Indian businessmen
The Indian diplomatic mission to South Africa is in a fair bit of trouble, and the commanders of the Waterkloof Air Force Base are facing career-ending investigations. Indian company Jet Airways, which supplied the Airbus that ferried Gupta wedding guests to South Africa, faces prosecution, as do moonlighting police officers, and a company that supplied them with police-style blue lights.
But when government ministers on Friday for the first time answered questions about the Gupta wedding plane drama, there was one question they consistently ignored and avoided: will any of the Gupta family be in the firing line?
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“Everybody who was involved in this matter will be investigated,” was as close as Justice Minister Jeff Radebe would come to that one.
The list of those who face investigation, and criminal sanction, is long, but there may well be no Guptas on the list at all. And probably no ministers either.
Various sources have told the Mail & Guardian that Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in recent days faced pressure to own up to a failure within her department, but on Friday she held the line, saying she and the upper echelons of the military had known nothing about the planned use of Waterkloof – and stopping well short of admitting that not knowing, in and of itself, shows a failure of command and control.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa was not at the briefing on Friday; his office said he was in KwaZulu-Natal due to a death in the family. That left police commissioner Riah Phiyega to confirm that investigations about the use of police vehicles to escort wedding guests were ongoing.
Should the committee of directors-general, now due to deliver a report on the matter within a breakneck seven days, confirm that there had been no executive authority for such use of police resources, heads will have to roll. Already on the chopping block is a high-ranking Gauteng officer, but also involved in the convoy were the VIP protection unit, the North West police, and officers from various stations in that province.
As in the case of the defence department, both Mthethwa and Phiyega seem set to claim they had known nothing about the plans to escort the convoy – and to simply ignore the implication that their oversight of officers under their command is severely lacking.
Best insulated of all the government officials is the South African Revenue Service (Sars), and specifically its customs division. Though the entry into the country of at least 200 people without any customs checks whatsoever represents a breathtaking lapse, Sars has a simple excuse: nobody told it to expect those tourists, and it had no way of asking.
But atop the pyramid of untouchables sits the Gupta family itself. Prime movers though they were, there is as of yet no evidence that they had a direct hand in any of the breaches of protocol or security violations of criminal acts involved in welcoming their guests.
Though the Gupta family hired Jet Airways to fly guests from India, responsibility for obtaining various clearances and permissions was that of the airline. Though the family seems to have asked the Indian High Commission for help with arrangements, responsibility for using the correct channels is that of the commission. Though the Guptas hired security to escort their guests, responsibility for ensuring all the security guards were properly licensed is also not theirs. And though the family may have, directly or indirectly, asked for police help, making an absurd request is not illegal, unless it is accompanied with something that can be identified as a bribe.