Surprise turnaround at Zondo inquiry

The suspended head of the Hawks’ anti-corruption unit‚ Major-General Zinhle Mnonopi‚ has made a surprise withdrawal of her application to cross-examine former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas on his evidence at the state capture inquiry.

Mnonopi’s lawyer‚ Vincent Siwela‚ told deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo that his client was withdrawing her entire application because it might prejudice her.

Mnonopi was suspended by Hawks head General Godfrey Lebeya last week following Jonas’s testimony that she tried to get him to sign a false statement to “kill the case” relating to the alleged attempt by Ajay Gupta to bribe him.

Following Jonas’s media statement in March 2016 confirming that the Guptas had allegedly tried to offer him the position of finance minister and a R600m bribe‚ a complaint was laid with the police by DA MP David Maynier and COPE MP Dennis Bloem.

Jonas said Mnonopi had presented him and his lawyer‚ Max Boqwana‚ with a statement claiming that he did not want to co-operate with the police.

“Maj-Gen Mnonopi told us this was a ‘DA matter’, that I did not want to help the DA and that they wanted to kill the case‚” Jonas testified.

During applications by various legal teams to cross-examine witnesses who appeared before the state capture inquiry‚ Siwela told Zondo that Mnonopi no longer wished to pursue the application to crossexamine Jonas.

Mnonopi is facing an internal investigation into her conduct in the Jonas case. –