‘Ajay wanted R600m’
Ex-spin doctor tells of Gupta dinner boasts
GUPTA family patriarch Ajay Gupta boasted about frequent meetings the family held with former president Jacob Zuma at their Saxonwold compound, where Zuma would have dinner at least once a week, former government spokesperson Themba Maseko said.
He was testifying at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state capture.
Ajay Gupta had called him numerous times to a meeting at the Gupta family’s Saxonwold home in 2010, Maseko said. The family’s The New Age newspaper was about to be launched at the end of that year, and Ajay needed the R600 million government advertising budget to be channelled to the newspaper, Maseko told the inquiry.
The former government spin doctor said he arrived at the Saxonwold mansion and found Ajay and Atul there. Atul did not greet him, and just mentioned something to Ajay before leaving the room. Ajay told him about the family plans to launch a newspaper and that they wanted a relationship with government departments.
“There were not too many pleasantry exchanges. Ajay talked about the family newspaper, and that the ANC had planned to launch its own paper… but we know the ANC talks forever about things, these ones do things. He told me he wanted the R600 million to be spent on The New Age advertising,’’ Maseko said.
“I was surprised he knew about the budget, which is not a public matter. No private citizen knew about that budget. He said I needed to go to individual departments and request ministers that money be sent to GCIS, and my job would be to make sure the money reaches The New Age.’’
Maseko said he refused, and told Ajay: ‘’Unfortunately, that is not how things work. These are my leaders (ministers). I cannot approach them and talk like that.
“Ajay said ‘no, this is how the system works now. If there is a problem, I will tell him (Zuma) and he sorts them out’.”
Asked to explain his understanding of what Gupta meant by the “system”, Maseko said it appeared that a parallel government system was in operation.
“He said he had regular meetings with the president and many ministers are summoned to Saxonwold. He told me the former president came for dinner at least once a week… he was trying to show me his influence on the highest office in the country,” Maseko said.
Maseko was fired in January 2011 and replaced by Zuma loyalist Mzwanele Manyi, who later took over the Gupta media company through a vendor-financed deal.
Maseko said the late Collins Chabane, who was minister in the presidency responsible for performance monitoring and evaluation at the time, met with him on New Year’s Eve in 2010, telling him he had been fired.
“The minister informed me he received a call from former president Zuma instructing him to redeploy me or terminate my contract. Zuma was out of the country at that time… the minister said Zuma told him he does not want to find me at GCIS when he returns back to South Africa.”
He had worked in the public service for over 17 years. Chabane sympathised with him, said Maseko.
Maseko was then appointed director-general at the department of public service and administration, headed by then-minister Richard Baloyi, who was irked about not being consulted.
The working relationship between Maseko and Baloyi started on a bad footing because of this.
“I never received an appointment letter to the public service… there was no formal handover to Manyi. He was given my parking bay at the GCIS building the next day (after he was fired).’’ – African News Agency (ANA)