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South Africa recalls envoy over presence at event with one of the Gupta brothers
South Africa recalled India envoy Anil Sooklal after his presence at an event with former president Jacob Zuma and Gupta brother Ajay Gupta in Haridwar.
South Africa’s high commissioner to India, Anil Sooklal, has been recalled for being part of a meeting between former president Jacob Zuma and one of the Gupta brothers, who are wanted by South African authorities on charges of political corruption.
The move was announced by South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola weeks after photographs emerged of Zuma with Ajay Gupta and Sooklal at a ceremony at a temple in Haridwar on June 26. Zuma, who has long faced accusations of favouring the Gupta brothers’ business operations in South Africa, visited India in a personal capacity in June.
“We confirm that high commissioner Anil Sooklal has been recalled to the headquarters for further consultations,” Lamola told a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday. He did not give details but said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), or South Africa’s foreign ministry, has recommended that a new framework be adopted for protocol and diplomatic support for foreign visits by former presidents.
Sooklal joined the foreign ministry in 1995 and was South Africa’s longest-serving Brics sherpa. He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in 2019 for his contributions to diplomacy. He also served as South Africa’s G20 sherpa and ambassador to the European Union and Belgium during 2006-2012 before being appointed high commissioner to India in June 2024.
The issue of the Gupta brothers remains a sensitive subject in South Africa as they were accused of using their connections with Zuma, who was president from 2009 to 2018, to win contracts, influence cabinet appointments, and siphon off state funds. Zuma and the Guptas have denied all wrongdoing.
The India-born brothers left South Africa after Zuma was unseated in 2018. A judicial inquiry established to examine allegations of graft during Zuma’s years as president recommended criminal charges against the Guptas. Ajay Gupta is in India, while Atul and Rajesh Gupta live in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where a court dismissed South Africa’s request for their extradition in 2023 on technical grounds.
The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-largest political party and a key partner in the coalition government, has demanded a departmental inquiry into what it described as a “grave violation of diplomatic protocol which demonstrates the seeming political capture of South Africa’s foreign service”.
DIRCO had earlier launched an internal inquiry into Sooklal’s presence at the meeting between Zuma and Ajay Gupta, and a spokesperson said the department wanted an explanation from the envoy and that this would be the “subject of our discussions with him”.
During his visit to India, Zuma told the local media that Ajay Gupta was “a brother and friend of mine” who was forced to leave South Africa. “I haven’t had time to meet with him, so I decided that I should come [to India],” he said.
