Zuma junior to testify about meeting at Zondo inquiry
Duduzane Zuma is set to give his side of the story to the state capture inquiry on Monday regarding a meeting at which it was alleged that the Guptas tried to bribe former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas.
Zuma, son of former president Jacob Zuma, was implicated in evidence at the start of the commission in 2018 by Jonas, who was the inquiry’s first witness.
The testimony placed Zuma at a meeting where a Gupta brother allegedly promised Jonas the ministerial job and R600,000 if he took it.
Jonas said he was promised a further R600m as soon as he got the job.
However, Zuma has maintained this is a lie and has stated it was in fact himself and arms-deal adviser Fana Hlongwane who met Jonas over rumours that Hlongwane was trying to blackmail him.
Zuma’s legal team had successfully applied for the right to cross-examine Jonas about his testimony, which was done in March.
The Judicial Service Commission will have its hands full this week when it conducts interviews with 36 shortlisted candidates for 17 vacancies in the superior courts.
The interviews are scheduled to run from Monday to Friday.
The vacancies are spread across the electoral court and the Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, North West and Western Cape divisions of the high court.
Meanwhile, attention will be on the DA this week as pressure mounts on Mmusi Maimane’s leadership less than three weeks before a crucial federal council meeting.
The DA leader has come under attack over a house he was renting in Cape Town that he initially declared as his own, and for the Steinhoff-sponsored car he is said to have driven for months after SA’s largest corporate scandal broke.
He denies all the allegations, which were probed by the party’s finance committee to establish the facts. On Friday, the committee cleared him of all charges.
On the same day, former DA leader Helen Zille announced she would stand for the position of federal council chair, arguably the most powerful position in the party.
The DA federal council chair position is equivalent to that of the ANC’s secretary-general.
In London, trade ministers and senior officials from 53 Commonwealth countries will gather to explore strategies for “deepening trade and investment, while supporting a transparent, inclusive, fair, and open rules-based global trading system”, the association said on Friday.
The Commonwealth trade ministers meeting, aimed at strengthening multilateral trade, will take place on October 10, after three days of discussions among senior trade officials.