, saying, “I actually discovered about the wedding landing at Waterkloof when Radio 702 broke the story on the day of the landing itself. I was totally unaware of it before then.”

Be this as it may, the Guptas were keen at this point to do business with Kaunda. Between the third and fourth successive meetings, as scheduled in Gupta’s email calendar, Kaunda ceded her 100% share in Ntomb’nkulu Investments CC to her son, Siphesihle.

She then forwarded confirmation of the new shareholding to Gupta on 23 January, stating that “we will use this vehicle”.

Asked why she had ceded her shares to her son, and for what activity would Ntomb’nkulu be a “vehicle”, Kaunda repeated the explanation she had given to the Sunday Times in June: “I initially thought of closing down the company as I was not using it, but then felt it would be cost effective to keep as it already existed and we had paid for the establishment. I then decided to cede it to my son,” she said.

“When they [the Guptas] said they wanted to offer a business opportunity and asked if I had a company that could be utilised, I then sent that email about Ntomb’nkulu … the offer of going into business with the family was declined and the matter was never pursued.”

At the time, Islandsite 255’s joint directors were Tony Gupta and Zuma’s son, Duduzane. Islandsite 255 is Gupta-controlled Oakbay Resources and Energy’s BEE partner in Shiva Uranium.

In response, Kaunda said: “It is the first time actually that I hear of that cession of the shares or that resolution. Ntomb’nkulu Investments does not own shares in any company whatsoever.”

Dixie Investments, the company meant to cede the shares to Ntomb’nkulu, retained its stake. For now, at least, the public will have to take Kaunda’s denials on trust.

Delsey Sithole: private secretary in the private office of the president (2009-2012); director: events and protocol in the Presidency (2012 to date)

Zuma’s private secretary coordinates both his official and private diaries, and so knows what the president is doing when his formal duties are over for the day.

It is a unique special position of trust and responsibility, which entails liaising with the president’s security detail after hours to ensure he is safe.

The president’s private secretary is also a regular traveller as part of the president’s delegation on overseas trips. The woman Zuma entrusted with the task at the outset of his Presidency, Delsey Sithole, was very soon in the Guptas’ crosshairs.

Financial reconciliation records from the #GuptaLeaks indicate that Sithole received cash amounts totalling R8 310.78 from a Gupta company in June 2009, just a month after Zuma became president.

It is not known what the payment was for, and Sithole did not provide any clarification in her response to our detailed questions.

Fast-forward a year, Gupta brother Rajesh invited Sithole and her teenage son to watch the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

A spreadsheet contained in the #GuptaLeaks shows that Sithole found herself amidst illustrious company in the luxurious Sahara suite in the iconic Soccer City calabash. Her inclusion hints at the development of a special relationship with the Guptas.

The family’s other guests for the match included India’s wealthiest businessman Mukesh Ambani and his family, as well as one of Zuma’s wives, his son Edward, and some of Zuma’s most trusted spies – the head of police crime intelligence, Richard Mdluli and his sidekick Nkosana “Killer” Ximba.

Sithole did not dispute her presence that day, telling us that, “I received many offers of hospitality from various companies during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.”

Fast-forward another two years, to early May 2013, and Sithole publicly displayed her loyalty to the Guptas. Despite the outpouring of public anger about the family’s brazen takeover of Waterkloof military air base to land a planeload of overseas wedding guests, Sithole crowed on her Facebook page: “Its [sic] good to be at Sun City. Some people are being tjatjarag [over-excited]. I am enjoying the wedding.”

By this stage, Sithole had been removed from her position as private secretary and redeployed to head the events and protocol division in the Presidency.

A source in the Presidency recalled a “security incident” involving Zuma’s diary that had occurred in 2011, after which Sithole was moved.

Details about the incident, including a rumour that the Guptas had accessed confidential details about Zuma’s diary via Sithole, could not be independently verified.

Sithole did not respond to the allegation specifically, but said: “In my previous capacity as private secretary, I interacted with various stakeholders on a number of occasions, involving various activities and my interaction with the Gupta family was in that capacity. Such interaction never promoted any unethical activity.”

She added that her move to protocol and events happened at her request, for “career growth and advancement” reasons.

But even after she moved out of Zuma’s private office, the #GuptaLeaks suggest that Sithole and Tony Gupta retained ties. For example, in September 2012, Sithole sent him the guest list for a Jacob Zuma Foundation fundraising dinner. The list includes a number of prominent Nigerian businessmen with investments in South Africa.

How Sithole obtained this it is unclear, as are her motives for disclosing it. Was she moonlighting on social events for Zuma’s private foundation and leaking intelligence to the Guptas about Zuma’s would-be private benefactors?

Sithole did not provide any answers.

