LOFTY AMBITIONS
EXCLUSIVE: Guptas' bid to grab SA's airports
The Guptas’ touchdown at Waterkloof in 2013 has become synonymous with corruption. Now there are claims the family wants to control all SA airports through the appointment of cronies to powerful boards
Revelations in the leaked Gupta e-mails have strengthened the claim that the Saxonwold family aims to control SA’s airports. The accusation was first made publicly by spin doctor Dominic Ntsele during an interview published on BizNews in November last year. Ntsele is a consummate insider whose past clients have included soccer boss Irvin Khoza, slain mining magnate Brett Kebble and President Jacob Zuma. This lends some weight to his claims. He suggested the Guptas effectively wanted to turn SA’s airports into their own private airstrips. To achieve this they had to “capture” the state entity that manages them — the Airports Company SA (Acsa) — by filling its board with Gupta acolytes. The man said to be at the heart of this project is advocate Kenosi Moroka, a colourful figure appointed to the Acsa board in December 2012, fired in February this year, then controversially reinstated three months later following a cabinet reshuffle. Once in control of Acsa’s board, the Guptas hoped to...
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