Zwane advisor in business with Guptas

Mosebenzi Zwane, SA mines minister

[miningmx.com] – THE extent of business links between critical departments in South African president Jacob Zuma’s administration and the Gupta family deepened, according to Bloomberg News.

It reported that Malcolm Mabaso, the political advisor to mines minister, Mosebenzi Zwane, and Salim Essa, a business partner of the Guptas, are both directors of a company called Premium Security and Cleaning Services.

Essa is a director at a company called VR Laser Services, in which the Gupta family investment vehicle holds a minority stake. Last month VR Laser entered a partnership with state defense company Denel SOC Ltd. to market its products in Asia, the newswire said in its report.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that here you have a situation of patronage that gives advantage to those who are politically connected,” Somadoda Fikeni, a political analyst and professor at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, told Bloomberg News. “Even ANC leaders are starting to raise this issue.”

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