Justice minister Ronald Lamola. (Photo: Leila Dougan) | State capture kingpin Atul Gupta on 27 September 2010. (Photo: Gallo Images / Foto24 / Felix Dlangamandla)
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The decision to involve President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office was taken after Batohi’s request to meet with her UAE counterpart on the issue was snubbed, she said.
“We realized that unless there isn’t that strong political push in the UAE, we’re going to struggle with this matter,” Batohi said. “I am not sure there is any willingness to really assist South Africa in this matter at a technical level and I am not sure at a political level because mutual legal assistance ultimately, although it is a technical process, depends on political will.”
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The rare media briefing by Batohi and the renewed drive to bring the Guptas back to South Africa coincides with the ruling African National Congress preparing next month to face its toughest election since 1994. Opinion polls suggest the party may lose its majority for the first time because of voter dissatisfaction of issues including rampant crime and corruption.
Ramaphosa has made little progress since coming to office six years ago in rooting out graft in the ANC and the state, after repeatedly pledging to do so. He’s estimated that at least $32 billion may have been stolen from state coffers during Zuma’s tenure.
Fighting corruption and prosecuting complex financial crimes is also key to getting South Africa removed from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force’s global dirty-money watchlist.
Batohi wants the delegation to return with a “commitment at the highest level that the UAE will support South Africa” in its request for both the extradition of the brothers and sought after evidence related to their alleged wrongdoing, she said.