TOBY SHAPSHAK: How deep does the rot go?
It’s no wonder the telecoms ministry is in disarray — some of its ministers have a history of links to the Guptas
Perhaps because he was a breath of fresh air, Roy Padayachie seemed to be the communications minister SA had been waiting for. After the train wreck that was Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and the wayward TV format Siphiwe Nyanda tried to introduce, long-serving deputy minister Padayachie seemed to be rational and a man who understood his portfolio. But last weekend the Sunday Times revealed that Padayachie was one of those ministers appointed by former president Jacob Zuma who served other masters, the Guptas. This was confirmed by my friend Duncan McLeod, a technology journalist who runs the TechCentral news website, who has written about his bizarre encounter with Padayachie and Atul Gupta. The notorious Gupta brother ranted for two hours about how his family didn’t deserve the bad press it was getting and offered McLeod a TV show on the now defunct ANN7. (He did not take up the offer.) It’s an all-too-familiar tale: a Zuma-appointed cabinet minister and a Gupta brother seemingly try to b...
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