Justice Department not sure what went wrong in Gupta brothers extradition

CAPE TOWN - The Justice Department said that it still does not know what it did wrong for the United Arab Emirates to reject its extradition application for the Gupta brothers.

It said that this makes it difficult to resubmit a fresh application.

However, Justice Minister Thembi Simelane said that this failure will not put authorities off in pursuing extradition applications for several fugitives who are wanted to face the law in South Africa.

On Friday an Eswatini court agreed to extradite two suspects wanted in connection with the murder of musician Kiernan AKA Forbes and his friend Tebello Tibz Motsoane.

Justice Director General Doc Mashabane said that he travelled to the UAE with former Justice Minister Ronald Lamola in May for clarity on where last year’s extradition application for the Guptas had failed.

 "They mentioned that we had attached a cancelled warrant of arrest, but there was a valid warrant of arrest that was attached and that was mentioned to the UAE."

Simelane said that the setbacks aside her department won’t relent in its work on both the Gupta and Shepherd Bushiri extradition matters.

 "These cases have faced several challenges but we remain steadfast in our pursuit of accountability. Our teams our working diligently through diplomatic and legal channels to bring these matters to a resolution."

Meanwhile, Simelane said that she already dealt with at least 40 requests in the past month alone, for extraditions from South Africa.