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S. African deputy finance minister says Guptas offered him position of finance minister

Xinhua, March 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

South African Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas confirmed on Wednesday that the wealthy Indian Gupta family did offer him the finance minister job.

"Members of the Gupta family offered me the position of Minister of Finance to replace then-Minister (Nhlanhla) Nene," Jonas said.

Jonas said he had rejected the offer out of hand becasue he believed that the offer "makes a mockery of our democracy".

"The basis of my rejection of their offer is that it makes a mockery of our hard earned democracy, the trust of our people and no one apart from the President of the Republic appoints ministers," said Jonas.

This is not the first time the Guptas, who have close ties with President Jacob Zuma, his family and other African National Congress (ANC) leaders, have allegedly tried to influence cabinet appointments.

Jonas made the statement one day after the ANC filed a complaint with Press Ombudsman against the Sunday Times for a slandering report claiming that the ANC leadership was controled by the Gupta family.

The report, titled "How the Guptas shopped for Finance Minister", claimed that the Gupta family had instructed ANC Deputy Secretary General, Jessie Duarte to offer the position of finance minister to Jonas if he could purge those in the ministry who are against a deal to build nuclear plants.

It is the assertion of the ANC and Duarte that the article "was a grave indictment of standards at a publication believed to uphold rigorous editorial processes", the ANC said.

Duarte did not offer any position in the cabinet to Jonas as cabinet appointments are the sole prerogative of the president, said the party.

The ANC demands that the Sunday Times apologise to Duarte and the organisation.

But Jona's confirmation that the Guptas did offer him the finance minister job puts the ANC in an embarrassed position.

In response to Jona's statement, the Gupta family said these latest allegations "are just more political point scoring between rival factions within the ANC".

"To be clear: any suggestion that the Gupta family or any of our representatives or associates have offered anyone a job in government is totally false.

"We challenge Minister Jonas to provide a full account of the supposed meeting that took place, under oath, in a court of law. Minister Jonas is attempting to cover up and divert attention away from his own relationships and practices. We are confident questions about his own ethical standards will be exposed," a Gupta family spokesperson said.

The Guptas will not provide any further running commentary on what is now just a politically-motivated campaign against the family, the spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Xinhua. Endit