Guptas renounce Indian citizenship

By Andrew Harding | BBC News |

A powerful business family in South Africa is coming under growing political pressure, with senior figures in the government openly accusing them of corruption.

The Gupta family are originally from India and were recently granted full South African citizenship, in what some claim were controversial circumstances.

But the government has confirmed today that some of them have renounced their Indian citizenship,complying with local laws.

The Guptas insist they are honest businessmen and job creators, who happen to have grown close to President Jacob Zuma and his family.

But newly leaked emails have helped to fuel allegations of a plot by the Guptas and their political allies.

Here in South Africa, they call it state capture – an attempt to buy influence at the heart of government.

The Guptas deny any involvement.

But Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has become the latest to accuse the family, and members of the government, of diverting state resources into “the pockets of a few”.

The increasingly personal attacks and allegations should be seen in the context of a wider political battle taking shape here, as a bitterly divided governing ANC prepares to choose Jacob Zuma’s successor.