Desmond van Rooyen. Picture: Picture: BLOOMBERG/WALDO SWIEGERS
Desmond van Rooyen. Picture: Picture: BLOOMBERG/WALDO SWIEGERS

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MOHAMED Bobat, one of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Desmond van Rooyen’s advisers, says he may be Indian, but that does not mean he has links to the powerful Gupta family.

He is one of the officials who accompanied Mr van Rooyen when he was sworn in as finance minister following his appointment in controversial circumstances on December 9.

The appointment was reversed and Mr van Rooyen was shifted to the department responsible for provincial and local government affairs after a negative reaction.

Together with Ian Whitley, the son-in-law of African National Congress (ANC) deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, he accompanied Mr van Rooyen to the Treasury as his advisers. Their roles caused anxiety among senior Treasury officials, some of whom threatened to resign. There were fears that they were linked to the Gupta family, which has strong ties to President Jacob Zuma and other senior ANC leaders.

Following Mr van Rooyen’s redeployment to Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Bobat and Mr Whitley followed him in similar capacities.

Mr Bobat yesterday denied that he was close to the Gupta family. He also denied claims by ANC and government sources that he worked closely with the Gupta family and had taken their tender documents to government departments. "The fact that I am Indian does not mean we are related. I did no such thing as deliver documents or had any interactions with them."

Ms Duarte on Tuesday said that she had not pulled any strings for her son-in-law to become Mr van Rooyen’s chief of staff, and that she was not linked to the Guptas.

Sources said Ms Duarte made a call to Treasury officials after Mr van Rooyen’s appointment as some were contemplating a walkout. "I did not. Whoever is telling you this must back it up. I’m not a fool. I am not going to go around telling people what to do with their lives."

She said she had not introduced Mr Whitley to Mr van Rooyen, and she did not know of Mr van Rooyen until he was made finance minister. "After you (the media) made a big mess of his name, I went to Google him that same night to see who this person that everybody is fighting with is."

Ms Duarte said she had advised Mr Whitley against taking up a post at the Treasury. That was after Mr Whitley told her about the possibility of working for Mr van Rooyen, initially at the Treasury. "I said: ‘Don’t do it. The Treasury is a preserve of a political elite few. You are going to be having difficulties.’"

A statement from the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs on Tuesday night denied the allegations of a Gupta connection. "Mr Whitley is appointed as the chief of staff. His appointment is in terms of the relevant public service regulations, together with the ministerial handbook and is linked to the term of office of the minister.

"The minister met Mr Whitley through his interaction with the finance portfolio committee, when Mr Whitley serviced the (small business) sector, while working in the banking industry," it said.

"Minister van Rooyen met Mr Bobat when the former was chairperson of the South African Local Government Association, North West province, and has since contacted him intermittently."