JOHANNESBURG: The ruling African National Congress (ANC) said on Friday it is gravely concerned over leaked documents alleging influence-peddling by friends of President Jacob Zuma, deepening a divide in South Africa’s ruling party over its leader.
South African media reported on Thursday they had access to over 100,000 leaked documents and emails that showed improper dealings in lucrative government contracts by business friends of Zuma.
The latest allegations of influence-peddling may deepen divisions in the ANC as factions battle for control ahead of a party conference in December where a successor to the beleaguered, scandal-plagued Zuma will be chosen. Zuma can remain as head of state until an election in 2019.
Zuma and the Gupta family, wealthy Indian-born businessmen whose companies have contracts with state-owned firms, have not commented but have denied similar allegations in the past. Reuters could not independently verify the new allegations.
“These reports contain very worrying claims about the nature of the relationship between government and private interests,” the ANC said in a statement, calling on government to urgently establish the veracity of the leaks.
“The ANC views these allegations in a very serious light as, if left unattended, they call into question the integrity and credibility of the government.”
The statement appeared to contradict Zuma, who said at a parliamentary session on Thursday that he was not interested in “hearsay” published in newspapers.
A backroom schism in the ANC over Zuma has burst into the open in recent weeks as his opponents seek to oust him or ensure his chosen candidate does not take over the reins.
Analysts say Zuma’s camp will back his ex-wife and former African Union Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in December, while another faction will support Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“This week we have seen there are clearly two ANCs,” said political analyst Daniel Silke.
“One ANC sees very little wrong with crony capitalism, kickbacks and shady payments. The other ANC sees the reputation of the party among the electorate disintegrating and fear the real possibility they could lose power.”
Opposition parties have made upbeat comments about unseating the ANC in 2019, an unthinkable scenario a few years ago for a party that has led comfortably since it swept to power under Nelson Mandela in 1994.
Zuma survived a call to resign at an ANC meeting last week due to disputes over political appointments and his friendship with the Gupta family.
Parliament is expected to hold a no-confidence vote in Zuma later this year but he has survived similar attempts before.
When Zuma sacked respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in March, three of the top six members of the ANC, including Ramaphosa, openly criticizing his decision, breaking the party’s strict rule of showing unity in public.
Gordhan’s replacement Malusi Gigaba has been accused of having close ties to the Guptas. Gigaba said on Friday that he had done nothing wrong and the leaked documents would not link him to the family.
South African graft accusations expose split in ANC over Zuma
South African graft accusations expose split in ANC over Zuma
France investigates two Franco-Israelis for ‘complicity in genocide’
- The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report
PARIS: French authorities have issued warrants for two Franco-Israeli nationals for “complicity in genocide” over allegations that they tried to stop humanitarian aid entering conflict stricken Gaza, a legal source said Monday.
According to a lawyer for the NGOs that made a legal complaint last year, it is the first time that a country has considered the blocking of aid as possible “complicity in genocide.”
The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report.
The warrants call for the two to appear before an investigating magistrate but not for their detention.
The pair are accused of seeking to block aid trucks entering Gaza between January and November 2024 and in May last year at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom frontier posts.
Olivier Pardo, a lawyer for Kupfer-Naouri, said the “pacifist” actions sought to condemn the “hijacking” of humanitarian aid by Hamas and other groups that launched the October 7, 2023 attacks that set off the Gaza war.
“If peacefully demonstrating with an Israeli flag against a terrorist organization seizing humanitarian aid, diverting it, and reselling it at exorbitant prices to Gazans is a crime — then there is no need to look down on the mullahs, France is Iran!” said Touitou, 34, on her social media account.
In an interview with The News website, Kupfer-Naouri, 50, called the French investigation “anti-semitic madness.”
Pardo said Kupfer-Naouri was in Israel but was ready to speak to French investigators there.
The two activists are also suspected of “public provocation for genocide” by calling for aid to be prevented from reaching Gaza, the source said.
Another source close to the investigation said warrants could be issued for about 10 other people.
The complaints were made last year by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the rights groups Al-Haq and Al-Mezan. Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for the groups, said it was the first investigation of its kind in genocide law.
Other legal complaints have also been made in France for “war crimes” over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Gaza in an Israeli bombing raid and against two Franco-Israeli soldiers who took part in operations in the territory.
Another complaint is over the Hamas attack that set off the war.
