Fugitives from justice in South Africa

The Sunday Times of South Africa reports that members of the Gupta family, implicated in charges of corruption levelled at the outgoing Zuma administration, are on the run. It appears that Zuma's son Duduzane (Zulu for "Comfort"!), who was on the Gupta payroll, is also a fugitive.

Ajay Gupta‚ the patriarch of the embattled Gupta family‚ is “on the run” and surrounded by a team of heavily armed bodyguards.

Hawks officials confirmed on Thursday afternoon that Gupta was a fugitive from the law and that they had obtained a warrant for his arrest.

The warrant comes as Times Select on Wednesday ran an exclusive story indicating that Ajay’s brother‚ Atul‚ was also being sought.

The confirmation follows the appearance of the brothers’ nephew‚ Verun Gupta‚ in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on charges of corruption‚ fraud and theft on Thursday.

There is evidence that the Guptas laundered money through British banks. One hopes that, if members of the family flee to a country with which the UK has an extradition treaty, the authorities here will not hesitate to extract them for trial.

We wait to see when Zuma will be brought to trial, and how many of the 700+ charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering will be proceeded with. Some of these precede Zuma's period as president, and there is a distant possibility that Baron Hain of Neath, who was a Foreign Office minister for Africa and was also at the Department for Trade and Industry for a time in the noughties, may be called as a witness.