DA claims link between Ramaphosa’s R500K Bosasa donation and Guptas

In a statement released on Tuesday morning, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said his party had confirmed that a law firm with links to the Guptas had been administering the “slush fund” from which R500,000 reached President Cyril Ramaphosa’s campaign team last year.

Maimane was the one who originally brought attention to the R500,000 Bosasa donation with a question to Ramaphosa in parliament this month.

He said on Tuesday: “The slush fund used to raise money for Cyril Ramaphosa’s election campaign to become ANC president – which included the R500,000 ‘donation’ from Bosasa – was administered by a law firm whose director appears to have links to the Guptas and their state capture project.”

He said that a trust account named “efg2” – which he claims was administered by law firm Edelstein, Farber and Grobler – was the account into which the R500,000 Bosasa ‘donation’ was funnelled through, “as admitted by the president in his letter to the speaker of parliament. This follows his about-turn to my question in parliament about this R500,000 payment – which Ramaphosa initially stated was a payment to his son Andile for consultancy work done for Bosasa.”

Maimane was referring to the fact that last weekend Ramaphosa issued a correction to his earlier parliamentary reply – claiming he learnt that the money was made on behalf of Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson into a trust account that was used to fund his election campaign.

Ramaphosa claimed he had been unaware of the donation when he’d responded to Maimane’s question.

African Global Operations has since tried to distance itself from the donation, claiming it was a personal one from Watson.

Maimane says the plot is thicker than this alone though.

“We can today confirm [their hyperlink]”, he said, “that Mr Jeffrey Afriat, a director at EFG – the law firm which administered this trust account – served as one of three directors of Trillian Capital, a primary vehicle used by the Guptas to capture the state and loot billions of rands of public money.

“Afriat served as director during 2016 alongside Mr Eric Wood – at the apex of state capture and theft of public money by the Guptas and the ANC. Afriat is also cited twice by name in Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture report. Afriat resigned as Trillian director shortly before the Budlender inquiry into Trillian was launched.”

Maimane said Ramaphosa would now be left with little choice but to heed his call and immediately appoint a full-scale independent inquiry into the Bosasa scandal – which he said should be headed by a retired judge to be selected by the chief justice in keeping with the precedent set by the state capture commission – “to fully investigate the Bosasa scandal, which now involves the president and his family”.

“I will today formally write to President Ramaphosa, calling for this inquiry to be established without delay.

“We cannot have double standards when it comes to bribery and corruption – particularly not when it involves the highest office of the country. The president’s links to Bosasa – including all payments made to him, to the ANC and to his son, whether directly or through shell companies, third parties or trust accounts – must be investigated in detail.”

He added that recent news that Bosasa’s deal with Airports Company South Africa was found to be irregular by the Auditor-General was a further example “of how this dodgy company operates”.

“This is a company embroiled in allegations of fraud and corruption, having paid for security upgrades for ANC politicians; birthday bashes for Jacob Zuma; and scoring over R10 billion in government tenders and contracts.”

He claimed a “system of corruption” had become part of the “very fabric of the ANC – regardless of who leads the organisation”.

“It is the entire ANC that is corrupt, not just Jacob Zuma, the Guptas and his associates. It operates as a system of corruption that locks out the poor and the unemployed – to the benefit of the politically connected few.”

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