Vytjie Mentor stands by testimony
Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor could undermine her own testimony before the state capture commission by refusing to budge on which day of the week she flew to Johannesburg in October 2010 to meet former president Jacob Zuma.
Mentor is insisting she travelled on a Monday with SAA but the airline has no record of this.
There were, however, records from parliament’s internal travel agent that showed Mentor had travelled on SAA from Cape Town to Johannesburg and back on October 15 2010, but this was not a Monday.
“I am clear in my mind, chair, that I travelled on a Monday,” she told commission chair deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo.
Mentor is now questioning the accuracy of the SAA and parliament records.
She said there were aspects in one that did not appear in the other. Mentor wants a “thorough investigation” into both the SAA and parliamentary records.
The commission will call witnesses from SAA and parliament to clarify the records.
Mentor is back at the state capture commission of inquiry after giving evidence in 2018. She is completing her evidence and will also be cross-examined. She testified in 2018 she was called to a meeting with Zuma and flew to Johannesburg sometime between September and October. However, when she arrived in Johannesburg she was taken to the Guptas’ Sahara Computers offices and then to their Saxonwold compound.
She testified that while at the Gupta home she was offered the job of public enterprises minister on condition she terminates SAA’s Johannesburg to Mumbai, India, route. Mentor said Zuma was also at the compound.
Her refusal to budge on which day of the week she flew to Johannesburg for the meeting could hamper the commission’s ability to place Mentor, members of the Gupta family and Zuma in the Saxonwold area at the same time.
Mentor’s testimony placing Zuma at the Gupta house at the time of the alleged meeting where she was offered the job has not been contested by the former president.
Zondo on Monday reiterated that he had asked Zuma to present his version of events, which he has declined to do.