The #GuptaLeaks emails show Tony Gupta accepting a diary appointment with one “Delicy Sithole” at Sahara’s Midrand offices in January 2013. Notably, this meeting was scheduled around the time of a flurry of meetings between Gupta and Kaunda (Sithole’s former boss in Zuma’s private office).

Sithole did not dispute that the meeting took place as scheduled.

A few days after this meeting, Sithole sent Chawla a CV for one Phatse Justice Piitso – a former SACP provincial secretary in Limpopo and South African ambassador to Cuba between 2009 and 2011 – requesting that Chawla “please forward to Tony”.

Again, Sithole is silent on the purpose of her email. As for Piitso, he was – or was soon to be – Sithole’s husband. Sithole told us that she sent the CV “in good faith to a stakeholder and acquaintance [Gupta] and there was never an encouragement of untoward expectations”.

Piitso said that he has sent his CV to many people, but denied that he got “any employment from the Gupta family or anything else from Mr Tony Gupta”. However, Piitso has cropped up recently as a pro-Gupta commentator.

In 2016, Bell Pottinger spin doctor Victoria Geoghegan shared Piitso’s name with a MoneyWeb journalist, as part of a list of “people who had agreed to talk on economic apartheid”.

The Guptas had hired the London-based PR firm on a monthly £100 000-plus (R1.5m-plus) contract, aimed at distracting public attention from the family’s murky business dealings.

Other pro-Gupta commentators and luminaries on the Bell Pottinger list included Andile Mngxitama, Ben Ngubane, Kebby Maphatsoe, Tshepo Kgadima and Lindiwe Zulu.

Earlier in 2017, Piitso also penned an eloquent defence of Brian Molefe, who had been exposed by the public protector as one of the Guptas’ accomplices in the nexus of state capture.

Piitso lavished praise on the former Eskom chief executive – then on his way to Parliament as an MP – calling him “one of the finest young leaders our movement has ever produced”.

In language that has become synonymous with pro-Gupta lobby, Piitso urged Molefe to “take forward the revolutionary programme of the second phase of our transition for radical transformation”.

Piitso ignored our question about his inclusion in the Bell Pottinger list, but said: “The revolutionary concept of white monopoly capital is not an invention of the Gupta family. It is a concept which seeks to define the development of monopoly imperialism and its characteristic features within the South African realities.

Throughout my life, I have written so many views about this important theoretical question and I will continue to do so.”

Piitso added that he did not seek compensation for his written work from any media houses.

Mogotladi “Mo” Mogano: assistant private secretary to the president (pre-2009); chief director in office of the deputy president (post-2009)

Mogano has worked in the Presidency for more than a decade, initially as assistant private secretary to Thabo Mbeki.

When Kgalema Motlanthe became president in September 2008, he inherited her services.

After Zuma succeeded Motlanthe, Mogano moved to the deputy president’s office with him, where she remains under Cyril Ramaphosa.

Because she has been ensconced in the office of Zuma’s main political rivals down the years, whilst married to one of Zuma’s most trusted bodyguards, Mogano’s relationship with the Guptas is worth highlighting. (See Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla, above.)

Mogano can be linked to the Guptas since at least February 2009, when company registration records show that she became a co-director with Tony Gupta and Zuma’s son Duduzane in Karibu Hospitality.

The company became dormant in 2011 and was deregistered in 2013. Mogano said “nothing came of the venture,” adding that “I resigned before any business could be conducted or any trading could take place.”

We have already seen that a Sahara sister company booked return flights to the Maldives in 2010 for Mogano and her then-husband, the head of the Presidential Protection Service Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla. Both have denied receiving the gift.

The couple also appears to have lived for a while in a Gupta-owned property, about which Mogano referred our query to Dladla, who in turn ignored it.

A source in the Presidency told us several years ago that Mogano had also “flirted with” a job offer from the Guptas, a tip-off that appears to be borne out by a June 2011 email from the #GuptaLeaks in which Mogano sends her “comprehensive resume” to Tony Gupta.

What job Mogano was applying for remains a mystery – she told us “there was no outcome” and she remains gainfully employed in the Presidency.

Mogano confirmed her attendance, with a friend, after her husband dropped out. She added that she had declared the hospitality as a gift in her annual declaration of interests. Mogano now appears keen to dissociate herself from the Guptas and Dladla, from whom she says she separated three years ago.

She concedes: “With concerns of state capture and as valid as they are, I do accept that such associations can raise doubts about one’s professionalism and loyalty to the public service code of conduct.”

But she argued that she joined the Presidency “with the full desire to serve the country and not personalities” and had maintained her top security clearance throughout her decade in service.

