Cape Town - Former Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi on Monday challenged former president Jacob Zuma to undergo a lie detector test after the latter accused him of being an apartheid-era spy.
During Zuma's testimony before the commission of inquiry into state capture on Monday, he branded Ramatlhodi a spy and said the former minister, whom Zuma appointed Mineral Resources Minister in 2014, had lied when he told the commission last year Zuma had auctioned the country off to the Gupta family. The Gupta brothers are close friends of the former president.
"Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi rebuts the allegations completely," the former minister said in a statement while Zuma was still on the stand.
"Adv Ngoako Ramatlhodi challenges former State President Zuma to undergo, together with him, a polygraph tool conducted publicly by a professional psychophysiologist (polygraph examiner) who is a detector of deception. The purpose of this test is to prove who, between them, is then frank with the truth."
Former Minister of Mineral Resources Ngoako Ramatlhodi during his testimony at the state capture commission. FILE PHOTO: Dimpho Maja / African News Agency (ANA)
Ramatlhodi was replaced as Mineral Resources Minister during a cabinet reshuffle in 2015.
During his damning testimony before the commission last year, Ramatlhodi said the fugitive Gupta family had control over Zuma and that he believed he was replaced by Mosebenzi Zwane as he was not cooperating with Zuma's friends.