SA's stop-start battle to bring the culprits at the centre of state capture to book kicked into high gear this week, with charges laid against a top Gupta lieutenant, Interpol asked to look for the brothers hiding abroad and tens of millions of rands of assets seized.
At the same time, the country's prosecutions boss is pushing for a new sense of urgency from prosecutors to speed up corruption cases.
The Sunday Times has learnt that national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi has written to Gauteng provincial prosecutions head Andrew Chauke asking him to explain his decisions in key cases — including why he hasn't brought to court a corruption case against former Gauteng health MEC Brian Hlongwa, which "has been delayed for an inordinate amount of time".
In a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report sent to former president Jacob Zuma in 2017, Hlongwa was implicated in a R1.2bn corruption case in which he allegedly received money to buy a R7.2m house in Bryanston, Johannesburg.
Batohi is demanding answers from Chauke about a number of cases he dealt with over the years,
She also wants far speedier action against state capture players.
Her spokesperson, Sipho Ngwema, said that after two years of leading the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), she wants to take the action "up a notch" after voicing her frustrations with parliament, explaining the delays in taking high-profile cases to court, and managing to "extract some financial support from the executive".
"The fiscal constraints and the Covid challenges notwithstanding, she has to demand her pound of flesh from the NPA personnel in terms of performance and accountability. We have to meet certain legitimate public expectations in terms of performance, particularly on corruption and state capture," Ngwema said.
"Delivery is not negotiable. Those who can't deliver must make way."
Batohi, said Ngwema, has "frequently expressed her desire to see more output in terms of prosecutions", specifically "state capture cases and others like Steinhoff".
The sole mandate of the NPA's Investigative Directorate (ID) is to prosecute state capture cases. "Undoubtedly … there could have been more productivity with regards to getting more corruption and state capture cases on the roll," he said.
She also wants to know why Chauke declined to prosecute Zuma's son Duduzane for his collision with a taxi in Sandton in February 2014 that claimed a woman's life.
The Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture has heard that Duduzane was a constant presence in the Gupta brothers' meetings with heads of state entities.
In her letter to Chauke dated May 13, Batohi asks why he declined to prosecute Duduzane Zuma in spite of a magistrate's finding that the death of Phumzile Dube "was … caused by [Duduzane's] negligence". This led to AfriForum trying to privately prosecute the case, after which Batohi's predecessor Shaun Abrahams reopened it. In the end, Duduzane was acquitted of culpable homicide.
As South African authorities asked Interpol to go after the Guptas, who they believe are hiding in the United Arab Emirates, the high-profile arrest of a key Gupta associate, businessman Iqbal Sharma, took place.
The case against Sharma and the Guptas relates to the alleged defrauding of the Free State agriculture department of R25m intended to help emerging farmers in a precursor to the Estina dairy scandal.
At the same time, the ID obtained a restraint order for Sharma's palatial Sandton property. Also grabbed were two properties owned by the Guptas' company, Islandsite Investments - one worth R12.5m at 19 Erlswold Way, Saxonwold.
It is in the same complex as other Gupta residences known collectively as the infamous Saxonwold Shebeen, where former president Jacob Zuma, ex-minister Malusi Gigaba and bosses of state-owned entities such as former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe were treated to gifts and curry dinners as the Gupta brothers carved out a fortune in fixed contracts. The other property, in Constantia, Cape Town, is worth R21.35m.
But even as President Cyril Ramaphosa's cleanup efforts were being lauded as the fruit of years of investigation into the state capture malaise, troubling questions remain about the fate of health minister Zweli Mkhize, embroiled in the R150m Digital Vibes communications scandal.
Ramaphosa's insistence on waiting for the SIU to complete its work before taking action against Mkhize has raised a question mark over the president's commitment to fighting corruption if this means alienating key members of the ANC.
Additional questions Batohi had for Chauke included why he decided to withdraw charges of murder, attempted murder and kidnapping against a Zuma ally, former Crime Intelligence head Richard Mdluli, instead holding an inquest into the killing of Mdluli's girlfriend's husband, Oupa Ramogibe.
After a significant delay, Mdluli faced only kidnapping, intimidation and assault charges, on which he was convicted last year, when murder charges should also have been reinstated against him.
Chauke was also asked why he supported the decision to prosecute former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen, and for further answers to a complaint of intimidation laid against him by late journalist Karima Brown.
Chauke declined to comment this week. However, in his response to Batohi on May 28, he says he was "fully satisfied" that there was evidence to support all charges against Mdluli except for murder and attempted murder, which was why he decided on an inquest to gather more evidence.
"I deny that my decisions were either motivated by any bias or improper motive. I also take strong umbrage to insinuations . that my decisions were either biased or motivated by improper reasons or motive," he says.
About declining to prosecute Duduzane Zuma, Chauke says even though "there was prima facie evidence of negligence" against Zuma, "proving it beyond reasonable doubt in a criminal trial was in my opinion and that of my colleagues not possible".
Responding to the "inordinate" delay in prosecuting Hlongwa, Chauke says the investigation "appears to be nearing its end" and he accepts "the delays are enormous and I have done everything in my power to ensure that this matter received the attention it deserves".
About the intimidation complaint laid against him by Brown, Chauke claims she was "peddling false narratives" against him and denies that his message to her producer "constituted intimidation".
Ngwema said he could not comment on correspondence between Batohi and Chauke.
He said: "There must be sensible explanations in terms of the decisions taken in the past that may be at odds with our constitutional values and prosecution policy. Accountability is one of the key values of the new NPA. Those who can't account for the decisions that are at odds with the NPA policy, the organisation's values, and the constitution, must go through the relevant processes of accountability. The honeymoon is over."
Meanwhile, it was a quiet Friday afternoon when a court-appointed curator entered the Guptas' Saxonwold property after serving the restraint order on Islandsite's business rescue practitioners.
When the Sunday Times arrived, a group of men had gathered in front the high, black main gate of the property. The group, travelling in three vehicles, were accompanied inside by two security guards.
After several minutes, they emerged from the property and left.
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