How ANC tried to get Jonas to change his story:
Communications team sought to limit damage to party from revelation about Guptas’ ’offer’
DEPUTY Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas was summoned to Luthuli House this week as the ruling party scrambled to manage the damage caused by his revelation that he was offered the finance minister job by the Gupta family.
The Sunday Times has learnt that Jonas met with the party’s communications department, led by spokesman Zizi Kodwa, on Monday — a day after this newspaper revealed details of a meeting between Jonas, the Gupta brothers and President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane — to brainstorm a communication strategy that would save face for the ANC.
Kodwa and his team sought to manage the negative consequences the disclosure would have for the party as Jonas had not denied the allegations contained in the report.
An insider with knowledge of the meeting said Jonas was initially pressured to distance himself from the report that he had met with the Gupta family.
He is said to have stood his ground and told Kodwa that he would not deny meeting the Guptas.
“He stood firm on the meeting because he wanted to send a strong message about this state capture and that family’s behaviour,” said the source.
Neither Jonas nor Kodwa was available for comment at the time of going to press.
The National Treasury issued a statement on Monday which did not contain any denial that the meeting between Jonas and the Guptas had taken place.
It was agreed at the Luthuli House meeting that the ANC and Jonas would issue statements on the Gupta meeting as part of a broader discussion on state capture continuing from previous party meetings.
“They had to make it seem like it was nothing extraordinary and that his [Jonas’s] confirmation was sanctioned by the party as part of speaking out on state capture,” the insider said.
On Wednesday, Jonas issued a statement confirming the meeting and saying he had done so as a matter of conscience.
“Members of the Gupta family offered me the position of minister of finance to replace thenminister Nene. I rejected this out of hand. The basis of my rejection of their offer is that it makes a mockery of our hardearned democracy‚ the trust of our people and no one apart from the president of the republic appoints ministers,” he said in his statement.
A senior ANC national executive committee member, who asked not to be named as he had no authority to speak on the matter, said that when the party’s national working committee met in Cape Town on Tuesday, the discussion on the Guptas was hampered by the silence Jonas had kept on the meeting up to that moment.
“Many people would have raised the issue more strongly at the [NWC] meeting had Comrade Jonas made the statement before the NWC meeting.”
The Gupta issue was discussed “within a broad context of state capture with no specifics”.
Meanwhile, the ANC Youth League has called for Jonas to be fired for his public statement on the matter.
The league said he should have approached the ANC first before confirming the meeting with the Guptas in the media.
It said he had shown signs of ill-discipline and ought to be brought to account by the party’s national disciplinary committee.
Those sympathetic towards Jonas said this was an attempt to set a precedent against anyone willing to speak out against the family’s influence.
At the last NEC meeting in January, defenders of Zuma dared those who raised concerns about state capture by the Guptas to come forward with evidence and details.
The SACP called for Jonas to be protected in the wake of his “brave” admission.
He wanted to send a strong message about state capture and the family’s behaviour