Ex-Finance Chief Implicates Zuma in South African Looting Spree
- Institutions were plundered after Zuma took control: Gordhan
- Gordhan is due to appear before judicial probe this month
Jacob Zuma
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
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Former South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan directly implicated Jacob Zuma in being part of an orchestrated campaign to loot billions of rand in taxpayer funds and decimate state institutions during his almost nine-year tenure as president.
Gordhan, who now oversees state companies, made the allegations in a statement to a judicial panel that’s investigating claims that members of the Gupta family exploited their close relationship with Zuma to influence cabinet appointments and raid public coffers -- a process known as state capture. Zuma, who quit in February under pressure from the ruling African National Congress, and the Guptas deny wrongdoing.