{"id":4532,"date":"2017-08-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/for-a-decade-ajay-gupta-sat-on-the-board-of-the-organisation-responsible-for-crafting-a-positive-image-of-south-africa-overseas\/"},"modified":"2024-09-22T16:53:06","modified_gmt":"2024-09-22T16:53:06","slug":"guptaleaks-how-ajay-gupta-was-trusted-with-crafting-sas-global-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/guptaleaks-how-ajay-gupta-was-trusted-with-crafting-sas-global-image\/","title":{"rendered":"#GuptaLeaks: How Ajay Gupta was trusted with crafting SA\u2019s global image"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the time of the notorious 2013 Sun City wedding, the Guptas\u2019 activities in South Africa have attracted a great deal of negative international media attention. Indeed, the reputational damage caused by the Guptas\u2019 state capture to the global image of South Africa is probably incalculable. But one man might be able to help calculate it: Ajay Gupta, who for a full decade \u2013 until 2016 \u2013 sat on the board of Brand South Africa. That\u2019s the body responsible for crafting a positive image of South Africa overseas.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brand South Africa is responsible for promoting a \u201cSouth African nation brand identity that will advance South Africa\u2019s long-term positive reputation and global competitiveness\u201d, to quote its online mission statement. Its goals are lofty; in addition to making South Africa look good on the global stage, it also aims to instil \u201cpride and patriotism among South Africans\u201d.<\/p>\n

The \u201cofficial custodian of South Africa\u2019s nation brand\u201d is a government-funded entity which reports to the minister of communications. Established by Thabo Mbeki\u2019s administration in 2000, it was originally known as the International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC). Its board of trustees is appointed by the president of South Africa.<\/p>\n

In 2006, one of those appointed to the then-International Marketing Council board was a Mr Ajay Gupta.<\/p>\n

This was confirmed by a 2016 statement<\/a> issued by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, which read: \u201cMr Ajay Gupta joined the board of the then IMC by agreement of the board on the recommendation of then minister in the presidency, Essop Pahad, who rightly or wrongly thought that [Gupta] had the skills, knowledge and capacity to facilitate the work of the Council \u2013 not because of his alleged proximity to the President.\u201d<\/p>\n

On an old page of the Brand SA website<\/a>, Ajay Gupta is still listed as a trustee \u2013 though his tenure on the board ended in 2016.<\/p>\n

Investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh\u2019s book The Republic of Gupta<\/em> quotes former minister Pahad<\/a> as explaining that Gupta\u2019s \u201cgood understanding of India, also China and other parts of Asia\u201d was what led Pahad to nominate him for the board.<\/p>\n

The decision to nominate a man who has never been a South African citizen to the board of what is effectively the country\u2019s PR firm seems surprising. Contacted for comment by Scorpio on whether this practice was routine, Brand SA\u2019s chief financial officer Alice Puoane would only say: \u201cThe current board of trustees of Brand South Africa does not have a non-South African.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked why Ajay Gupta would be considered an appropriate board member for Brand SA, Puoane replied: \u201cAll trustees of Brand South Africa are appointed by the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

The appeal of the position for Ajay Gupta is clear. The #GuptaLeaks emails show that as a board member of Brand South Africa, Gupta had access to confidential strategy documents, close communication channels with the minister of communications, and invitations to \u201cboard strategic planning sessions\u201d involving guests like the national police commissioner and CEOs of state-owned entities.<\/p>\n

In 2014, for instance, a document was circulated to Ajay Gupta and his fellow board members regarding a \u201cCommunication strategy to respond to the trial of Oscar Pistorius\u201d. It included the suggestion that the Oscar Pistorius trial be presented as \u201ca triumph of our judicial system which is one of the most important pillars of our constitutional democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

The document also included a note on what Cabinet\u2019s approach to the Pistorius trial was: a directive not to comment until the trial was completed, which was advice clearly not heeded by a number of leading ANC figures.<\/p>\n

In the same year, another memorandum circulated to the Brand SA board members informed them of \u201cmessaging in relation to the nation brand reputational issues emerging from the release of the Public Protector\u2019s report\u201d [on Nkandla]. The board was also circulated \u201cdraft key messages\u201d for the BRICS summit in Brazil in July 2014.<\/p>\n

Though Gupta may have received these communications with alacrity, there is little evidence that the businessman was a valuable addition to the board.<\/p>\n

One of the only occasions on which Gupta may have made his voice heard on the board was before the 2010 state visit of president Jacob Zuma to India. At that time, news reports alleged<\/a>, Gupta told the then-IMC board that his office \u2013 and not the IMC \u2013 would handle all matters relating to Zuma\u2019s Indian trip.<\/p>\n

Asked this week if the allegation was true, Puoane responded: \u201cNo such decision was ever taken by the board of trustees of Brand South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former Brand SA board member who spoke to Scorpio on condition of anonymity said that Gupta was extremely inactive in his role as trustee, especially after the 2013 Waterkloof scandal.<\/p>\n

This is backed up by the #GuptaLeaks email trove. There is barely any evidence of correspondence with the Brand SA board from Ajay Gupta\u2019s side, beyond a July 2013 email from Gupta\u2019s personal assistant announcing that her boss had \u201conly tentatively accepted travelling to Cape Town for the Consideration of Brand South Africa Report\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gupta\u2019s inertia on the board was also confirmed by current Brand SA CFO Puoane, who said: \u201cHe was not very active.\u201d<\/p>\n

This itself raises questions, however. In particular: why was Ajay Gupta kept on the board for a full decade if he was contributing so little in formal terms?<\/p>\n

Puoane confirmed that Gupta\u2019s relationship with Brand SA is now over. \u201cHis term of office ended 12 March 2016,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Though Brand SA has not been shy to weigh in on contentious South African public affairs in the past, its website shows no trace of commentary about the scandalous revelations of the #GuptaLeaks emails over the past few months.<\/p>\n

The Gupta family has consistently failed to respond to questions about the #GuptaLeaks.<\/p>\n