Ministers must not be allowed off the hook with a "rogue officials defence" on Guptagate

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe's appointment of a task team of director-generals to investigate the unauthorised landing of the Guptas' Jet Airways Airbus A330-200 at AFB Waterkloof, and the subsequent suspension of five senior officials and arrest of police officers, is a carefully crafted damage-control exercise designed to protect President Jacob Zuma and members of his Cabinet from the political fallout of "Guptagate".

The Minister is relying on a "rogue official defence" claiming there was "no go-ahead from the highest level" and suggesting that senior officials, particularly Bruce Koloane, Chief of State Protocol in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, were responsible for engineering what has become known as "Guptagate".

However, we now know that ministers were not completely in the dark about requests for the use of OR Tambo International Airport and AFB Waterkloof. The Minister of Transport, Ben Martins, reportedly turned down a request for the use of OR Tambo International Airport. The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, reportedly turned down a request for the use of AFB Waterkloof (see Sunday Independent report).

We also now know that the scope of the operation was much wider than was previously thought. There were other aircraft at AFB Waterkloof, including Sahara's Cessna Sovereign executive jet, as well as several helicopters, presumably used for onward flights to Sun City (see Rapport report). The Guptas appear, for a period, to have effectively "owned" AFB Waterkloof.

How is it possible, therefore, that not one minister or deputy minister knew anything about "Guptagate"? We need to know which ministers knew, when they knew it and what they did about it. In the end, ministers are ultimately responsible and cannot be allowed to get away with a "rogue official defence".

We can be certain that the task team of director-generals will not be investigating President Jacob Zuma or any ministers for their role in "Guptagate". We will therefore continue to push for a full-scale parliamentary investigation into "Guptagate".

Moreover, we will be submitting a series of parliamentary questions to each of the departments involved - including the Presidency, Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Department of Defence, Department of Police, Department of Home Affairs, National Treasury, and Department of Transport - probing what President Jacob Zuma and the ministers actually knew about "Guptagate".

In the end, even in the unlikely event that it turns out ministers knew nothing, and did not authorise the landing of the Guptas' aircraft at AFB Waterkloof, this in itself is an act of monumental ministerial incompetence, and ministerial heads should roll.

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane's head must already be on the chopping block. The only question should be: when will the axe fall?

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Defence & Military Veterans, May 5 2013

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