Cape Town – Deputy Public Enterprises Minister Ben Martins said he never met with Duduzane Zuma, Suzanne Daniels and Ajay Gupta at an apartment in Johannesburg in 2017.
“I am perplexed by Ms Suzanne Daniels’ testimony to the parliamentary inquiry into Eskom”.
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“She falsely claimed that I had attended a tea party in Johannesburg with her, Mr Ajay Gupta, Mr Salim Essa and Mr Duduzane Zuma.
“As the head of Eskom’s legal department Ms Daniels should account to Parliament for what happened under her watch rather than seek to use the occasion to reinvent herself as clueless ignoramus.”
Former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said that Daniels should be aware that the people involved would deny these accusations. He also warned her in Parliament that her character would be attacked.
Daniels said that it was her word against theirs. She also noted that as state capture evidence came in all the dots would be connected and her evidence will ring through at truth.
Daniels testified at the Public Enterprises committee's inquiry into state capture on Eskom. The suspended executive said quite frankly that Salim Essa, a Gupta executive and Ajay Gupta himself tried on numerous occasions to guide and influence Eskom’s executives.
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When discussing the meeting in Johannesburg this year Daniels said that “The purpose of the discussion was around the process of the [former Eskom CEO Brian] Molefe court proceedings. Mr Gupta wanted to know how far they were.”
Molefe's wanted to have the Labour Court disavow Eskom’s decision to terminate his reappointment. Daniels told Ajay Gupta the Deputy Judge President and Eskom would meet to discuss the matter. Opposition parties at the time had also joined the suit.
What was shocking was that Ajay Gupta said that he would speak to someone at the Deputy Judge President’s office so that the meeting could be moved, Daniels said.