“I have not allowed my association with elements of the Gupta family enterprise to influence my work adversely or unethically, but have also learnt from recent events to be more vigilant and judicious in professional relationships,” she said.

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The #GuptaLeaks reveal that that the Free State provincial government largely picked up the tab for the “event of the millennium”, as it was described by a guest, KPMG Africa then-chief executive Moses Kgosana.

“My wife and I were privileged to attend and enjoyed every moment and every occasion,” Kgosana gushed in a thank-you note to Atul Gupta. “I have never been to an event like that and probably will not because it was an event of the millennium.”

Surely, though, the long list of political and business figures attending the multi-day spectacular were not privy to the veiled source of funds.

Except KPMG’s Kgosana should have been.

KPMG were the auditors of the Guptas’ Linkway Trading (Pty) Ltd. This company, we shall see, played a crucial role in the diversion of cash earmarked for the Free State’s Vrede dairy project to reimburse most of the wedding expenses – R30 million to be exact.

By allowing Linkway to account for the wedding as a “business expense”, KPMG further ensured that the Guptas paid zero taxes on their Free State government windfall.

(See also: The Dubai Laundromat – How KPMG saw no evil at the Sun City wedding)

KPMG said this week it was normal for it to attend “client related events”.

“In this case the wedding attendance was approved by our risk management and the accommodation costs were borne by KPMG…We stand by our work done and audit opinions issued.”

The Gupta family did not respond to our enquiries.

Gupta Radical Economic Transformation, courtesy Mosebenzi Zwane

AmaBhungane first revealed in 2013 how the Free State provincial government had gifted an unknown company, Estina, a free 99-year lease to a 4 400-hectare farm outside Vrede. Estina’s sole director was an IT salesman with no farming experience.

The government also promised Estina R114-million a year for three years to set up a farming operation and dairy, whose supposed purpose was to empower locals and boost provincial agriculture.

Mosebenzi Zwane, now South Africa’s mineral resources minister and then Free State MEC for agriculture, drove the provincial government to adopt the dairy project. Vrede is Zwane’s home town. The project was not put out to public tender.

Zwane, among the Guptas’ most ardent defenders, recently claimed the #GuptaLeaks were an attack on committed government employees.

Zwane did not respond to our enquiries made earlier this week.

In 2013, amaBhungane established that Estina had an address that was also used by Gupta companies and that Kamal Vasram, its sole director, had ties to the Guptas. Despite these signs of Gupta involvement, the family denied any connection save for a R138 000 consulting contract performed by Linkway Trading – coincidentally or not the same company that features in this story.

Vasram repeated the Gupta line that the controversial family was not involved, telling amaBhungane at the time: “I wish to categorically state that they are not involved in any manner in this project.”

The #GuptaLeaks have unravelled these denials. Dozens of e-mails and other records show the family not only had significant control over the scheme, but diverted much of the provincial government’s funding to it for their own purposes.

The Guptas’ Dubai laundromat milks the Free State

When Zwane’s successor as agriculture MEC, Mamiki Qabathe, answered questions about the project in the provincial legislature in November 2013, she said that by then a total of R114-million of the government’s money – tranches of R30-million and R84-million – had been transferred to Estina.

Financial records in the #GuptaLeaks show that over a six-week period between August and September 2013, Estina had transferred US$8 348 700 (R84-million at the time) to the Dubai bank account of a Gupta-controlled United Arab Emirates (UAE) shell company, Gateway Limited.

That is, the entire R84-million second tranche transferred by the Free State government to Estina landed in a Gupta-controlled US dollar account at Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai.

In a clear sign that Dubai was little more than a laundry stop, a forensic examination shows that at least three quarters of that money was shortly bounced back to two Gupta companies in South Africa – including to pay for the wedding. It went like this:

The wedding celebrations were held at Sun City over four days at the end of April and beginning of May 2013.

Three months later, on July 31, the Guptas’ Linkway Trading, based in South Africa, presented Accurate Investments Ltd, a second Gupta-controlled shell company in the UAE, with a four-page, itemised invoicefor expenses for the “V & A Function … at Sun City” (the bride and groom were Vega and Aakash).

The items for which Linkway invoiced Accurate for ranged from R13 086 for chocolate truffles to R2.3-million for scarves, R247 848 for fireworks and R13.9-million for “event services”.

Including VAT, Linkway’s bill totalled a perfectly round R30 000 000. It was further noted that “this invoice is the equivalent of USD3 333 400”.

As of the date of Linkway’s invoice, Accurate had a mere US$15 811 in its account at Standard Chartered – a tiny fraction of the amount invoiced. But thanks to the Free State government and Estina, Accurate’s bank balance would soon improve drastically.

