Muthambi ‘was cheating the state’
FORMER communications minister Faith Muthambi wanted to “steal” from government coffers and deliberately blocked the filling of posts at the Government Communications and Information Systems.
This was the bombshell dropped yesterday by acting department head Phumla Williams at the commission of inquiry into state capture, which is currently taking place in Johannesburg, and is headed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
On her second day of testimony, Williams accused Muthambi of stripping her of crucial responsibilities, including those of finance and procurement. “She was cheating the state because basically I was getting paid because she wanted that procurement at all costs. She wanted to steal at all costs. They knew that they have removed me from doing Cabinet work.
“I was going to be a nuisance and they decided that the procurement and the finances must be removed from this woman,” Williams said.
Williams also detailed how Muthambi deliberately blocked the filling of crucial vacancies to paint the government agency as ineffective under her.
“She was almost like working against the state. There was no reason why you don’t want to fill the posts.
“It is in your best interest that the institution should function correctly and there is funding. They had this narrative of wanting to prove ‘these GCIS people are useless and we need to find other people who can deliver’.”
Judge Zondo said it was puzzling why Muthambi would not want the posts to be filled.
He has asked Williams to provide the commission with information regarding the post that were deliberately left vacant. “What is so painful is that president Zuma knows what I went through. He knows exactly my pain of torture. So I do not understand why he kept quiet and did not intervene. I was going through torture and it was a joke to them saying ‘yeah, we have sorted her out’,” added Williams.