As the Scorpions anti-corruption unit were raiding Zuma\u2019s Johannesburg home in August 2005, two vehicles screeched to a halt outside the gates. Out poured several automatic rifle-toting members of the elite Presidential Protection Unit. A tense armed stand-off ensued between Zuma\u2019s protectors and his would-be prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Zuma \u2013 then a private citizen \u2013 was entitled to protection by this elite South African Police Service unit, who guard the country\u2019s current and former presidents and deputy presidents together with their families.<\/p>\n
Among the protectors who rushed to Zuma\u2019s side that day was\u00a0Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla<\/a>. Ever since then their fortunes have closely tracked one another. Zuma escaped the corruption charges and became president; Dladla rose rapidly through the police ranks to head the Presidential Protection Service, as it is now called.<\/p>\n Both are controversial figures. Zuma\u2019s indiscretions are well known, but Dladla escaped attempted murder charges in 2010 after he was accused of spraying three Uzi submachine gun rounds at an elderly motorist in Durban who got in the way of Zuma\u2019s blue light cavalcade.<\/p>\n Zuma paid tribute to Dladla at a funeral in 2011, thanking him and other members of the so-called Echo Squad for standing by him during his darkest days in politics, including thwarting an alleged assassination attempt when he was deputy president.<\/p>\n The relationship has only grown closer: investigative magazine\u00a0Noseweek<\/em> alleged in 2012\u00a0<\/a>that Dladla commanded a secret spy unit within the protection service, tasked with monitoring Zuma\u2019s rivals and ensuring his re-election as ANC president.<\/p>\n It now appears that Zuma\u2019s friends, the Guptas, became equally enamoured of Dladla — and rewarded him for his specialist services.<\/p>\n An early clue of their relationship includes an August 2010 email chain from the #GuptaLeaks showing that a Sahara sister company intended to send Dladla and his then wife, long-serving presidency official Mogotladi \u201cMo\u201d Mogano (see below) on a weekend getaway to the Maldives.<\/p>\n Both Dladla and Mogano told us they never travelled to the Maldives, with Mogano confirming that \u201cwhilst Sahara did make an offer, my then partner and I did not receive tickets and did not undertake the offered travel\u201d.<\/p>\n However, the emails indicate that Gupta executive Ashu Chawla went as far as\u00a0requesting a Johannesburg travel agent<\/a> to \u201cissue and email me the [air] ticket\u201d for the couple, quoted at R9 290 per person on Emirates.<\/p>\n In February 2012, a company in which Dladla is a sole director was registered to a property owned by another Gupta-linked company, Confident Concept. The property is also listed as Dladla\u2019s residential address over a number of years.<\/p>\n A source who asked not to be named for their own safety told us that the Guptas at one stage prepared documents transferring legal ownership to Dladla, but then the property burned down. A second source in the presidency independently recalled how a house where Mogano was living with Dladla in 2010-11 had burned down.<\/p>\n Mogano referred our queries about the property to Dladla, who claimed that his company never traded but remained silent on the circumstances in which he appears to have made extensive use of a Gupta-owned property.<\/p>\n What use did the Guptas make of their connections with Dladla?<\/p>\n An unsigned 2013 affidavit unearthed in the #GuptaLeaks shows Tony Gupta explaining to the police how he procured VIP blue light escort services for the family\u2019s wedding guests.<\/p>\n The Guptas were in trouble because the black BMW escort vehicles they used had been illegally fitted with blue lights and false number plates.<\/p>\n Gupta\u2019s affidavit submitted as part of the police investigation into the wedding debacle makes the astonishing claim that the president\u2019s top bodyguard was responsible for procuring the illegal VIP escort service.<\/p>\n Gupta states: \u201cI requested General Dladla to advise me on road transport security under circumstances explained to him \u2026 where guests arrived at Waterkloof Air Force Base and had to travel by car through rural areas to Sun City.