This is where the laundromat started spinning. If the details are confusing, it is because they were meant to, but it went like this:

• On August 11, 2013 Estina transferred US$1 999 975 of the Free State government’s cash to the Standard Chartered account of the Guptas’ Gateway Limited in Dubai.

• On the same day Gateway transferred US$1 600 000 of the Estina money to the Standard Chartered account of yet another Gupta UAE shell, Global Corporation LLC.

• The next day, 12 August, Global transferred US$1 590 000 – that is the full amount it received less $10 000 – in two tranches to another Standard Chartered account: that of Accurate, the company that Linkway had invoiced for the Sun City wedding.

• That same day, Gateway itself transferred the balance of the funds it had received from Estina plus another $25 to round it off – US$400 000 – to Accurate’s Standard Chartered account.

• The end result of this financial Three-card Monte was that the Guptas’ Accurate now held US$1,990,000 of the US$1 999 975 of the Free State government’s cash, which had been transferred by Estina to Gateway the day before.

Accurate then immediately transferred US$1 986 000 to Linkway’s account at the State Bank of India in Johannesburg. The wire transfer confirmation notes an invoice number identical to the one contained in Linkway’s wedding expense invoice presented to Accurate.

This 12 August payment of the Free State’s cash via Dubai, however, fell short of Linkway’s invoiced amount of US$3 333 400 by US$1 347 400.

Wash, rinse, repeat

And so, the Dubai laundry machines started spinning again:

• On September 5, 2013, the next tranche of Free State funds arrived from Estina in Gateway’s Dubai account: US$2 999 975.

• Four days later, on September 9, Gateway transferred US$1 400 000 of this cash to Accurate, which then immediately paid Linkway exactly US$1 347 400 – the balance of the wedding expense invoice.

The wedding bill, however, was not the end of the Guptas’ Free State gravy train.

Weeks later, on September 23, a further US$3.1-million of the Free State’s cash was washed and delivered to the Guptas in South Africa via Dubai.

This time, the cash flowed from Estina to Gateway to yet another Gupta UAE front, Fidelity Enterprises Limited, which then transferred US$3.1-million to Oakbay Investments, the Gupta family holding company in South Africa.

With so much of the Free State’s money ending up with the Guptas, it appears that very little ended up with actual suppliers to the project.

As we previously reported US$3 448 800 (about R34-million then) of the R84-million that was sucked from Estina to Dubai in August and September 2013 was justified by a Gateway invoice for a milk pasteurisation plant to be supplied by Star Engineers, an engineering firm in the Guptas’ hometown of Saharanpur, India.

#GuptaLeaks financial records, however, show only a tiny fraction of that — US$165 610 –transferred to Star Engineers during the course of 2013. Whether that was the full amount paid to Star remains unclear.

Back-to-back transfers like those seen in the Guptas’ Dubai accounts were obvious red flags. Indeed, Standard Chartered confirmed this week that it closed the accounts in early 2014, shortly after these transfers.

A spokesperson for the bank said: “Standard Chartered takes its responsibility to combat financial crime very seriously and is fully committed to doing business in accordance with local and international regulatory and legal requirements.”

By the time Estina was kicked off the project in 2014 following a national treasury probe and amaBhungane’s exposure of dead cows being dumped in a ditch, the provincial government had paid Estina about R210-million in taxpayers’ money.

Of that, it is now clear, the Guptas, and not the people of the Free State, were the major beneficiaries.

Zwane’s continuing committed public service

Amidst the #GuptaLeaks revelations, Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane recently unveiled controversial changes to the mining charter. The proposed revisions seem to fit one particular family of Indian immigrants like a glove.

Naturalised black people would now also be deemed to have been previously disadvantaged by apartheid, thereby radically transforming the Guptas into prospective BEE partners.

The Guptas started arriving in South Africa mere months before the 1994 elections.

While Zwane appears to have repeatedly bent over backwards for the Guptas – even going as far as suggesting the #Guptaleaks were driven by anti-black racism targeting him – the leaked documents suggest that perhaps Zwane’s apparent blind loyalty to the Guptas is not entirely reciprocated.

Considering the colossal quantum of cash diverted from Zwane’s Vrede dairy project to the Gupta’s pockets, one would assume that Zwane was the Guptas’ guest of honour at the Sun City extravaganza.

Rather, he appears to have been an afterthought.

Possibly no other document in the #GuptaLeaks trove was circulated as widely and revised so often as the wedding’s guest list.

Yet, on the near-final guest list, Zwane’s name – a seemingly late addition near the very bottom (at row 242 out of 254) appearing under the subheading “Extra Guests” – was misspelled as “Mosebebi”, an error which endured throughout the drafts.

Even the Guptas’ now-mortal enemy, Peter Bruce, the former editor of Business Day, snagged a higher spot (235) than Zwane on the guest list.

