Guptas, Duduzane Zuma in line for Denel billions

Johannesburg - Rajesh “Tony” Gupta and Duduzane Zuma stand to benefit from a multiyear infantry combat vehicle contract with Denel worth billions, which will kick off within the next two years.

The two hold a 25.1% stake in VR Laser Services through Craysure Investments, a company wholly owned by Westdawn Investments, according to the Mail & Guardian.

Company records show Gupta and Zuma are directors in Westdawn, and both Westdawn and Craysure share a registered office in Midrand, Gauteng.

On its website, VR Laser, tucked in a cul de sac in the Boksburg industrial area on the East Rand, boasts that it is involved in “the supply of steel components for the Armaments Corporation of South Africa’s project Hoefyster, which involves a total of 264 infantry combat vehicles for the SA National Defence Force”.

This army contract, which Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown described as a “R10bn investment by government in Denel through the department of defence” during Denel’s AGM earlier this month, is called Project Hoefyster.