Guptas not implicated, says Manyi
Former government spokesman Mzwanele Manyi has denied that the Guptas have been implicated in serious corruption and state capture at the Zondo commission.
Under cross-examination of evidence leader Vincent Maleka, Manyi first said that he did not know if the Guptas were implicated and then said he “struggled to find evidence to corroborate the claim” that the Guptas are incriminated.
Manyi said most of the witnesses have been “poetic” in their testimony and told justice Raymond Zondo that he ought to “take the cup” for bringing real evidence. He said he doubted the evidence of state capture presented by former government spokesman Themba Maseko, former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and former national treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile.
But under rigorous cross-examination by Maleka on evidence he himself presented on government advertising in the Gupta owned The New Age when he was the department’s head, Manyi started to come undone. He resorted to filibustering and complained to Zondo about “loaded questions” from Maleka.
Manyi, who inherited the Guptas’ media entities through what he called a “vendor financing deal”, is the first wit- ness to face to face cross examination at the state capture inquiry since public hearings began in August.
Maleka had to hold back on posing questions until Monday afternoon as Manyi insisted on first presenting his own evidence, as he did on his first appearance at the inquiry two weeks ago.
Manyi defended the R8.7m in government advertising in The New Age newspaper in its first year of operation saying this was justified because the newspaper was not hostile to government as the rest of the mainstream media.
Manyi also claimed that The New Age was stigmatised and had to close down because it exposed white-collar corruption.
But when challenged by Maleka that the paper and its sister entity, 24-hour news network ANN7’s reporting on alleged corruption at the national treasury also constituted critical coverage of the state, Manyi claimed not to understand.
Manyi had to concede that major newspapers such as City Press, The Star and The Times all received less than R200,000 in advertising from government in the 2011-2012 year compared to R8.7m spent on The New Age.
Daily Sun, which has the biggest daily circulation, only received R8,788 in government advertising that year.
Earlier, former treasury head of communications Phumza Macanda told the inquiry how she was bullied by Mohamed Bobat, the advisor to Des van Rooyen, during his short stint as finance minister.
Macanda confirmed the testimony presented by former DG Lungisa Fuzile last week that Van Rooyen did not seem to know Bobat and Ian Whitley who were allegedly assigned as his senior staff by the Guptas.