While the fate of the mining charter revisions recently tabled by Zwane is uncertain, one thing is clear: with the next generation of Guptas now in their teens and twenties, weddings (and wedding expenses) will continue apace.

For all his steadfast efforts to radically economically transform the Guptas, perhaps “Mosebebi” should at the very least demand pride of place at the next one.

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The tracking of prominent politicians and businesspeople, along with the sourcing of sensitive information from well-placed moles in key state entities, appear to show that the Gupta business network operated like a fully-fledged spy agency.

Malema, Manuel flight details

Buried among the thousands of emails and documents that make up the #GuptaLeaks is an Excel spreadsheet that wouldn’t necessarily draw attention in a sea of files with far more interesting names.

Document “As1.xlsx” sounds like a dull affair compared to those bearing titles such as “Zwane questoins” (sic), “Bribery Culture of India”, or “Right now WET!!”.

But the file’s contents reveal a disturbing reality – Ashu Chawla, one of the Guptas’ most trusted lieutenants, had been privy to the dates of international flights taken by some of the Guptas’ most prominent adversaries, including EFF leader Julius Malema and former finance minister Trevor Manuel.

The document also features the international flight details and ID numbers of Absa CEO Maria Ramos and those of a handful of so-called “white monopoly capital” business leaders.

FirstRand Group chairperson Laurie Dippenaar and the banking group’s co-founder GT Ferreira are among the “WMC” businessmen whose travel details are captured in the file.

Malema this week confirmed to News24 that the ID number listed in the document alongside the initial “JM” is his and that he had flown out of and back to South Africa on the six occasions in 2015 listed in the spreadsheet.

The EFF leader claims that the information could only have come from the department of home affairs (DHA) or from the State Security Agency (SSA). Malema vowed to take up the matter with the office of the Inspector General of Intelligence (IGI).

Dippenaar, Manuel and Ramos also confirmed the authenticity of their ID numbers and the flight dates listed under their names.

“It is deeply concerning to us that this private information appears to have been collected and stored by a third party for reasons unknown to us. This is an egregious breach of privacy and amounts to criminal conduct,” Manuel and Ramos said in a joint statement.

“We are considering the legal options available to us,” the couple added.

The #GuptaLeaks has thus far offered no further clues as to how Chawla – who according to the file’s metadata was the original creator of the Excel document – got hold of the travel information.

But the trove of documents contains plenty of unrelated material that proves the Guptas and their henchmen have been fed sensitive government information by an array of individuals in the public sector, including confidential SSA documents.

* Read the emails here.

Moles in home affairs

Towards the end of November 2015, department of home affairs (DHA) employee Gonasgaren “Sagie” Mudley emailed his resume directly to Tony Gupta.

This marked the start of a chain of communication that would see Mudley’s CV being forwarded by Chawla to none other than Thamsanqa Msomi, a Denel board member and then DHA minister Malusi Gigaba’s adviser.

“Kindly find attached a copy of my Resume and note that I have just been vetted by SSA for Top Security Clearance and awaiting evaluation. If you require any further information and clarity please don’t hesitate to call me,” Mudley wrote Gupta.

According to the email, the DHA employee was an assistant director at the department’s immigration inspectorate in Cape Town. His earlier positions, as listed in his CV, make for interesting reading.

From 1989 to 2000, Mudley was a member of the South African Police Services’ (SAPS) narcotics bureau in Durban, where he maintained “strong networks and liaison with intelligence agencies,” according to his resume.

He then had a stint as a SAPS representative at South Africa’s embassy in Namibia, where he was involved in the “management of crime intelligence information emanating from foreign agencies”, before he became the commander of the police’s crime intelligence unit in Bellville, Cape Town.

In his latter position, Mudley played a role in the “coordination of all overt & covert special projects & operations,” he claimed in his CV.

In January 2016, the SSA gave Mudley a top secret security clearance, the highest possible security clearance in South Africa. He wasted no time in forwarding the clearance, which in itself is a confidential SSA document, to Tony Gupta.

“Dear sir. Please find attached security clearance,” Mudley wrote to Gupta.

Gareth Newham, a governance expert at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), says the mere fact that Mudley forwarded his top secret clearance to Gupta constitutes a criminal offence.

“It is against the law to forward a confidential SSA document to someone who does not have a security clearance,” says Newham.

Even more concerning is the fact that Mudley, with his brand new top secret clearance, would theoretically have had access to highly sensitive government information that could have benefitted the Guptas.

“A top secret clearance would give one access to a range of sensitive information pertaining to government planning, including procurement planning. Mudley could therefore have gotten access to the records of top secret or confidential discussions around things like the proposed nuclear build program or the procurement of new locomotives,” says Newham.