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI indicated that I would pay for these services without any reservation. I am aware of an initiative within the South African Police Service where members of the public can insist on protection\/control services at a prescribed fee.<\/p>\n \u201cGeneral Dladla requested me to furnish him with information and inter alia the flight schedules of the guests,\u201d Gupta states, after which Dladla appears to have taken care of the Guptas\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n \u201cOn or about 30 April 2013 I noted certain protection vehicles and members of the SAPS accompanying the group of guests from Waterkloof \u2026 to Sun City. I did not find this awkward given the requests mentioned,\u201d says Gupta.<\/p>\n \u201cI expected an invoice from the SAPS for the services rendered \u2026 On or about 30 April 2013 I received an invoice from a company called S & M Transport \u2026 indicating a request for payment for an amount in excess of R500,000. I did not expect an invoice from S&M Transport and I do not know who S&M Transport is. I further do not know who Salomie Manamela is and I had no arrangement with the aforesaid person to send me an invoice for \u2018escort services\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Gupta, who was in serious trouble at the time, may have been playing dumb but the identity of S&M Transport and Manamela\u00a0remains a mystery<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the time of the government enquiry into the Waterkloof landing debacle, then-justice minister Jeff Radebe told reporters that a criminal case had been brought against \u201cS & M Transportation\u201d for illegal blue light escort vehicles.<\/p>\n But that was the end of the matter: there is no mention of the company or Dladla\u2019s alleged role in securing its services in the enquiry\u2019s final report.<\/p>\n Responding to our questions, Dladla flatly contradicted Gupta, saying he played no part in \u201cany logistic arrangements either at Sun City or at Waterkloof Air Base\u201d. However, he confirmed that he \u201cprovided an affidavit to SAPS which set out the facts as part of an investigation which was held\u201d.<\/p>\n This investigation\u2019s findings have never been made public, but all indications are that both Dladla and Gupta wriggled off the hook.<\/p>\n Like a cat with nine lives \u2013 again, mirroring his boss, Zuma \u2013 there is one final similarity. Michael Hulley, Zuma\u2019s private legal advisor, prepared Dladla\u2019s responses to our questions.<\/p>\n Denying that he had been captured by the Guptas, or acted to further their interests, Dladla said: \u201cI have performed my duties in relation to President Zuma as a member of SAPS with the discipline and professionalism that it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n Lakela Kaunda is Jacob Zuma\u2019s fiercely loyal chief of staff, who has worked beside him in various roles since the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n Emailed\u00a0diary appointments<\/a> contained in the #GuptaLeaks show\u00a0Rajesh \u201cTony\u201d Gupta\u00a0<\/a>accepting a flurry of diary appointments with Kaunda on four occasions between 11\u00a0December 2012<\/a> and 31 January 2013.<\/p>\n On the fourth occasion Kaunda met Gupta, the email calendar shows a \u201cBruce<\/a>\u201d attending \u2013 a possible reference to Bruce Koloane, the then chief director of state protocol.<\/p>\n Koloane\u2019s subsequently attended a meeting in February 2013 with Gupta, as well as the then-transport minister and the acting head of the airports authority, to discuss the possibility of hosting \u201can elaborate welcoming ceremony\u201d at OR Tambo International Airport, according to the Waterkloof enquiry report.<\/p>\n Kaunda\u2019s own meetings with Gupta shortly before this raise questions about her role in the Waterkloof landing debacle.<\/p>\n Koloane was subsequently forced to resign for his role in facilitating the Gupta wedding plane landing at Waterkloof air base, and several military officers who approved the landing later testified they believed instructions had emanated from \u201cNumber One\u201d \u2013 a codename for Zuma.<\/p>\n Kaunda does not dispute the meetings with Gupta, only that Koloane was not present. He could not be contacted to verify this.<\/p>\n Kaunda also denied playing a role in facilitating the Guptas\u2019 aircraft landing needs, saying, \u201cI actually discovered about the wedding landing at Waterkloof when Radio 702 broke the story on the day of the landing itself. I was totally unaware of it before then.