State Capture: ANC government’s gallery of shame

“Let me make it clear, because people make the linkage they say the ANC is corrupt. We must correct that and say no, it is not the ANC that is corrupt. Certain people have done certain corrupt things.”

These are the words of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who insisted during an interview with SABC News that the ANC was not corrupt, but rather individuals within the party were.

All the three volumes of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture’s reports so far, however, have painted a picture which makes it difficult for the party to separate the party from the rampant capture of the state during former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure.

ALSO READ: ANC hoped to stop Zondo from making cadre minutes public

The reports details how the ANC allegedly benefitted from proceeds of corruption via donations, to influencing decisions and appointments made in government departments and  state-owned enterprises (SOEs), among other things.

Here are all the people affiliated with the ANC who have been implicated in all of the State Capture Commission’s reports:

Jacob Zuma

Positions held: ANC president (2007 – 2017), President of South Africa (2009 – 2018)

Zuma is implicated in several parts of all three reports, including findings regarding his role in aiding in the capture of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and how the former president firing former Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) director-general (DG) Themba Maseko was one of the earliest acts of state capture by the Guptas.

The Zondo commission has recommended that law enforcement agencies to potentially look at charging Zuma with corruption and racketeering for his role in the reinstallation of ex-Transnet boss Siyabonga Gama.

Under Gama, hundreds of millions of rands were believed to have been pillaged from the parastatal mere months after he had been axed for misconduct.

ALSO READ: Zuma, Myeni, Molefe, Moyane, Gigaba all in Zondo report’s crosshairs

Zuma is also implicated in state capture through his relationship with former Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson.

The report states there is “reasonable grounds” and “sufficient evidence” of Watson and Bosasa providing “inducements and gain to Mr Zuma, aimed at gaining influence over [Zuma]”.

The former president has since stated that he will consult with his legal team “on the appropriate course of action to be taken” after being implicated in all of the reports..

Gwede Mantashe

Positions held: Mineral Resources and Energy Minister (2019 – present), ANC secretary-general (2007 – 2017), ANC national chairperson (2017 – present)

The State Capture Commission has recommended that Mantashe be probed for corruption after receiving security installations for free from Bosasa, which was found to have operated on a  “corrupt business model”.

Mantashe was found to have benefitted from Bosasa in the form of security upgrades at both his properties in Gauteng and Eastern Cape in the commission’s third report.

READ MORE: Mantashe seen by Bosasa leadership as ‘brilliant connection’

The minister admitted that security upgrades were installed during his testimony at the commission in 2021, but disputed that there was anything untoward about the installations, which were arranged between his security advisor and Bosasa director Papa Leshabane.

He also contended that it was not done as a means to solicit favours from him, disputing that he was in any position to influence an office-bearer in such a position.

Mantashe publicly conceded that the ANC may not wholly approve the commission’s report and has since indicated that he will be taking the report on judicial review.

Nomvula Mokonyane

Positions held: Gauteng Premier (2009 – 2014), Minister of Water and Sanitation (2014 – 2018), ANC national executive committee (NEC) member (2017 – present)

The State Capture Commission has suggested that Mokonyane be investigated and prosecuted for corruption.

The report recommends that Mokonyane should be investigated by law enforcement authorities and prosecuted in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, surrounding bribes she allegedly received from the corruption-accused company, Bosasa.

ALSO READ: Eight reasons why Zondo wants Nomvula Mokonyane prosecuted for corruption

The commission called for Mokonyane’s prosecution due to “clearly extensive attempts by Bosasa and its leaders, through various forms of inducement and gain, to influence Ms Mokonyane in her position as a member of the national executive, the provincial executive and office bearer in organs of state”.

Evidence before the Zondo commission showed that late Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson provided Mokonyane with financial and other forms of assistance because of her influence in the ANC and government circles, as the company sought to secure lucrative government tenders.

Malusi Gigaba

Positions held: Minister of Public Enterprises (2014 – 2018), Minister of Finance (2017 – 2018), ANC NEC member (2017 – present)

According to the commission, Gigaba aided and abetted the Gupta family’s capture of SOEs.

The second part of the commission’s report covers findings on Denel and Transnet, and detailed Gigaba accepted cash bribes during his frequent visits to the Gupta family’s compound in Saxonwold in exchange for “soliciting SOE business for his friends.”

READ MORE: Gigaba on Zondo: Instead of clearing me, he asks that I be investigated

Gigaba was also found to have interfered in operational matters at both the South African Airways (SAA) and Eskom on behalf of the Guptas and the former president in the first report.

Among the incidents of interference was Gama’s reinstatement as CEO of Transnet Freight Rail, and Brian Molefe’s appointment as Group CEO of Transnet at the admitted expense of a better candidate.

Brian Molefe

Positions held: Eskom CEO (2015 – 2016), Transnet CEO (2011 – 2015), ANC member of Parliament (MP) (January 2017 – May 2017)

Part one of the report dealt with Gupta-owned newspaper The New Age (TNA), and recommended law enforcement agencies look into potentially prosecuting Molefe over his role in various suspect contracts between the entity and TNA – “particularly his misrepresentation that some of those contracts were partnerships when they were sponsorships”.

“From the above evidence, it is apparent that Mr Molefe and Mr Sigonyela were directly facilitating the use of public funds for TNA spending,” the report reads. 

ALSO READ: Thuli Madonsela ‘betrayed me’, Brian Molefe tells Zondo commission

In the second report, the commission recommended that Molefe be investigated for a host of other transgressions, including corruption, fraud, negligence and breaking the Public Finance Management Act for allegedly accepting cash bribes

Molefe was one of the “primary architects and implementers of state capture at Transnet,” the report found. 

