ActionSA cautiously optimistic about Gupta arrest

7 June 2022

ActionSA welcomes the news of the arrest of the Rajesh and Atul Gupta in Dubai last night, following the issuing of a red notice by Interpol.

This arrest is good news for the people of South Africa, and we celebrate it after many months of having driven this issue in the public domain.

We remain optimistic that this arrest will lead to the extradition of the Guptas, the extraction of further evidence against others involved in State Capture, the incarceration of all individuals involved and the seizing of assets to recoup the losses to our country.

It would, however, be foolhardy to not express our collective optimism to be both cautious and subject to strong civil society accountability.

We have seen, time and again, how leaders in government have done what is right for the ANC and not for the people of South Africa. We have also seen a tendency for criminal justice matters to be treated like the internal issues of the ANC.

It is for this reason that ActionSA will combine our welcoming of this news with a commitment to all South Africans that we will watch these proceedings very closely. Our legal teams have been placed on a watching brief and will monitor every step of this process. In the event that the politics of the ANC interferes with justice in this matter, ActionSA will be the first to approach the courts of our country to hold our organs of state accountable.

ActionSA will also remain vigilant on the matter of the Phala Phala millions and awaits responses from the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank and the SARS Commissioner. The advent of a breakthrough in the arrest of the Guptas should not replace our concern in this matter.

The arrest of the Guptas is news to be celebrated in a country that has had little to celebrate in the subject of state capture. It is essential that the years and billions spent on the State Capture Commission of Enquiry are given meaning and value by corresponding actions that deliver justice to the people of South Africa.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, President, ActionSA, 7 June 2022