‘They tried to buy my silence’
Mo Shaik yesterday told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that when he was head of foreign intelligence, he was offered an ambassadorial post in a bid to get him to drop his intended investigation of the Gupta family.
I put the phone down and I was in a state of shock
Former president Zuma laughed when he heard about it, inquiry hears.
The former head of foreign intelligence Rieaz “Mo” Shaik has said that then state security minister Siyabonga Cwele allegedly offered to appoint him as an ambassador to Japan, in a bid to get him to drop his intentions of investigating the Gupta family and their dealings.
The commission further heard of then president Jacob Zuma’s apparent carefree response upon being informed of this shocking offer.
On his second day of testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Shaik told the chairperson of the inquiry, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, that Cwele allegedly made the offer at a time when their relationship had broken down and the then minister had taken to “micro-managing” the State Security Agency (SSA), which “became an untenable situation” for Shaik.
On Monday, Shaik had told Zondo that Cwele’s bid to stop an SSA probe into the Guptas had been illegal.
Shaik said that due to the breakdown of relations between himself and Cwele, he approached Zuma to appeal to him to intervene.
However, he said that in June 2011 he received a call for a request to meet with Cwele and the ambassador post offer was made at that meeting.
Shaik said he told Cwele it was not his place to make such an offer and that he did not want to talk about it further.
He added it was “a very tense” meeting and that Cwele’s use of the word “I” when he had made the offer had angered him.
Shaik said when he later met with Zuma, he informed him that his relationship with Cwele was “done and dusted” and that he did not want to go back to the SSA.
When he told Zuma that Cwele had offered him the position of ambassador to Japan, the then president had simply laughed.
He said he told Zuma he would consider other offers and that he would consider being ambassador to Canada or New York if those positions were available, adding that Zuma had then said he would handle the matter.
Three hours later, Shaik received a call from the then director-general of the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco), Jerry Matjila, who informed him that the then ambassador to Canada would be moved to Japan, which would make the position available for him to take up if he was still interested.
“I put the phone down and I was in a state of shock,” Shaik said, saying he felt this way because it became clear to him that Zuma wanted him to leave intelligence.
Shaik said he came to this realisation because he had only spoken to Zuma about his interest in moving to Canada or New York. “After due consideration, I declined,” Shaik told Zondo.
Shaik said Matjila did not, however, make reference to Zuma making arrangements for him to take up the position of ambassador to Canada.
“But he did say to me, ‘Mo, you have a lot of pull’,” adding that he was taken aback by the fact that arrangements were made for him to take up the ambassador position “so soon”.
Shaik resigned in February 2012 and he told the commission that this was, in part, due to the breakdown of his relationship with Cwele.
Shaik said a similar offer to take up the position of ambassador in an African country was made to former SSA director Gibson Njenje who, however, “refused the post”.
Shaik also told the commission that Zuma’s claims regarding the reasons for former minister of finance Nhlanhla Nene’s sacking made little sense.
Nene, after his removal, was announced as South Africa’s nominee to head the Africa regional centre for the New Development Bank (NDB) in Johannesburg.
Shaik, however, said it would have been in breach of the Brics-operated NDB’s regulations had Nene been appointed as its regional head in Johannesburg on a nomination by South Africa.
Zuma at first replaced Nene with Des van Rooyen in December 2015. However, a few days later the latter was replaced by Pravin Gordhan.
Shaik told Zondo that the bank’s regulations and its relevant instruments guiding it in the appointment of personnel did not permit that a shareholder could nominate personnel to be appointed.
He added that it would have been the bank’s management that would decide who would assume the position it was announced Nene had been nominated for.
Shaik said the position Nene had been nominated for was eventually advertised. “There is no way a shareholder could impose a nominee on the management of the bank,” Shaik said.
He added that Nene’s nomination for the position within the bank did not make sense and that the former minister would take up the position as he had served at a higher position as governor. –