Former government spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi on Monday denied the Guptas had been implicated in serious corruption and state capture at the Zondo commission.
Under cross-examination of evidence leader Vincent Maleka, Manyi first said he did not know if the Guptas were implicated and then said he “struggled to find evidence to corroborate the claim” that the Guptas were incriminated.
Manyi said most of the witnesses had been “poetic” in their testimony and told justice Raymond Zondo he ought to “take the cup” for bringing real evidence. He said he doubted the evidence of state capture presented by former government spokesperson Themba Maseko, former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and former National Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile.
A veteran SA cop running for the Interpol presidency had his nomination withdrawn at the 11th hour to allow a controversial Russian candidate a clear run at the title.
Brigadier Anbuen Naidoo, a long-serving delegate attached to the global policing body, was forced to bow out of the presidential race this week.
Sources say the decision was prompted to strengthen diplomatic ties between Russia and SA, which had soured after SA withdrew its nuclear energy agreement with the Russians.
Times Select can reveal that Naidoo’s nomination, put forth glowingly by police commissioner Khehla Sitole, was pulled back on the morning the 87th General Assembly in Dubai was set to start – at the same time minister of international relations Lindiwe Sisulu arrived in Moscow to strengthen diplomatic ties and relations.
Nine years ago, a person told me I was racist for suggesting Julius Malema was a bully with totalitarian, anti-democratic tendencies. This weekend I read an opinion piece by that very same person, explaining that Malema is a bully with totalitarian, anti-democratic tendencies.
I must confess I was confused by the accusation back in 2009. We didn’t yet know Malema had just helped install a decade-long blight on SA, but we did know he had publicly vowed to murder people on behalf of that blight, not to mention suggesting that alleged rape victim “Khwezi” had enjoyed her ordeal. At the time I thought it was pretty obvious that Malema’s petticoats were showing.
Indeed, a year later he wasn’t even trying to disguise his embrace of kragdadigheid. In an infamous press conference he called the BBC’s Jonah Fisher a “bastard” and “bloody agent”, before mocking Fisher’s penis and expelling him from the room.