Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane faces treason charges after the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) laid charges against him on Monday.

Outa said Zwane would have to answer for actively aiding State capture and damaging South Africa’s economy. Apart from treason the charges laid against Zwane at the Randburg police station in Johannesburg included corruption, extortion, fraud and theft.

Zwane is the second minister to face the wrath of the organisation, after Outa also earlier laid charges against former communications minister Faith Muthambi.

Ben Theron, Outa chief operating officer, outlined the basis for the charges in a lengthy affidavit.

He detailed Zwane’s connections to the Gupta family and the deals he facilitated, including that of the Optimum mine and Vrede dairy farm.

“He is a puppet on State capture strings,” Theron said.

Zwane has featured prominently in the cache of leaked emails, which prominently tied him to deals with the Guptas.

Theron reported on Zwane’s involvement in abusing his position to promote the Vrede dairy project in the Free State to finance his niece’s extravagant wedding at Sun City.

He also elaborated on Zwane’s role in forcing Glencore to sell the Optimum Mine to the Gupta-linked Tegeta mine. Zwane stands accused of travelling with the Guptas on their trip to Switzerland in January to persuade Glencore to sell Optimum coal mine to Tegeta.

“He intentionally and unlawfully participated in activities which violated, threatened and endangered the existence, independence and security of the Republic,” said Theron in his affidavit.

Zwane’s conduct was treasonable “as it violated, threatened and endangered the existence, independence and security of the Republic of South Africa, or had the effect or potential effect of changing the constitutional structure”.

Theron said in his affidavit that the Vrede dairy project, which benefited the Gupta family, cost the Free State at least R183.95-million.

Zwane was also crucial in arranging the illegal landing of the Guptas’ wedding flight at Waterkloof Air Force Base, leaked emails have shown.

He facilitated the sale of Optimum Coal Holdings assets to the Guptas and his department later authorised the release of the two mine rehabilitation trust funds linked to those mines – a total of nearly R1.8-billion – which apparently went into Gupta accounts at the Bank of Baroda and disappeared. He also tried to defend the Guptas’ banking access, Theron said.

Zwane’s rewards from the Guptas included all-expenses-paid trips to their family weddings in Sun City and India, a Dubai trip, and an all-expenses paid trip to India for himself and his local gospel choir, Theron said.