{"id":39514,"date":"2026-07-13T19:36:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=39514"},"modified":"2026-07-13T19:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:36:03","slug":"sa-opposition-party-defends-zumas-controversial-india-meeting-with-gupta","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-opposition-party-defends-zumas-controversial-india-meeting-with-gupta\/","title":{"rendered":"SA opposition party defends Zuma\u2019s controversial India meeting with Gupta \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has defended former South African (SA) President Jacob Zuma\u2019s recent meeting with Ajay Gupta in India, insisting that Zuma is a private citizen who is free to travel and associate with whomever he pleases.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Zuma caused a political firestorm after he was photographed and filmed alongside Ajay Gupta at a temple in Haridwar, India, late last month, openly calling him his &#8220;brother and friend.&#8221; The Gupta family fled SA in 2018 amid extensive allegations of state capture and systemic corruption orchestrated during Zuma&#8217;s presidential tenure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While the SA government has sharply condemned the encounter, with the Ministry of International Relations investigating the presence of South Africa&#8217;s High Commissioner at the temple, the MK Party maintains the trip was strictly personal.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>MKP Secretary-General Sibonelo Nomvalo stated that the party has no involvement in the former Statesman&#8217;s private travels or religious engagements.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The trip was a personal visit to his religious person, we&#8217;ve got nothing to do with that as a party. He went there to meet his religious leader. Who he met when he arrived there, that is his personal issue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15396,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-39514","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"MK Party defends Jacob Zuma\u2019s controversial India meeting with Ajay Gupta","published_date":"2026-07-13 19:35:25","news_description":"MK Party defends Jacob Zuma\u2019s controversial India meeting with Ajay Gupta","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39515,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39514\/revisions\/39515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=39514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}