\u201d<\/p>\n Be this as it may, the Guptas were keen at this point to do business with Kaunda.<\/p>\n Between the third and fourth successive meetings, as scheduled in Gupta\u2019s email calendar, Kaunda ceded her 100% share in Ntomb\u2019nkulu Investments CC to her son, Siphesihle. She then forwarded confirmation of the new shareholding to Gupta on 23 January, stating that \u201cwe will use this vehicle\u201d.<\/p>\n Asked why she had ceded her shares to her son, and for what activity would Ntomb\u2019nkulu be a \u201cvehicle\u201d, Kaunda repeated the explanation she had given to the Sunday Times<\/em> last month: \u201cI initially thought of closing down the company as I was not using it, but then felt it would be cost effective to keep as it already existed and we had paid for the establishment. I then decided to cede it to my son,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they [the Guptas] said they wanted to offer a business opportunity and asked if I had a company that could be utilised, I then\u00a0sent that email about Ntomb\u2019nkulu<\/a> \u2026 the offer of going into business with the family was declined and the matter was never pursued.\u201d<\/p>\n But the #GuptaLeaks throw up an intriguing coda. There is an unsigned company resolution dated March 22 2013 \u2013 two months down the line \u2013 in which Ntomb’nkulu is to\u00a0receive 6 shares\u00a0<\/a>in Islandsite Investments 255 (a 5% stake).<\/p>\n At the time, Islandsite 255\u2019s joint directors were Tony Gupta and Duduzani Zuma, Kaunda\u2019s boss\u2019s son. Islandsite 255 is Gupta-controlled Oakbay Resources and Energy\u2019s BEE partner in Shiva Uranium.<\/p>\n In response, Kaunda said: \u201cIt is the first time actually that I hear of that cession of the shares or that resolution. Ntomb\u2019nkulu Investments does not own shares in any company whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, according to Islandsite 255\u2019s share register, the intended transfer does not appear to have happened. Dixie Investments, the company meant to cede the shares to Ntomb\u2019nkulu, retained its stake.<\/p>\n For now, at least, the public will have to take Kaunda\u2019s denials on trust.<\/p>\n Zuma\u2019s private secretary coordinates both his official and private diaries, and so knows what the president is doing when his formal duties are over for the day.<\/p>\n It is a unique special position of trust and responsibility, which entails liaising with the president\u2019s security detail after hours to ensure he is safe.<\/p>\n The president\u2019s private secretary is also a regular traveller as part of the president\u2019s delegation on overseas trips.<\/p>\n The woman Zuma entrusted with the task at the outset of his presidency, Delsey Sithole, was very soon in the Guptas\u2019 crosshairs.<\/p>\n Financial reconciliation records from the #GuptaLeaks indicate that Sithole\u00a0received cash<\/a> amounts totalling R8 310.78 from a Gupta company in June 2009, just a month after Zuma became president. It is not known what the payment was for, and Sithole did not provide any clarification in her response to our detailed questions.<\/p>\n Fast-forward a year and younger Gupta brother Rajesh, also known as \u201cTony\u201d, invited Sithole and her teenage son to watch the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n A\u00a0spreadsheet\u00a0<\/a>contained in the #GuptaLeaks shows that Sithole found herself amidst illustrious company in the luxurious Sahara suite in the iconic Soccer City calabash.<\/p>\n Her inclusion hints at the development of a special relationship with the Guptas. The family\u2019s other guests for the match included India\u2019s wealthiest businessman Mukesh Ambani and his family, as well as one of Zuma\u2019s wives, his son Edward, and some of Zuma\u2019s most trusted spies \u2013 the head of police crime intelligence, Richard Mdluli and his sidekick Nkosana \u201cKiller\u201d Ximba.