The first minister named is David van Rooyen who travelled to Dubai 20 December, just two weeks after he was appointed finance minister. However, yesterday after the piece was printed, the departmental spokesperson, Tsakani Baloyi, responded:

He says he didn’t meet the Guptas.

He has indicated that he maintains that it was a one-day trip and it was his private business.

Please.

“With this period being a quiet period at the ministry, I saw no reason to cancel my private trip,” said Van Rooyen. The Department of International Relations confirmed that its office in Dubai had no record of Van Rooyen “visiting or transiting” that country.

The other minister named was that of the Department of Mineral Resources, Mosebenzi Zwane, whom the Guptas are said to have had a hand in appointing, and also stood up embassy officials in Dubai during December.

Then, last month Jacob Zuma also added a little last minute visit to the state during his state visit to Saudi Arabia.

It has been widely claimed that Van Rooyen’s appointment as finance minister was influenced by the Guptas, with the intention to secure uranium contracts for their nuclear plants. After being appointed, Van Rooyen arrived at the National Treasury with two advisers said to be linked to the Guptas, Mohamed Bobat and Ian Whitley. The two moved with him to his new portfolio.

Zwane, whose political adviser, Malcolm Mabaso, is a former business partner of Salim Essa, a business partner of the Guptas, transited through Dubai on November 30.

He was en route to Zurich, where he helped facilitate the sale of the Optimum coal mine in Mpumalanga to a company owned by the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma.

The mine, a major Eskom coal supplier, had been owned by the Switzerland-based Glencore group.

A Bombardier plane, ZS OAK, which is owned by the Guptas, was in Zurich at the same time. Zwane and the Gupta delegation left Zurich, separately, on the same day, December 2, and headed for Dubai.

The Sunday Times has also learnt that, after being received at the airport by South African diplomats as per protocol, Zwane refused further assistance from the embassy and was not accompanied by ambassador Claudinah Ramosepele – as is the norm when a minister is on a working visit in a foreign country.

The source also said the Department of International Relations had received reports from the South African embassy in Dubai indicating that Zwane had failed to meet its officials at the airport as expected.

[source: timeslive]

[imagesource: goodthingsguy]