Robert Gumede
The ANC-aligned multimillionaire’s lawyer told the paper they would ‘take immediate legal action’ for a report that appeared on Sunday.
Wealthy businessman Robert Gumede’s lawyer Nicqui Galaktiou responded to a report in City Press today by defending the spending of her client, his long and close relationship with the ruling party and his “passion” for Mpumalanga, where he was born. She said she would take legal action for any “defamatory and unsubstantiated allegations/insinuations against Mr Gumede”.
The paper published the threat under its report today.
It had sent Gumede a copy of the report, in which the allegation was made that the businessman appears to be “the only entrepreneur who accompanies the Mpumalanga provincial government on investment-seeking expeditions internationally”.
This has reportedly upset other businessmen in the province and been a cause for concern for opposition political parties.
City Press reported that, among these trips, was one to Angola last month, where Gumede met up with his “close friend” Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza, where he signed “a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in agriculture, forestry, tourism, nature conservation, trade and investment.
Gumede donated “10 Ford Ranger double-cab bakes, four buses and 20 iPads” to the ANC in Mpumalanga last week, along with R6.5 million to the ANC itself. He also tarred 6km of road in Lekazi township.
Gumede’s spokesperson told the paper that Gumede was in Angola “on his own” and did not acknowledge that he had intended to be there at the same time as a large government delegation. He claimed Gumede had not been invited and had only met the delegation there while on his own business. This suggests he was implying that it was only a coincidence.
City Press remarked that Gumede “has a knack of being in the right place at the right time” when “his his personal friend” Mabuza is on business trips and listed other occasions they had journeyed together on similar trips abroad.
Nafcoc, a business support organisation, said they would also have liked to be invited on such trips, and the DA claimed that the insistence on only including Gumede on official trips abroad was one of the main reasons the province struggled to attract investment. The EFF went as far as to say they would complain about Gumede and Mabuza to the public protector.
