Question NW1084 to the Minister of Trade and Industry
26 April 2016 - NW1084
Shivambu, Mr F to ask the Minister of Trade and Industry
Has any of his senior officials met with certain persons during the period 1 January 2009 up to 31 December 2015, (b) have Sahara Holdings, Comair, Oakbay Investments, Islandsite Investments, Afripalm Horizons Stakes, The New Age Media, JIC Mining Services and Vusizwe Media participated in any of his department’s investment schemes and (c) has any of the entities reporting to him awarded any contracts to the specified companies in the specified period; if so, what (i) are the relevant details and (ii) is the amount of each specified contract?
Reply:
Some officials have on occasion participated in meetings where the highlighted individuals have been present, including business related events, conferences and business delgations. For example, during a State Visit to India, officials met with Mr Ajay Gupta as part of the engagement with business. On another occasion, officials engaged with Messrs Ajay and Atul Gupta during the BRICS Summit in March 2013. On a different occasion, an offical interacted with Mr Atul Gupta at an ICT Steering Committee tasked to deal with the ICT Policy review under the Department of Communications and Postal Services. All of these interactions were conducted as part of the dti’s stakeholder engagement process on core area work.
the dti Marketing team have interacted with The New Age (TNA) officials for media buying purposes like any other print media house.
The advertising team procured advertising space based on advertising plans for various campaigns.
The companies cited above have not participated in any of the dti investment schemes.
Response from the Entities
No Entities apart from the NEF have interacted with the Guptas, as Ms Philisiwe Mthethwa served on the Board of Afripalm Resources with Mr Atul Gupta and resigned from this board in 2010.