In February 2016, Mudley forwarded what appears to be a cellphone picture of a DHA document titled “Criteria for Prioritisation of Vacant Posts” to Tony Gupta.

“Please find attached new financial instructions for Dha staff also might have negative implications on foreign posts. This meeting is taking place at this moment,” Mudley told Gupta in the email.

It was just before this exchange, in January, that Chawla forwarded Mudley’s CV to Msomi, adviser to then DHA minister Malusi Gigaba.

What the Guptas and Chawla intended to do with Mudley’s CV, and why Chawla later forwarded it to Msomi, remains unclear.

Gupta associate Chawla also maintained communications with another DHA official, one Gideon Christians, over a period of at least two years, the #GuptaLeaks show.

According to Christians’ CV, which he sent to Chawla in November 2014, the DHA official was the department’s assistant director for immigration services at the Cape Town International airport.

In October 2015, Christians forwarded Chawla a string of emails detailing a spat involving several other DHA officials over Christians’ would-be transfer to the South African high commission in India.

“Bhiysa [brother]. Someone sent this to me unofficially . . . seems there is a fight with HR and FOC [foreign office coordination] to issue the [transfer] letter to me,” Christians wrote Chawla.

Apart from keeping the Gupta associate up to date on his pending transfer, Christians also gifted Chawla with a particularly chunky piece of government intelligence in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.

The document, titled “Foreign Missions Budget 2014-2015 edited”, details the names of 51 South African officials posted to diplomatic missions in countries such as Angola, India, China and the United Kingdom.

Apart from the officials’ names and personnel numbers, the document also provides a detailed breakdown of each official’s salary, their child and education allowances, and what their annual rental costs amount to.

Again, the #GuptaLeaks offers no further clues as to what the Guptas would have wanted to do with this document.

But the website of the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) suggests that Christians did end up being transferred to India. According to the website, a GC Christians is currently the first secretary for immigration and civic affairs at the South African high commission in New Delhi.

Agents Koloane and Koko

The Guptas and their associates’ interactions with the DHA officials brings to mind the manner in which the likes of former Dirco official Bruce Koloane and former Eskom executive Matshela Koko were covertly doing the Guptas’ bidding.

An earlier #GupteLeaks report detailed how Koko, or at least someone using his name in their Yahoo account, forwarded a confidential correspondence between Eskom and one of the Guptas’ rival mining outfits to two unidentified email addresses. The confidential Eskom document ended up being forwarded to Chawla.

Emails and documents in the #GuptaLeaks show how Koloane forwarded information on the Waterkloof Air Force Base to Chawla, in the run-up to the highly publicized Gupta wedding at Sun City in 2013.

Christians and Mudley did not respond to request for comment via WhatsApp.

The Guptas’ lawyer, Gert van der Merwe, referred News24 to Oakbay Investments, Gary Naidoo and Ronica Ragivan. None of them responded to our queries.

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New information from #GuptaLeaks indicates that Bruce Koloane, who got his diplomat job after being suspended as chief of state protocol at the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco), also forwarded information on the base directly to Gupta lieutenant Ashu Chawla around the time of the 2013 Waterkloof debacle.

The #GuptaLeaks also show that:

• Koloane, appointed as ambassador to the Netherlands in August 2014, met with Dutch businessmen in The Hague in 2015 to negotiate a deal with a manufacturer of greenhouse systems on the Guptas’ behalf;
• Koloane’s friends were allowed to stay at the Guptas’ upmarket private game lodge in Limpopo around the time of the negotiations with the Dutch greenhouse company;
• Koloane sent Chawla documents on a prospective coal mining site in KwaZulu-Natal in the midst of the Waterkloof fallout; and
• He attended the Gupta wedding at Sun City and stayed at the resort for three nights.

THE DUTCH DEAL

Correspondence between Koloane, the owners of Dutch company KPG Greenhouses and Rajesh “Tony” Gupta suggests Koloane used his position as ambassador to help the Guptas clinch business deals in the Netherlands.

In July 2015, KPG Greenhouses’ Marco van ’t Hart sent an email to Koloane’s official embassy email address and CCed Herman van der Kroef, the department of trade and industry’s representative to the Netherlands, in the email.

“Thank you for visiting our company in Maasland. In the meeting you asked if we would consider to sell our company for at least 50% and if we would be interested to start a production site in South Africa,” he wrote.

It is clear from the email that Koloane and Van der Kroef were representing someone else’s interests during their visit to the company, situated a 30-minute drive away from the South African embassy in The Hague’s city centre.

“…for this your investor can better talk too Mr Koppert himself (sic),” wrote Van der Kroef, referring to KPG Greenhouses’ owner, André Koppert.

