Nene told to come clean, and then take a hike
EFF tells Nene to come clean on role in capture
Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene will have some tough questions to answer at the state capture commission hearings today – this in addition to revealing the real reasons why former president Jacob Zuma fired him in 2015.
For one, he will have to give details on how many times he met with the Gupta family, what was the nature of these meetings and why he kept quiet about it for so long?
Nene, who was re-appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in February this year, is likely to spill the beans about a tense build-up to his firing, including how Zuma accused him and other senior Treasury officials of obstructing lucrative deals that were unaffordable.
Was the now abandoned nuclear deal with Russian nuclear giant Rosatom central to him being given the boot?
Initially said to be earmarked for a post at Brics Bank, Nene’s axing in December 2015 was a collision of politics and the economy of seismic proportions.
Meanwhile, the EFF has called on Nene to resign after the party claimed he was also captured by the Gupta family and worked for them.
This follows Sowetan’s report yesterday about how Nene held meetings with the controversial Gupta brothers during his first term as finance minister.
The red berets claimed that Nene was appointed finance minister by Zuma‚ a close ally of the Guptas‚ because of his close working relationship with the controversial family.
“When he was minister of finance‚ he stopped taking their calls and tried to work independent of the Guptas.
“That is the reason they approached [former deputy finance minister Mcebisi] Jonas and later Des van Rooyen to be minister of finance‚ because their appointee was no longer cooperative‚” the EFF said in a statement, reacting to Sowetan’s report yesterday.
The party labelled Nene a crook “who would do anything to assume a leadership responsibility‚ even at the expense of principles”.
“When he finishes his submission to the state capture inquiry‚ Nhlanhla Nene must immediately step down as minister of finance‚” the party added yesterday.
The EFF also threatened to reveal “many other dealings and dark secrets that compromise Nene” if he did not step down.
“The EFF does not make threats‚ we make promises. And every information we have is correct about all the shenanigans and crooks of the ANC.
“Under no circumstances will we‚ as the EFF‚ defend scheming individuals who mislead the nation into national fury for things they have created themselves‚” the party said.
There seems to be a curse on SA’s finance ministers. After Trevor Manuel’s 13-year stint, his successors were plagued by controversy and have been playing musical chairs in the post – one serving for just four days.
On Saturday night, Malusi Gigaba, who served as finance minister for a year before being sent back to the home affairs portfolio, decided to answer questions on Twitter about “the narrative that I was ever/am captured by the Guptas”.
He also tweeted cryptically: “One day the story of how I came to be appointed finance minister will be told in full.”
What Gigaba was raising in his late-night search for redemption is directly related to what the Zondo commission is investigating. His appointment as minister occurred as the state capture project reached its zenith with the firing of Pravin Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas from the finance ministry.
Gigaba ought to tell this story – his version of it – at the inquiry rather than rolling the dice on social media, choosing to selectively respond to allegations that he was the Guptas’ hatchet man.
There are many questions for which Gigaba must provide detailed answers. These include what was behind the closure of South African Airways’ Mumbai route, how he came to appoint Gupta lieutenants in key positions in state-owned companies such as Transnet and Eskom, the Gupta citizenship issue, and why he lied under oath in the Fireblade Aviation case.
It is now obvious that he fell out with former president Jacob Zuma during his tenure as finance minister. Gigaba must tell the country what Zuma wanted him to do at the Treasury and why he did not do it.
His successor, Nhlanhla Nene, is appearing at the commission to explain the circumstances around his firing in December 2015 and how conflict over the nuclear deal hyped the hostility against the National Treasury.
It has now emerged that Nene held a number of meetings with the Guptas when he was deputy finance minister and later while he was minister.
The meetings were over the Guptas’ demands that he strong-arm the Public Investment Corporation, which he chaired, to allow them to get a stake in the purchase of the Independent News and Media group. The Guptas were shafted after an initial agreement with Iqbal Survé that they partner his company, Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, in the buyout of Independent Media.
The Guptas did not get what they wanted but Nene still has questions to answer.
Why did he not disclose his meetings with the Guptas until a campaign to discredit him is forcing him to own up?
The opportune moment to do so was after he was fired by Zuma under the pretext that he was to be nominated
‘‘ Testimony has a bearing on credibility as finance ministry head
for a position at the Brics bank.
If not then, the time to speak up was certainly after Jonas, his former deputy, told the country in March 2016 how the Guptas offered him Nene’s job and a R600m bribe.
Another opportunity to come clean was when he was sent a letter by the EFF in May asking about his relationship with the Guptas and whether he negotiated business deals for them. Nene has an obligation as a member of the executive to respond to questions from MPs so it is baffling that he failed to re spond.
Nene will now have to tell the state capture inquiry whether the Guptas had any role in his appointment as minister in 2014, as it was just prior to this that he held several meetings with them.
This will not be easy, especially as Nene is a guarded character who has even been reluctant to discuss his dismissal.
But Nene’s testimony has a bearing on his credibility as head of the finance ministry. He must be completely forthright if he wants the country to trust him.
The EFF has already called on him to step down and he now has a dark cloud over his head.
After so much damage to state institutions, the nation needs to know whether the National Treasury is in safe hands. The Treasury is the heart of government. Zuma tried to force the department to facilitate his pet projects and the Guptas desired it as their big prize.
There is a history to this. Gordhan’s first term as finance minister from 2009 to 2014 was the genesis of the tensions between Zuma and the National Treasury.
Zuma wanted more liberal spending and bending of the rules, such as granting PetroSA a guarantee for a loan to buy a major stake in Engen without due diligence being conducted.
Gordhan was a stickler for process and was determined to curb wanton spending in government. He refused to play fast and loose with state funds.
Every finance minister has had to carry the cross of having to balance political pressure with budgetary realities. Even Gigaba’s swashbuckling undertakings to use the Treasury to enable “radical economic transformation” were short lived when he became apprised of the strict rules governing the budgetary process and the dire economic situation.
The state capture inquiry is not the ideal place for the travails of the finance ministers to be ventilated. But it is the only available platform where truths can be told and the credibility of the Treasury affirmed.
The jinx on the finance ministry must be broken.