EDITORIAL: Don’t expect Guptas in SA any time soon
The coming extradition process is likely to take months, perhaps years
On March 16 2016, then deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas issued a public statement confirming that he had been offered the post of finance minister by members of the Gupta family.
The revelation unleashed a fierce pushback against what was described as “state capture” by the brothers, culminating in the removal of Jacob Zuma as president in 2018.
Revelations of how the family bullied, bribed and manipulated their way into using state-owned companies and government departments as their personal piggy banks rolled in thick and fast. Now, more than six years later, two of the three Gupta brothers, Atul and Rajesh, have finally been arrested. But it is too early to celebrate.
First, it is well known that the brains behind the Gupta empire is Ajay. He remains at large, though it is understood that he is likely to be arrested soon.
Second, the coming extradition process is likely to take months, perhaps years, given the legal arsenal the family is likely to unleash against any attempt to bring them back.
Again, South Africans will have to wait a little longer for retribution for the family who, along with Zuma, made a mockery of our democratic state.