<\/p>\n Sithole did not dispute her presence that day, telling us that, \u201cI received many offers of hospitality from various companies during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n Fast-forward another two years, to early May 2013, and Sithole publicly displayed her loyalty to the Guptas. Despite the outpouring of public anger about the family\u2019s brazen takeover of Waterkloof military air base to land a planeload of overseas wedding guests, Sithole crowed on her\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>: \u201cIts [sic] good to be at Sun City. Some people are being tjatjarag<\/em> [over-excited]. I am enjoying the wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n By this stage, Sithole had been removed from her position as private secretary and redeployed to head the events and protocol division in the presidency.<\/p>\n A source in the presidency recalled a \u201csecurity incident\u201d involving Zuma\u2019s diary that had occurred in 2011, after which Sithole was moved. Details about the incident, including a rumour that the Guptas had accessed confidential details about Zuma\u2019s diary via Sithole, could not be independently verified.<\/p>\n Sithole did not respond to the allegation specifically, but said: \u201cIn my previous capacity as private secretary I interacted with various stakeholders on a number of occasions involving various activities and my interaction with the Gupta family was in that capacity. Such interaction never promoted any unethical activity.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that her move to protocol and events happened at her request, for \u201ccareer growth and advancement\u201d reasons.<\/p>\n But even after she moved out of Zuma\u2019s private office, the #GuptaLeaks suggest that Sithole and Tony Gupta retained ties. For example, in September 2012 Sithole\u00a0sent him<\/a> the guest list for a Jacob Zuma Foundation fundraising dinner.<\/p>\n The list includes a number of prominent Nigerian businessmen with investments in South Africa. How Sithole obtained it is unclear, as are her motives for disclosing it. Was she moonlighting on social events for Zuma\u2019s private foundation and leaking intelligence to the Guptas about Zuma\u2019s would-be private benefactors? Sithole did not provide any answers.<\/p>\n Coincidentally (or perhaps not), Sithole was one of several presidency officials close to Zuma who interacted with Tony Gupta in the busy months leading up to the Gupta wedding in April 2013 (See Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla, and Lakela Kaunda, above.)<\/p>\n The #GuptaLeaks emails show Tony Gupta\u00a0accepting a diary appointment\u00a0<\/a>with one \u201cDelicy Sithole\u201d at Sahara\u2019s Midrand offices in January 2013. Notably, this meeting was scheduled around the time of a flurry of meetings between Gupta and another presidency official, Lakela Kaunda (Sithole\u2019s former boss in Zuma\u2019s private office).<\/p>\n Sithole did not dispute that the meeting took place as scheduled.<\/p>\n A few days after this meeting, Sithole sent Chawla a CV for one Phatse Justice Piitso, a former SACP provincial secretary in Limpopo and South African ambassador to Cuba between 2009 and 2011. Requesting that Chawla \u201cplease forward to Tony\u201d, Sithole is silent on the purpose of her email.<\/p>\n As for Piitso, he was — or was soon to be — Sithole\u2019s husband. Sithole told us that she sent the CV \u201cin good faith to a stakeholder and acquaintance [Gupta] and there was never an encouragement of untoward expectations\u201d.<\/p>\n Piitso said that he\u00a0has sent his CV<\/a> to many people, but denied that he got \u201cany employment from the Gupta family or anything else from Mr Tony Gupta\u201d.<\/p>\n However, Piitso has cropped up recently as a pro-Gupta commentator. In 2016 Bell Pottinger spin doctor Victoria Geoghegan shared Piitso\u2019s name with a\u00a0MoneyWeb\u00a0<\/a>journalist, as part of a list of \u201cpeople who had agreed to talk on economic apartheid\u201d.<\/p>\n The Guptas had hired the London-based PR firm on a monthly \u00a3100,000-plus (R1,5-million-plus) contract, aimed at distracting public attention from the family\u2019s murky business dealings.<\/p>\n Other pro-Gupta commentators and luminaries on the Bell Pottinger list included Andile Mngxitama, Ben Ngubane, Kebby Maphatsoe, Tshepo Kgadima and Lindiwe Zulu.<\/p>\nLakela Kaunda: <\/strong>deputy director-general and head of private office of the president (2009-); chief operating officer in the presidency (2014-)<\/em><\/h5>\n
Delsey Sithole: <\/strong>private secretary in the private office of the president (2009-2012); director: events & protocol in the presidency (2012 to date)<\/em><\/h5>\n
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