Angry Ajay Gupta talks about his temple built on captured rands

EDINBURGH — Ajay Gupta amassed a huge fortune by facilitating corruption for Jacob Zuma and his ANC friends. His wealth grew so quickly that he was listed among South Africa's wealthiest billionaires by 2016. According to the Sunday Times, his assets placed him in the top 10 richest people in South Africa, even trumping mining mogul Patrice Motsepe who missed the top 10 and ranked 11th at that time. The rags-to-riches tale is recounted in detail by The New York Times, which underscores how there have been two ways for ANC leaders across the country to grow rich fast: through links with wealthy white business players or by facilitating business deals for the Gupta brothers. Is Ajay Gupta angry about being accused of state capture? Not a chance: he's angry that he can't finish a lavish temple, that has already cost many millions, devoted to his deceased father. – Jackie Cameron

By Thulasizwe Sithole

As with other outsiders, including big corporations like KPMG, the Guptas helped undermine the nation's democratic institutions, says The New York Times. What's more, like generations of foreigners before them, they took their windfall out of Africa, moving it to Dubai and India through a maze of dubious, and at times illegal, transactions.

"They flew everywhere: across oceans in their own planes, to their own helipad here in Saharanpur, to Hindu temples in the Himalayas.

"And they became so powerful that they clashed with the Oppenheimers — the family that once owned the De Beers diamond company and the mining giant Anglo American — whose influence in South Africa had been unrivalled for a century."

___STEADY_PAYWALL___