Johannesburg - Former African National Congress parliamentarian Vytjie Mentor returns to the stand at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state capture on Monday to finish her testimony and be cross-examined.
In 2016, she revealed how former president Jacob Zuma and his government were under the control of the fugitive Gupta family. Mentor subsequently gave her explosive testimony at the commission in August last year, implicating the Guptas, Zuma, his son Duduzane, businessman Fana Hlongwane, and former Zuma aide Lakela Kaunda.
Commission chairman Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo granted those implicated by Mentor, except the Guptas, permission to cross-examine the ex-MP. Zondo refused to grant the Guptas permission to quiz witnesses as long as they refused to travel to South Africa and appear in person before the commission.
Mentor testified on how Zuma and government officials did the bidding for the Gupta family who amassed as much as R6 billion through questionable contracts at state-owned enterprises.
She said Zuma and his son Duduzane gave the Gupta brothers an unfair advantage, as they accessed state resources and even picked who became cabinet ministers from their Saxonwold compound.
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Mentor also told the commission that in 2010 she was offered the post of public enterprises minister, to replace Barbara Hogan, at the Gupta compound in Saxonwold, Johannesburg while Zuma was in the next room.
Zuma, who is heavily implicated by state capture witnesses, and recently in the Bosasa corruption scandal, is yet to officially indicate his willingness to cross-examine witnesses.
African News Agency/ANA
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