Zuma’s son to testify at state capture inquiry
JACOB ZUMA’S son Duduzane will give his side of the story after agreeing to testify at the state capture commission of inquiry led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Head of the commission’s legal team Paul Pretorius said: “We have now received instructions from Mr Duduzane Zuma to inform the commission that he is prepared to give evidence as a witness before the commission, with reference to the subject matter raised by Mr (Mcebisi) Jonas in his evidence.’’
Duduzane had opted not to testify because he was facing parallel criminal charges.
The charges relate to an alleged R600 million bribe offered to former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas by the Gupta family at their Saxonwold compound in the presence of Duduzane and controversial businessman Fana Hlongwane.
Duduzane’s corruption case is being heard in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Jonas testified that Duduzane had arranged a meeting with him through calls and text messages.
The two then finally met at an upmarket hotel in Rosebank in 2016, where Duduzane kept telling Jonas how his father liked him. He said he was then driven to the Gupta mansion in Saxonwold by Duduzane “to meet with more people’’ in a private space.
The former deputy minister said this is when Ajay Gupta offered him the position of finance minister and a R600 million bribe to “stash away in any account” anywhere in the world.
ANC Presidency spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the party welcomed Duduzane’s decision to give evidence.
“We overwhelmingly welcome the fact that people are warming up (to the commission) and want to testify. People are now seeing that the commission is the only platform to deal with this (state capture) matter,” Kodwa told reporters on the sidelines of the inquiry.
Yesterday, the commission heard how the Gupta media entities Infinity Media (ANN7) and The new Age newspaper scored R260m from government departments. At least 95% of the money, R248m, went to the newspaper, said National Treasury official Jan Gilliland.
He tracked and traced millions paid by the Government Communication and Information Systems (GCIS), other state departments and provincial premiers to the Guptas.
Gilliland said that between 2011 and 2012, GCIS spending on the Gupta-owned media house increased dramatically while Mzwanele “Jimmy” Manyi was in charge at GCIS, having replaced Themba Maseko. Gilliland testified that Gupta entities received R7m in 2011 and R29m in 2012. TNA was launched in 2010, while ANN7 started broadcasting three years later, in 2013.
Former minister of public enterprises Barbara Hogan will take the stand tomorrow.
Hogan’s name came up at the inquiry during ex-MP Vytjie Mentor’s evidence two weeks ago. Mentor told the commission that Ajay offered her the post of public enterprises minister in 2010 to replace Hogan. The former MP was chairperson of Parliament’s state enterprises committee at the time.