Zuma’s time ‘a period of madness’

FORMER minister of mineral resources Ngoako Ramatlhodi has described the ANC under the leadership of Jacob Zuma as “a period of madness”.

Ramatlhodi did not hold back when he testified before the commission of inquiry into state capture, detailing how the fugitive Gupta family controlled Zuma and his executive and even boasted about their acquired power openly.

“Chair, you can characterise it as a season of madness in the organisation in the sense that there was a paralysis in the NEC,” he said when telling inquiry chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo why the ANC’s then-national executive committee did not tell Zuma to end his relationship with the Guptas.

“The balance of power in the NEC was in his favour. That is the only rational explanation that one can give. So others just become paralysed, he said.

So powerful were the Guptas that there was a secretary at their Saxonwold, Johannesburg, home to handle Zuma’s diary to ensure he would do as instructed.

“I came to know that besides his secretary in the Union Buildings, there was another one for him at Saxonwold, so they (Guptas) could easily interfere with the president’s diary,” said Ramatlhodi.

The ex-minister spoke about the annual mining indaba held in Cape Town in 2015. He said his directorgeneral at the time gave him insight into how the Guptas operated. Ramatlhodi said he heard how the Guptas hosted deputy directorsgeneral and the directors-general from the Mineral Resources Department at their private home in Cape Town during the mining indaba.

Justice Zondo seemed shocked, and asked: “You mean, in their private home? Why? For what?”

Ramatlhodi said it happened and it was the norm.

“I told him this will not happen under my watch… no department official will go to the Guptas’ home. You see, these people were doing this to show off, they were demonstrating power. When you have an indaba, investors come from all over the world to look for opportunities, so they (Guptas) would invite business people who would meet the government officials at their home.”

Ramatlhodi was removed as mineral resources minister in September 2015 following his defiance of the Guptas.