{"id":4376,"date":"2016-12-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/from-zuma-inc-to-the-zuptas-a-story-of-perseverance\/"},"modified":"2016-12-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T00:00:00","slug":"from-zuma-inc-to-the-zuptas-a-story-of-perseverance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/from-zuma-inc-to-the-zuptas-a-story-of-perseverance\/","title":{"rendered":"From Zuma Inc to the Zuptas \u2013 a story of perseverance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A year ago President Jacob Zuma did the unthinkable when he replaced the finance minister with his \u201cweekend special\u201d, a political lackey.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa went into a tailspin: The rand and stocks plummeted and investors retreated. A bewildered National Treasury had to pick up the pieces and plead the country\u2019s way out of junk-status downgrades.<\/p>\n<p>But crucially, the extent of the president\u2019s relationship with the Guptas was pried open for all to see.<\/p>\n<p>What you may not know is that the revelations of political influence and \u201cstate capture\u201d throughout 2016 came on the back of a seven-year pursuit of the truth.<\/p>\n<p>AmaBhungane first highlighted the Guptas\u2019 links to Zuma in its very first series of <a href=\"http:\/\/mg.co.za\/article\/2010-03-19-zuma-incorporated\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">articles<\/a>, in early 2010, in the <em>Mail &amp; Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>It was under the spotlight of our Zuma Inc investigation, which probed the business interests of the extended Zuma family, that we flagged the connection.<\/p>\n<p>A look at some readers\u2019 comments illustrates their misgivings about our early instincts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>\u201cGet lives and report on something truthful. Spend more time verifying your stories than turning this into a soap opera.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>\u201cA lot of unnecessary hot air about nothing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Thank goodness the media and civil society didn\u2019t give up. AmaBhungane kept chiseling away at the story over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Following the release of former public protector Thuli Madonsela&#8217;s State of Capture report, little doubt remains: the \u201cZuptas\u201d are real.<\/p>\n<p>But Madonsela\u2019s term is over and it remains unclear what her successor might do about the investigation \u2013 and, for that matter, whether the suborned Hawks and other institutions will act as they should.<\/p>\n<p>So just imagine, for a minute, that you live in a country where journalists quit unpopular investigations, or give in to pressure and censorship.<\/p>\n<p>For a start it would mean that our exclusive today \u2013 detailing how the Guptas appear to have used their political connectivity to shake down companies wanting to do business with Transnet \u2013 might not have seen the light of day.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily this is not the case. Read our <a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/article\/2016-12-08-exclusive-guptas-laundered-kickback-millions-heres-the-evidence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">story<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/article\/2016-12-08-sam-sole-zumas-treasonous-alliance-with-the-guptas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis<\/a> \u2013 and watch the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.za\/2016\/12\/07\/watch-amabhungane-explain-the-explosive-gupta-money-laundering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video<\/a>, which was produced by <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.za\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Huffington Post<\/a><\/em>, in our first collaboration with them.<\/p>\n<p>Investigative journalism is a necessity for accountable democracy in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>AmaBhungane acknowledges the many readers who have supported our mission. Your contributions, big or small, help us hold power to account.<\/p>\n<p><strong>#SupportAmaB #SupportDemocracy!<\/strong><br \/>\nAmounts big or small are welcome, but a recurring donation of at least R50 per month or R500 one-off makes you an official amaB Supporter. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.givengain.com\/cc\/amab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donate here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Donations above R6 000 need vetting and declaring on our website. Donations are tax-deductible, for which section 18A certificates can be issued. For either, please contact <a class=\"__cf_email__\" href=\"\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection\" data-cfemail=\"f39290909c869d8780b3929e92919b869d94929d96dd9c8194dd\">[email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amabhungane.co.za\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/250x106.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"106\" align=\"left\" \/><\/a><em><br \/>\nThe amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism produced this story. Like it? Be<a href=\"https:\/\/www.givengain.com\/cc\/amab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an amaB supporter<\/a> and help us domore. Know more? Send us <\/em><em><a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/page\/tip-offs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a tip-off.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AmaBhungane acknowledges the many readers who have supported our mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}