Johannesburg - Mathole Motshekga, who is leading the investigation into accusations that businessmen used
links with ex-president Jacob Zuma to win contracts said on
Thursday he suspected prosecutors had delayed taking action over
the case for political reasons.
Motshekga said most members of the parliamentary
investigative committee he chaired believed the state
prosecution service had held up the case until it was sure Zuma
would not be replaced by a close ally in a party leadership
election in December.
"This is a very serious matter. It would mean people were
serving political interests rather than serving the public," he
said.
The head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Shaun
Abrahams, dismissed Motshekga's assertion on Thursday, telling
Reuters: "There was no political influence whatsoever. There's
no evidence to that effect."
Zuma resigned last month, ending nine scandal-plagued years
in power overshadowed by accusations by opposition politicians
that his businessmen friends the Gupta brothers had used their
link with him to win millions of dollars of state contracts.
Both Zuma and the Guptas have repeatedly denied any
wrongdoing.
Zuma was replaced by Cyril Ramaphosa who promised to fight
corruption. Ramaphosa had already become the leader of the
ruling African National Congress party after narrowly defeating
Zuma's ex-wife and preferred successor, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,
in December.
Vrede Dairy raid
On the same day as Zuma's resignation, police raided a Gupta
family home in a case relating to a state-funded dairy farm that
prosecutors say was a front to extract millions of dollars of
taxpayers' money.
That first raid connected to the case happened almost five
years after the first allegations of wrongdoing in the dairy
farm contract appeared in the media.
Motshekga's parliamentary committee which is investigating
the Gupta case questioned Abrahams of the National Prosecuting
Authority on Wednesday about why it took so long to investigate
the case.
Motshekga told Reuters on Thursday that - after hearing
Abrahams' testimony - the committee believed there were
political motives behind the delay in taking action over the
dairy farm.
"This was the view of the majority of members of the
committee," Motshekga said.
Motshekga said the Hawks - an elite police unit - told the
committee it gave the NPA crime documents including evidence
related to the case in October last year but the NPA took no
action.
Abrahams told the committee the documents were incomplete,
hence the delay.
But Motshekga said committee members suspected the NPA was
waiting for the result of an ANC leadership contest.
"It raises suspicions that if there had been a different
outcome in that ANC conference then information would have been
suppressed," Motshekga said.
Separately, an elite police unit conducted "a search and
seizure operation" at the offices of Supra Mahumapelo, premier
of the North West province, the government information service
said. Mahumapelo is a Zuma ally.
"The operation follows investigations in relation to alleged
maladministration, fraud and corruption. The monetary value
involved is approximately 160 million rand ($13.4 million)," the
service said.
No one in Supra Mahumapelo's office was immediately
available for comment.