By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Ronald Lamola says former President Jacob Zuma’s visit to India reflects negatively on South Africa.
Zuma met with the controversial businessman and fugitive Ajay Gupta.
Fullview understands he travelled to India to visit a longtime friend in his hometown of Saharanpur, visiting a Hindu temple for religious reasons.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Pretoria with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, on Thursday, Lamola said the government would establish the circumstances surrounding the visit.
“Former presidents are entitled to their privileges, and some of those include facilitation through our diplomatic protocols. We will have to enquire to find out how this happened, what informs it, what was the nature of the visit, and what was the nature of the involvement of the high commissioner in India,” said Lamola.
Lamola stressed that while former heads of state enjoy certain privileges, “it does not allow them to run a parallel foreign policy.”
He has ordered an internal investigation by his department into why South Africa’s High Commissioner to India Anil Sooklal appeared at an event with Zuma and Ajay.
Ajay is widely suspected to have been the brains behind the Gupta brothers’ enterprise, which colluded with Zuma to capture critical parts of the state during Zuma’s presidency from 2009 to 2013.
The Guptas fled South Africa in 2018. The NPA had Interpol issue Red Notices for the arrest of Atul and Rajesh, and they were eventually arrested in the United Arab Emirates in 2022. The NPA then asked the UAE to extradite them to SA. But in 2023, a court in Dubai threw out the extradition request on technical grounds. At the time, Lamola said South Africa would appeal against the decision.
NPA spokesperson Kganyago said on Thursday that “there is a Red Notice against them and the process to extradite them is under way”. He did not elaborate.
In June 2026, the NPA re-enrolled the Nulane corruption case after successfully appealing against a decision by the Free State high court’s decision to acquit all the accused.
Ajay was also not singled out for prosecution in recommendations of the State Capture Commission, which investigated State Capture during the Zuma presidency. It did, however, recommend prosecution of “members of” the Gupta family for complicity in both the corrupt Vrede Dairy and Optimum Coal Mine scandals.
It found the Guptas collectively had gathered at least R15-billion of the R57-billion of state money “tainted” by State Capture.
The clips from last Friday show Zuma, garlanded with rose petals, saying that he had come to India to visit his “brother and friend” Ajay Gupta, who had been forced to leave South Africa. Gupta had told him about a leader “and a man of God” who was a big friend of his and who had been working with him.
Meanwhile Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has called on Zuma’s visit to India “beyond ridiculous”. It is calling on the government to clarify the possible involvement of Sooklal.