A day later, Koloane forwarded the email to Tony Gupta, the youngest Gupta brother, saying, “As promised”.

Koloane’s bidding set in motion protracted negotiations between Tony Gupta and Koppert, although it is not clear from the emails whether a deal was clinched.

Later in July 2015, Koppert emailed Tony Gupta to enquire about the family’s intentions and Gupta replied: “Dear Mr Andre, thx for your mail. Our group is very diversely invested eg OAKBAY resources, Sahara computers, JIC mining services, The new age newspaper etc. we are looking to invest in agriculture sector (hydroponic) so we are looking to takeover or invest in your company also… (sic).”

But Koppert apparently was not keen to sell such a large stake in his company.

He did, however, suggest that KPG Greenhouses and the Guptas explore opportunities together to invest in a greenhouse manufacturing facility in South Africa.

Tony Gupta, though, was not overly excited by this offer, responding in late July 2015: “Honorable Mr. Koppert, thx for your mail and sorry to delay my reply. I will not be keen for your below mention idea… Once again thanks (sic).”

Tony Gupta and Koppert kept in touch throughout August and September to try to set up a meeting, but it is not clear from the emails whether they ever did.

News24 contacted Van ’t Hart on WhatsApp this week. He said he was in a meeting, but did not respond to later queries. Koppert did not respond to phone calls or messages.

‘BROTHER TONY’

A month after Koppert and Gupta had exchanged emails, Koloane again made contact with a member of the Gupta business network, this time to help two of his friends score a weekend stay at the Guptas’ luxury Clifftop Lodge in the Welgevonden private game reserve in Limpopo.

“Please find forwarded an email confirming arrival dates for my friends from the USA. Brother Tony has asked that I forward you the info so that you can make arrangements at the Lodge for a game visit. (One couple) Please check with him on this matter and confirm reservation with me by email and please copy Chelsea Jennings as well (sic),” Koloane wrote to Chawla in August 2015, using his Yahoo email account.

A few days later, Chawla responded to Koloane with an email that included a PDF document for the booking at the lodge, saying: “Dear sir. As discussed here is the booking attached for your reference (sic).”

The document indicates that Jennings and her partner stayed at Clifftop for two nights in September 2015. Their stay included three meals and two safaris and from the booking it appears that they were not charged.

Koloane’s relation to Jennings is unclear from the emails.

News24 sent queries via WhatsApp to a cellphone number she included in an earlier email to Koloane. The messages appear to have been read, but Jennings did not respond.

COAL ASSET

In October 2013, barely six months after Koloane helped the Guptas secure the Waterkloof landing, he received documents from one Funokwakhe Cedric Xulu detailing a study done on a prospective coal mining site near Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal.

The study was conducted at Xulu’s request by Pietermaritzburg scientist Chris Whyte, and details the viability of coal mining in the Mpisi prospecting area.

Koloane subsequently forwarded the study and other documents on the Mpisi coal reserve to Chawla.

“Dear Ashu. Please find attached a geological report for a coal asset as discussed with Tony,” wrote Koloane.

The #GuptaLeaks trove shows that Chawla eventually forwarded the documents to Tony Gupta in March 2014.

Whyte confirmed he had compiled the study and was commissioned by Xulu. He said he had no idea the report would end up with the Guptas.

Xulu did not respond to an SMS and did not answer his cellphone.

BACK TO WATERKLOOF

A spreadsheet containing the names of about 260 guests for the wedding of the Gupta brothers’ niece, Vega at Sun City also suggests that Koloane attended the lavish affair, and spent three nights at one of the resort’s hotels with an unknown guest.

According to the document, which appears to reflect invitees who had RSVPed by April 22, “Vusi B Koloane” was marked as “attending”. The spreadsheet indicates he and a partner were to stay at Sun City for three nights.

News24 made numerous attempts to obtain comment from Koloane and from Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela, but no responses were forthcoming.

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But though the Guptas may have been happy to host such an event, leaked emails show that they were much less eager to settle the bill at the end of it. It’s an interesting glimpse into how the ultra-rich family conducts business.

When Vega Gupta wed Aakash Jahajgarhia in 2013, it was a party on a scale seldom seen before in South Africa. Sahara CEO Ashu Chawla referred to it early on in a planning email as “the marriage of the century”.

Chawla served as the point man for Team Gupta, liaising with Sun City both before and after the wedding. Sun City was reserved for the exclusive use of the Guptas and their guests from 30 April to 4 May, with the Gupta brothers arranging to check in to the Palace Hotel a week earlier; 231 rooms were booked.

Emails between Sun City and Gupta staff in advance show that the family had many demands. Among the requests: the use of fireworks; ice rigs; horses; one waiter for every 10 guests; complimentary laundry services for guests; the right to bring in all food externally.

