Girish Malviya
Riots have broken out in South Africa. Former President Jacob Zuma is in jail, Indian communities living in Durban and Johannesburg are being targeted because of his links with the Gupta brothers. At least 72 people have died in the violence in some parts of the country.
This picture tells the horror of the violence going on there. This Indian woman has wrapped bullets around her body in self-defence.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma is currently serving a prison term on corruption charges. The corruption done by them is directly related to India.
We are talking about the Gupta brothers of Saharanpur. What is the story of Gupta brothers? What feats has he shown in South Africa? This is a great case study to understand the modern politics and the financial frauds taking place in it today! From this story, you can understand how corruption has become entrenched in politics Like Mehul Choksi is being searched. Similarly, the South African agency has demanded a key-red notice against the Gupta brothers of Saharanpur.
The Gupta brothers i.e. Ajay, Atul and Rajesh were all born in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, their father Shiv Kumar had ration shops in Saharanpur. When South Africa opened the doors for foreign investment in the 90s, the middle brother Atul Gupta was sent there by his father Shiv Kumar. Atul did a computer course. Which started assembling, marketing, distribution and branding of computers there. He launched this computer business in the market under the name of Sahara Computer.
In the same year, this company set the flags of success. After the death of his father in 1994, almost the entire family moved to South Africa. In many types of businesses like mining, gold, coal, diamond, steel, vehicle manufacturing, the Gupta brothers opened many companies one after the other, the main ones being:-
- okbe resource and energy
- Tigeta Exploration and Resources
- Shiva Uranium Mine
- Westdon Investments Private Limited
- JIC Mining Services and Black Age Exploration
Apart from this, he also put his hand in the business of media. For this he also opened companies named The News Age Newspaper (TNA Media Pvt Ltd) and African News Network.
And thus the Gupta family became one of the biggest industrialists in South Africa. The Gupta family started funding the South African politician Jacob Zuma. By the time Jacob Zuma was South Africa’s vice president in 2003, he had developed close ties with the Gupta brothers. Zuma was also the president of the political party African National Congress. Jacob Zuma’s wife Bongi Ngema was given the job of communication officer by the Gupta brothers in their company JIC Mining Services. Zuma’s daughter Duduzille Zuma joined Sahara Computers as a director.
Zuma became president in May 2009, and in 2010 the Gupta family started a media house from South Africa and campaigned in support of Jacob through the newspaper New Age. Then in 2013, opened a news channel and made it a platform for Jacob. This is exactly the same as today many TV channels in India are engaged in the promotion of Modi. Things went so far that the Gupta brothers came to be called ZUPTAS instead of GUPTAS.
In the year 2013, a government scheme was formed, whose purpose was. Through the cooperative sector, helping small-scale “black” farmers and pastoralists who were previously left behind by apartheid. The contract for this project was awarded to the Gupta family’s company Astina Private Limited. It was a huge project. 220 million rand government approved for its form project. When the scam came to light, it was found that out of government aid, only rand 2.4 million was actually spent on the project, the rest went to the Guptas.
The Gupta brothers used the South African branch of India’s Bank of Baroda to launder money in their accounts. From Bank of Baroda, the Gupta family did the desired transaction by keeping all the rules in mind. By the year 2016, almost the entire government money received by Astina had been transferred to the accounts of the Gupta family’s main company Shrenoj and Uxolo.
The Astina Dairy Farm project was a complete failure. In this case, officials of South African agencies are also searching for Rabindranath. For this reason, Bank of Baroda later had to close its branch in South Africa.
When the whole story of the scam opened in such a way that the government of South Africa got caught in it. Jacob had to resign on 14 February 2018. It was only after Jacob’s resignation that the Gupta family also left South Africa and wandered in Dubai, India and other countries. Two years ago, the Gupta brothers organized a big wedding ceremony in Auli, Uttarakhand. In which eminent personalities of the country participated.
Jacob Zuma was tried on corruption charges. He was convicted and today he is in jail. The government of South Africa is looking for Gupta brothers from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh all over the world.
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the author.
