Zuma threatens rivals, dodges graft allegations
Former president Jacob Zuma used his address to the state capture commission of inquiry to threaten his political opponents who accused him of corruption and wrongdoing, and spent little time dealing with the actual allegations against him.
His comments are set to have serious implications for the ANC, which is already bogged down by deep factional battles.
Zuma spent almost three hours on Monday mapping out an elaborate conspiracy which he said was started in 1990 by international and local intelligence organisations to discredit him and even assassinate him.
He accused some of his fellow ANC leaders of being apartheid spies who helped implement this plot, mentioning former minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi.
He said he believed the state capture commission, headed by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, was the culmination of this global intelligence plot to “get rid” of him.
Zuma’s statement to the commission was heavy on smoke and mirrors and light on answering to the serious allegations of his role in state capture. This tactic created a diversion from the key issues raised in testimony at the commission as he tried to change the narrative around him.
This is not the first time Zuma has accused his political opponents of using corruption charges against him to remove him. He has made a similar argument in the graft charges he faces relating to the multibillion-rand arms deal.
Zuma told the commission when he was forced to resign as ANC president in 2018 the party ’ s national executive committee — which at the time was led by President Cyril Ramaphosa — had been influenced to take the decision that he must go. “In other words, that plan I was talking about finally succeeded. I had to resign from the ANC in order to leave the ANC intact, because I love it,” he said.
Zuma told the commission that the reason intelligence organisations wanted him removed was that he had information about spies in the ANC whom they wanted to nurture in order to ensure they would eventually lead the party. He said he had a list of those people, but did not mention them.
“I do not want to talk about intelligence … We have been very careful not to play to that ground because it has been sensitive, but I have been provoked and provoked to the last degree,” Zuma warned. However, he used Ramatlhodi as an example and called him a spy.
Ramatlhodi appeared before the commission in 2018 and accused the former president of auctioning off the country to the Gupta family.
On Monday Ramatlhodi called on Zuma to subject himself to a public lie detector test at the commission.
Nine witnesses to the commission have implicated Zuma either directly or indirectly, including former Government Communication and Information System head Themba Maseko, former ministers Barbara Hogan, Nhlanhla Nene and current ministers Fikile Mbalula and Pravin Gordhan.
The only admission Zuma made in relation to the allegations was that he had engineered the idea of the Guptas establishing a newspaper, which eventually was called The New Age. He also encouraged the family to start the news channel ANN7.
He said there was nothing illegal about this.
Zuma is now being questioned by the commission’s legal team on testimony given by Maseko, who alleged that Zuma told him to help the Guptas.
The former president, although being able to recount events from 29 years ago, had little recollection of what happened in 2010. He will continue to be questioned on Tuesday.