They were tactfully informed that other requests were impossible.

Flowers could not be planted in the Sun City flowerbeds to spell out the names of the wedding party “as a consequence of the winter blooms, which will only flower when it is cold”. The celebrations appear to have gone off without a hitch.

The problems began shortly after the wedding, with erstwhile Sun City CEO Richard Hawkins emailing Sahara on May 13 to explain that the bill preparation was delayed due to “a substantial amount of operating equipment that was signed for by your team which has not been returned”.

A meeting took place on 16 May, where Chawla and his team were presented with the bill.
They were also informed that they would be liable for over R100,000 worth of damage to the Valley of the Waves pool.

Pictures reveal that the sides of the pool appear to have been chipped. It was subsequently agreed that the events company responsible for the wedding, Gearhouse, would settle this from its insurance.

Emails show that what followed was a full 19 months of wrangling over the bill between the Guptas and Sun City. By the end of May 2013, Hawkins was writing: “Please confirm you have all the required documentation? I need payment now, thanks.” He would be waiting a lot longer.

Chawla repeatedly denied receiving the relevant invoices, and eventually requested that Hawkins deliver the relevant documentation via hard copy.

The invoice for accommodation amounted to R5,473,742.50. Venue hire and “incidentals” cost R2,508,588.40. Ajay Gupta’s personal bill was R265,024.35. Offset against this were amounts already paid as deposits.

In addition, Sun City demanded almost R195,000 for missing crockery items, including frying pans and bread baskets. “Some dishes” were subsequently sent back.

The accommodation bill appears to have been a major source of contention, with Chawla demanding to check Sun City’s room records against the Guptas’ own.

The family queried why they were being charged for rooms where guests did not arrive. The hotel responded that “no-show fees” applied.

By 4 July, Hawkins was playing hardball: “I will be expecting payment by the close of business tomorrow.” Hawkins got a partial payment of what the Guptas decided was not in dispute – an amount of R1,290,664.64.

“You appear to have paid R1m short,” Hawkins responded.

Chawla turned up the heat in response, claiming that the outstanding amount was for “hidden costs”. He wrote: “We expressly deny any liability for the remaining balance of your invoice due to the fact that the agreed authorisation and procurement procedures were not followed.”

Sun City subsequently offered a meeting, failing which the resort warned it would take legal action.

The meeting took place on 1 August 2013, at Saxonwold. The Guptas must have been in persuasive mood, because Sun City subsequently removed some items from the functions bill – such as costs for trestle table hire – and gave a 50% discount on others.

The dispute over the accommodation charges remained, however, with Chawla continuing to claim that they had been overcharged.

Another meeting happened, on 6 September 2013, after which Sun City made further concessions, including halving the no-show room fees in certain resort hotels. The “final accounts” were sent through in late September.

Emails show that a phone call was subsequently held between Chawla and Sun City’s general manager, however, in which Chawla continued to dispute an amount of over R300,000.

“Should you wish to proceed with further legal action you may decide to do so at your own peril,” Chawla emailed the manager, proposing yet another meeting.

“We want to reiterate that the agreement, from the beginning, was that all expenses should first be approved by myself. We most definitely did not provide Sun City with an open chequebook.”

Sun City responded that they appeared to have reached an “impasse”, and that the Guptas should provide their “final stance in writing”.

The Guptas then paid R1,021,170 – an amount they seemed to have regarded as fair. Another meeting was set up to discuss the outstanding amount in January 2014, which was then postponed to February 2014. It was still impossible to arrive at a resolution.

By this stage a tone of distinct weariness had crept into Sun City’s emails: “Having debated this account for almost a year now, we have made various agreements and adjustments as you are aware of,” the manager wrote. Still outstanding: R329,452.

By July 2014 the managing executive for Sun City was Mike van Vuuren, and Chawla was still requesting further meetings to discuss the amount to be paid. “Another meeting cannot be entertained,” Van Vuuren replied, announcing that the amount had been handed over to debt collectors.

Chawla responded with another legal threat: “I do not want us to embark on litigation only to have the same discussion with you, 3 years down the line, R300,000 later, in an attempt to settle the court case.” Van Vuuren seemingly never replied, and in November Chawla again requested a meeting.

The last record of correspondence on the matter contained in the leaked emails is from December 14, 2014, with another Gupta employee continuing to dispute the amount owed for accommodation.

That the Guptas would go to such lengths to contest a relatively small amount – compared to the costs of flying in guests, performers and chefs from all over the world – offers a revealing glimpse of their approach to business.

The same might be said for the fact that they seem to consider the presentation of a bill to be merely the first step in a process of protracted negotiation.

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