Vytjie Mentor, Madonsela challenge Shaun Abrahams to investigate #GuptaLeaks

In a series of Facebook messages this week, former ANC MP and Gupta whistleblower Vytjie Mentor made it clear she supports former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s call for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to investigate and prosecute startling revelations of alleged corruption and state capture revealed in the #GuptaLeaks emails.

The Sunday Times has reported that Madonsela feels there is enough evidence in the hundreds of thousands of leaked Gupta emails for the NPA to start working towards prosecuting implicated individuals.

Mentor wrote that she is “dreaming of a new dispensation where Madonsela heads a brand-new NPA”.

She asked on Tuesday morning: “Shaun Abrams [sic]. Where are you???”

Shaun Abrahams is the head of the NPA, who has often been accused of being too timid to pursue any charges against Zuma.

Many in the ANC have voiced their support for an investigation of state capture and the Guptas, but this is being held up because President Jacob Zuma refuses to accede to Madonsela’s recommendation of last year that he should ask the chief justice to select a judge to head up the commission of inquiry into state capture.

He is appealing against her finding as he believes only a president should be allowed to pick the heads of commissions, even though Zuma happens to have a conflict of interest in this matter.

Among the revelations in the #GuptaLeaks, some of which could have criminal consequences, has been evidence that the Guptas used a Free State dairy company tender to pay for a lavish wedding, that Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane may have lied to parliament and that the Guptas allegedly helped President Zuma to acquire a mansion in Dubai.

The authenticity of the emails appears to have been repeatedly verified.

Supporters of President Zuma and the Guptas, however, have offered the technical defence that the emails may not have been acquired legally.