{"id":4516,"date":"2017-07-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/throughout-the-emails-there-is-evidence-of-people-who-stood-up-to-the-guptas\/"},"modified":"2024-09-22T17:16:58","modified_gmt":"2024-09-22T17:16:58","slug":"guptaleaks-lets-hear-it-for-the-good-guys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/guptaleaks-lets-hear-it-for-the-good-guys\/","title":{"rendered":"#GuptaLeaks: Let\u2019s hear it for the good guys"},"content":{"rendered":"

The revelations contained in the #GuptaLeaks emails may give the impression that everyone the Guptas encountered rolled over to do their bidding \u2013 either through pressure from above, or a desire for personal enrichment. Happily, this was not the case. Throughout the emails there is evidence of people who stood up to the Guptas or thwarted their intentions in some way. We take a look at some of those who held the line.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAll that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing,\u201d famously opined the Irish philosopher Edmund Burke. When it came to the Guptas, an awful lot of nothing was done by an awful lot of people.<\/p>\n

But there were exceptions: ordinary South African men and women who did not simply capitulate to the Guptas\u2019 wishes even when those around them, or above them, were happy to do just that.<\/p>\n

The #GuptaLeaks emails have cast countless individuals, and institutions, in a dubious light. The full story, however, requires acknowledgement of those who tried \u2013 often in vain \u2013 to do the right thing.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an obvious caveat that bears mentioning: the individuals we\u2019re about to profile were simply staying on the right side of the law, and doing their (often very well-paid) jobs. In an ordinary country, merely doing your job would be insufficient reason for you to be lauded as a person of exceptional moral fibre. But South Africa is no ordinary country, and these are not ordinary times.<\/p>\n

Karen Ferreira, Transnet<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Transnet\u2019s business support manager, Karen Ferreira, was viewed as so obstructive to the Gupta\u2019s plans to milk the parastatal that she was the subject of a complaint letter from one of the Guptas\u2019 lieutenants. Ferreira\u2019s offence? She questioned why a Gupta front company, Zestilor, had been given a contract to supply IT data services to Transnet without proper tender processes having been followed.<\/p>\n

In a letter written to Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama in June 2015, Sahara\u2019s Stephan Nel complained that a delay in payment to Zestilor as a result of Ferreira\u2019s skepticism about the contract was the result of unjust targeting. \u201cZestilor is of the opinion that it is in fact our status as a small, women-led BEE company that has led to our unfair treatment,\u201d Nel wrote.<\/p>\n

As it emerged, Ferreira was right to be suspicious. Zestilor turned out to be owned by the wife of Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa, with funds channeled back to the Guptas\u2019 computer company, Sahara.<\/p>\n

Thabani Mashego, Eskom<\/strong><\/h5>\n

From 2014, the Guptas began pushing for an Eskom coal contract for their mining company, Tegeta. This was despite the fact that Tegeta\u2019s Brakfontein coal was both poor quality and overpriced. amaBhungane & Scorpio have detailed how Tegeta eventually won the right to supply coal<\/a> to Majuba power station and steadily sought to increase the amount.<\/p>\n

In September 2015, Tegeta chief executive Ravindra Nath emailed Eskom to push for a further three-year contract to supply coal as a \u201cvalue-adding trader\u201d. A back-and-forth ensued in which Eskom official Thabani Mashego essentially told the Guptas that they would have to follow the same tender application process as everyone else \u2013 words that the family was clearly unused to hearing.<\/p>\n

After a particularly imperious email from Nath in which he instructed Mashego to \u201cexecute the contract\u201d, Mashego replied:<\/p>\n

\u201cEskom will be going out on open enquiry to fulfill their coal shortfall requirements going forward. Tegeta is therefore advised to respond to such enquiries, which will be advertised in the print media and the Eskom Tender Bulletin shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mashego held the line \u2013 but, as amaBhungane notes, others did not. It ended up being of little relevance to Tegeta, which proceeded to become a major coal supplier to Eskom anyway.<\/p>\n

Rone Alex, KPMG<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Audit firm KPMG has come under fire as a result of the #Guptaleaks<\/a> emails for its cosy relationship with the Guptas and apparent willingness to look the other way in the face of artificially manipulated finances.<\/p>\n

Still, at least one KPMG employee had both eyes on the prize. Rone Alex was the junior auditor at the firm who attempted to voice concerns about why the Gupta company Linkway Trading was paying the R30-million bill for the Guptas\u2019 lavish 2013 Sun City wedding as a \u201cbusiness expense\u201d.<\/p>\n

The #GuptaLeaks trove shows that on 18 September 2014, Alex emailed her superior \u2013 audit partner Jacques Wessels \u2013 to record: \u201cWe are of the opinion that these [wedding-related] costs are most probably not in the production of Linkway\u2019s income\u201d. Alex also asked for \u201cmore clarity on the purpose of this company [Linkway]\u201d.<\/p>\n

But such concerns were evidently swept aside. KPMG has since released a statement asserting that the audit of Linkway Trading was conducted \u201cin accordance with International Standards on Auditing\u201d, and that the firm stands by the audit opinion offered.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors, which has announced that it is investigating<\/a> the Linkway audit, will agree.<\/p>\n

Heidi Gavagnin, Sun City spa<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The #GuptaLeaks emails provide evidence of racist attitudes <\/a>held by the Gupta family, including their demand for white staff in certain roles at the 2013 Sun City wedding. The emails also show that some contractors were willing to comply with the Guptas\u2019 racial preferences \u2013 but not Heidi Gavagnin, director of the Gatsby Spa at Sun City.<\/p>\n

Following a meeting with Sahara CEO Ashu Chawla, at which Chawla introduced the Guptas\u2019 desire for all-white employees to give their guests spa treatments, Gavagnin emailed to tell Chawla where to get off.<\/p>\n

Drily describing the meeting as \u201ccertainly interesting\u201d, Gavagnin wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter discussing the matter with my fellow directors we have come to the conclusion that it would be in neither of our best interests to bring in part time white staff for your very important guests\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cWe would also like to mention that our therapists are of world class standard\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We take a look at those who did not yield to pressure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4516","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\/4516","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=4516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30590,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4516\/revisions\/30590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}