EDINBURGH – At what point do you become captured by the Gupta family? When you accept a gift? Or when you enter a business deal with them? President Jacob Zuma’s powerful presidential advisor Lakela Kaunda is at pains to say she has not been involved in the Zupta state capture campaign. Lakela Kaunda has revealed to the Sunday Times that she was once on the Gupta payroll and has discussed various business roles linked to the Gupta empire, yet she claims she is not captured. A former editor who would have been keeping up-to-date with current affairs, she knows that flirting with the Guptas and their cheque book behind the scenes is neither smart nor ethical for those in public office. – Jackie Cameron
Staff writer
Lakela Kaunda, appointed as the first woman editor of a South African daily newspaper, gave up a promising career in the media to work at the side of Jacob Zuma when his political star was on the rise.
Although everyone else in Zuma’s sphere appears to have been caught in the web of Zupta corruption, Kaunda has denied that she is “captured”.
Yet, it has been revealed that she has been on the Gupta payroll in various ways going back at least a decade and has had commercial discussions with Gupta associates in preparation for life after politics.
The relationship between Lakela Kaunda and the Gupta family has been highlighted by the Sunday Times.
A Gupta-linked company called Wavestone, of which Kaunda was once a director, appears to have been a conduit through which to transfer millions of rands to the Bank of Baroda – the only bank reportedly still doing business with the Guptas.
Sunday Times journalists have been sifting through #GuptaLeaks data as they build a detailed picture of the state capture strategy that is being played out in South Africa.
They discovered email correspondence between Kaunda and various people in the Gupta sphere – and then put some tough questions to the former newspaper editor.
“I am not captured,” Kaunda said, in response.
However, Lakela Kaunda has confirmed to the Sunday Times that she had several meetings with Tony Gupta at the Gupta’s Saxonwold residence.
Some of the fresh revelations about Lakela Kaunda include:
- She admitted to having once been a director of a Gupta-linked company, Wavestone Computers, where she earned R20,000 a month ‘for a short period’;
- She worked for the Gupta-linked company in 2008, while she was an ANC employee at Luthuli House;
- Lakela Kaunda says she resigned from Wavestone in late 2008, and joined the government when Zuma became South Africa’s president in May 2009;
- She had at least four meetings with Gupta between November 2012 and January 2013 because the Gupta family “had wanted to enter a business partnership with her.”
- She met Gupta in Saxonwold on January 8 2013 and on January 23 sent documents showing she had registered a company called Ntomb’Nkulu Investments before transferring its ownership to her son Siphesihle Kaunda.
- Gupta made an offer for her to join one of their companies and asked for an existing company to be a partner. “I confirm that I sent the e-mail to (Sahara CEO Ashu) Chawla about Ntomb’Nkulu Investments. I later contacted him to inform that I wish to decline and indicated that I do not want to participate in any business or other activities with them,” she said.
- Yet later, Kaunda was a director of Ubank when the Guptas first put plans in motion to acquire it and received board fees before resigning in October 2014.
- Kaunda said she needed the experience of being on the Ubank board because she is “not going to be in government forever”.
“I wish to emphasise that I have not used my official position for nefarious activities and I am not involved with the family in any way,” she said to the Sunday Times.
“The e-mails show that Gupta-owned Oakbay Investments transferred more than R11-million to Wavestone between March 2012 and January 2014. Kaunda said she was not aware of these transactions as she had resigned as a director by then.
“There are allegations that the company may have been used for illegal deeds. I am not aware of any such activities and I distance myself from them,” she told the Sunday Times.
Other revelations by the Sunday Times include that after Oakbay transferred millions to Wavestone, the company was instructed by Chawla to transfer some of the money to the Bank of Baroda. That is the only bank in South Africa at which the Guptas still reportedly have active accounts. Just over R3-million was transferred to Sahara and then pushed out to other companies to pay day-to-day expenses.
Lakela Kaunda: Jacob Zuma’s closest confidante
Who is Lakela Kaunda? She has been Zuma’s closest confidante since he was appointed as economic affairs MEC in KwaZulu-Natal in 1994, says the Sunday Times. She worked for Zuma in the Presidency while he was the country’s deputy president before 2005 and joined him at Luthuli House in 2008 after his election as ANC president. At the Union Buildings she has served as chief of staff and later chief operations officer.
Big girl: Ntomb’Nkulu, Zulu for ‘big girl’, is the nickname she is known by in government circles. An Iol.co.za profile describes her as doing Zuma’s “spin-doctoring” since the mid-1990s when he was economic affairs and tourism MEC.
“Kaunda, who hails from Hambanathi, in the sugar cane town of Tongaat, has also been a newshound of note. A one-time political correspondent at the Natal Witness, she worked her way up to assistant editor.
“She was appointed editor of the now-defunct Port Elizabeth newspaper Evening Post in 1999 – the first woman to edit a daily newspaper in the country. She also served as chairwoman of the SA National Editors’ Forum.
“When Zuma was promoted to deputy president, there she was, at the reins of his PR machinery. When he was fired, she left for the social development ministry, where she became special adviser to Minister Zola Skweyiya,” says Iol.
Laleka Kaunda “returned to Zuma’s side, managing his office at Luthuli House, and when he was inaugurated as President, she was in the Presidency’s communications unit of 40 people”.
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