Cedric Frolick

Positions held: National Assembly house chairperson for committees (2010 – present), ANC MP (1999 – present), ANC Regional Executive Committee (REC) member (2008 – 2016)

An investigation for possible corruption into Frolick has been recommended by the commission.

Frolick, who was implicated by former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi, allegedly received cash payments in exchange for setting up a meeting between the company and former ANC MP Vincent Smith.

Agrizzi testified at the commission claiming that Frolick, who was an MP at the time, helped Bosasa in resolving an impasse with Smith because the committee chair was considered “anti-Bosasa”.

READ MORE: ‘Frolick’s version is self-serving’: Zondo suggests probe over alleged corruption

The former Bosasa COO suggested, the report states, that Frolick received further monthly payments after that, which the House chair has denied.

 “Mr Agrizzi’s evidence is that Mr Watson presented Mr Frolick with a security bag of money at the meeting at Bosasa and Mr Frolick received regular payments of R40,000 often through Mr Valence Watson. Mr Frolick denies this. Mr Agrizzi and Mr Frolick therefore have reconcilable versions,” the report reads.

Frolick’s relations with the Watson family, whom the House Chair admitted to dates back to the 1980s, according to the report.

Vincent Smith

Positions held: Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services chairperson (2009 – 2014), ANC MP (1999 – 2019)

Smith allegedly facilitated several contracts for Bosasa, in his former role as chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services, in exchange for millions in cash and payment of his daughter’s tuition.

The former ANC MP, along with Agrizzi, are already facing criminal charges in connection with the alleged payments.

READ MORE: Ex-ANC MP Vincent Smith’s fraud, corruption case postponed to April

He denied the bribes Bosasa paid to him were meant to take off the heat from the company when he chaired the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services.

Bosasa allegedly scored contracts totalling just over R1 billion from the Department of Correctional Services between 2004 and 2007.

Thabang Makwetla

Positions held: Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans (2009 – 2014), ANC Mpumalanga chairperson (2004 – 2008), ANC NEC member (2017 – present).

Makwetla also received a security system for his home, and after this gift was made public, ended up paying a massively discounted R25,000 for the R90,000 system.

“Mr Makwetla testified that at the time when Mr Watson advised him he would not charge Mr Makwetla for the work, he was shocked because he thought Mr Watson would appreciate that he could not make such an offer because Bosasa was doing business with the department at the time. Mr Makwetla said he had explained this to Mr Watson.

ALSO READ: Bosasa’s ‘corrupt business model’ takes centre stage in Part 3 of State Capture report

“At the end of his evidence, Mr Makwetla confirmed that in hindsight what transpired was regrettable,” the report reads.

The commission has recommended Makwetla, who was the Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services at the time of the upgrades, be investigated for breaching the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca).

Lynne Brown

Positions held: Minister of Public Enterprises (2014 – 2018), ANC MP (2014 – 2018).

Brown was linked to state capture relating to Denel, in the commission’s second report.

Under Brown’s tenure, it was found that former board chairperson Daniel Mantsha had abetted the capture of Denel.

Mantsha was described by the commission as “one of the central actors in the Gupta and Essa scheme to capture Denel”.

READ MORE: Lynne Brown ‘appointed Denel board with no skills, qualifications’

He was appointed by Brown, along with the other directors.

“There is a lot from how Ms Brown dealt with certain matters relating to SOEs that indicates that she was assisting the Guptas,” the report reads.

“In the case of Denel, Ms Brown participated in state capture by using the powers of her office to install members of the Denel board of directors persons whom she believed, probably because she was told so, would facilitate or at least not oppose the Guptas’ state capture scheme.”

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni

Positions held:  Minister of Small Business Development (2019 – 2021) Communications and Digital Technologies Minister (2021 – present), current ANC member

Part two of the commission’s report released that Ntshavheni participated in the decision to suspend and fire three Denel executives – CEO Riaz Saloojee, chief financial officer Fikile Mhlontlo and group company secretary Elizabeth Africa – in 2015 paving the way for the Guptas to loot the SOE.

At the time, Ntshavheni served as a Denel board member – appointed by Brown – and was not in government or an MP.

The commission recommended that Ntshavheni and other Denel board members be investigated by law enforcement agencies.

It also recommended that Denel should consider asking the court to declare Ntshavheni and her former board members as delinquent directors.

ALSO READ: Corruption has brought Denel to ‘its knees’

But she has since denied any wrongdoing.

“I wish to put it on public record, as I have recorded it with the commission, that I have never met any of the Gupta brothers or any of their associates. I was never lobbied for the decisions I supported or opposed as a non-executive member of the Denel board of directors.

“I discharged my fiduciary responsibilities with vigour, integrity and in line with the required legislative and regulatory prescripts. I have never been party to any alleged acts of fraud, corruption, maladministration and state capture.”

‘Organised crime syndicate’: DA says ANC is ‘the true cause of state capture’

Task team

In January, Ramaphosa confirmed that a task team within the ANC will be established to deal with the commission’s reports.

The task team, which consists of NEC members, will guide the ANC’s response to the report and recommendations regarding its members.

At the time, Ramaphosa said the ANC needed to show determination in addressing the “toxic legacy of state capture”.

The task team, which was recommended by the national working committee (NWC), will be led by former Energy Minister Jeff Radebe alongside former ANC head of policy Joel Netshitenzhe, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and other senior members.