Nene in hot seat at Zondo inquiry
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene held several meetings with the Guptas during his first term, and prior to that when he was deputy minister, where they demanded his intervention in the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) deal with Iqbal Surve’s Sekunjalo Investment Holdings.
Nene will for the first time own up to interactions with the Guptas when he testifies at the state capture commission on Wednesday.
It is understood that the Guptas summoned Nene to a number of meetings when he was deputy minister of finance and chair of the PIC after Surve rebuffed their attempts to buy a stake in the Independent News and Media group.
In February 2013, the Sekunjalo group won the bid to buy Independent Media from its Irish owners for R2bn, some of which Surve raised from the PIC.
Initial discussions between Surve and the Guptas led them to believe that they would have a stake in the deal.
However, Surve said he could not include the Guptas in the consortium as the PIC objected to changes in the shareholding.
The Guptas then repeatedly met Nene, trying to convince him to pressure the PIC to include them in the deal.
Nene appears not to have acted on their requests as the matter was still hanging after the 2014 elections when he became the minister of finance.
Mcebisi Jonas, who was deputy minister of finance at the time and became chair of the PIC, shut down the issue.
Nene has kept silent on this matter, even after he was fired by former president Jacob Zuma in December 2015.
During the presidency budget vote earlier in 2018, EFF leader Julius Malema claimed Nene was “corrupt as hell”, questioning whether he had met with dubious business people and whether he had intervened on their behalf.
Malema claimed to have the details of meetings between Nene and these business people, whom he did not name.
Nene did not respond to Malema’s allegations but will have to disclose his interactions with the Guptas following allegations arising on the eve of his appearance at the Zondo commission.
A text message has been circulating purporting to be details of a story to be published by investigative unit amaBhungane about Nene.
The message alleges that his son Siya Nene’s oil company acquired funding from the PIC during the period he was chair.
PIC insiders claim there was no conflict of interest.