How one Indian family is killing Africa’s oldest political party
The Guptas have made many friends in their climb to the top of South African society – not least the family of President Jacob Zuma. But they’ve made plenty of enemies too, as this month’s elections show
From the sunny balconies of middle-class suburbia to the dusty street township corners, South Africans have a new obsession – and it was made in India.
They’re called the Guptas, immigrants from a down-at-heel town north of Delhi who have reached the apex of the country’s business world, and the centre of its politics. A Gupta TV channel, a Gupta newspaper, Gupta coal mines, Gupta-sponsored cricket stadiums – the family’s footprint extends far and wide.
Zuma’s controversial friends the Guptas and his son step down from business roles
Now, as many South Africans ask whether they also have a Gupta-sponsored presidency, the controversy surrounding the family and its links to President Jacob Zuma appears to have contributed to the worst ever result for the African National Congress (ANC) in this month’s municipal elections. The vote saw Africa’s oldest political party win just 54 per cent of the vote, down eight percentage points from 2011, and culminated in an event once thought impossible – an opposition member becoming mayor of Johannesburg.
No less significant was the loss of Tshwane (formerly Pretoria), the executive seat of government where the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) won the most votes, for the first time ever. The shock was compounded by the loss of Nelson Mandela Bay (formerly Port Elizabeth), once an ANC stronghold, and Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal province, where Zuma built his infamous 255 million rand
(US$18.7 million) private homestead. As one commentator wryly observed, Zuma now lives, works and shops in opposition-led South Africa.
