‘Lies about Maseko, Collins’
● The former spokesperson for late minister Collins Chabane, Brent Simmons, says former president Jacob Zuma lied under oath when he told the Zondo commission he did not instruct Chabane to fire former cabinet spokesman Themba Maseko.
Simmons told the Sunday Times that he and several staff members who worked in Chabane’s ministry are prepared to testify that Zuma called Chabane and instructed him to end Maseko’s tenure as head of the Government Communication & Information System (GCIS) and told him to replace Maseko with Mzwanele Manyi.
“I told the commission that I will testify and I can say under oath that Zuma’s PA called minister Chabane on his chief of staff’s phone and gave him a clear instruction not to renew Maseko’s contract as head of GCIS and to replace him with Jimmy Manyi,” he said.
This week Zuma denied having had a hand in firing Maseko for failing to co-operate with the controversial Gupta family over the state’s R600m advertising budget.
Zuma told the commission on Tuesday that Chabane “could have used my name” when he told Maseko that the president had asked that the communications head should be removed or transferred from the post.
Zuma denied that he was behind Maseko’s removal, saying there were “issues” between Chabane and Maseko that led to his axing and that the minister could have “used my name”.
“At times people use the names of the president. I am sure you had a witness here [who] said he was lying, he never had any instructions from the president. I am sure that could happen with the ministers as well if the minister is finding it difficult to say to the DG, ‘I am now saying go and use the name of the president,’ ” Zuma said.
But Simmons, who earlier deposed that he was present when Zuma asked Chabane to assist family members with government contracts, said Zuma had lied under oath.
“Zuma was abroad when he made the call. His PA called the chief of staff. They spoke and the minister was very upset that he was made to do this. They can even check the call history,” Simmons said.
He said Chabane told him that Zuma was adamant that Manyi should be the head of the GCIS. “I worked closely with minister Chabane. Many of his staff, too. He told all of us that he was upset that he had to do that. He didn’t have a good relationship with Manyi,” Simmons said.
Maseko, one of the first witnesses to implicate Zuma, said last year that in 2010 the Guptas pressured him to ensure their publication, The New Age, received the government’s entire R600m advertising spend.
He said he was called by Ajay Gupta, who told him that his failure to co-operate would be reported to his seniors to “sort him out”.