S. Africa ex-MP says ready to prove business family offered her cabinet post

A former MP of South Africa's ruling ANC party has said she is ready to challenge the wealthy Gupta family in court by providing proof that they offered her a cabinet post in 2010.

"I can corroborate my claim. Legal threats don't scare me," Vytjie Mentor said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

In a previous post on Facebook on Monday, Mentor said the Guptas asked her to become Minister of Public Enterprises provided that she would "drop the SAA (South African Airways) flight route to India and give to them", but she refused the offer.

She claimed that President Jacob Zuma was in another room when the Gupta family offered her the post in their mansion in the Johannesburg suburb of Saxonwold.

The Gupta family is an Indian-South African business family, described by Zuma as friends of the presidents of South Africa.

Both the family and the South African presidency have denied Mentor's claims.

"Facebook is not the appropriate forum to air such a complaint, and we can only assume it is an attempt to gain personal profile and media attention. We challenge Vytjie Mentor to file an affidavit," the Guptas said in a statement on Tuesday.

The opposition has accused Zuma of the alleged control by the Gupta family over the South African government. Endit