Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen arrived at a parliamentary portfolio committee meeting on Tuesday expecting to account for his department’s performance‚ but MPs had other ideas and grilled him about his relationship with the Gupta-linked companies Trillian and Regiments Capital.
Van Rooyen looked uncomfortable as MPs questioned him about his links to the Gupta family and his adviser‚ Mohamed Bobat‚ who accompanied him to the Treasury in December 2015 during his short-lived stint as finance minister.
Portfolio committee member Kevin Mileham (DA) questioned Van Rooyen on the department’s relationship with Trillian and Regiments‚ as well as the minister’s personal relationship with the Gupta family and Bobat.
The minister refused to answer his questions on whether the Gupta-owned Sahara Computers company had sponsored a one-day "personal trip" to Dubai for him‚ but then claimed that he had disclosed it.
This was despite the fact that both his 2015 and 2016 declarations of interest as an MP reflected "nothing to disclose" in their travel sections.
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