JOHANNESBURG, September (ANA) - The son of former president Jacob Zuma, Duduzane, has decided to testify and give his side of the story at the state capture commission it emerged on Monday.
Head of the commission's legal team, Paul Pretorius, said a letter was received from Duduzane's legal representatives stating that he has changed his mind and will give testimony.
'We have now received instructions from Mr Duduzane Zuma to inform the commission that he is prepared to give evidence as a witness before the commission, with reference to the subject matter raised by Mr Jonas in his evidence,'' Pretorius read the letter to Zondo.
Duduzane had opted not to testify as he was facing parallel criminal charges. The charges relate to an alleged R600 million bribe offered to former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas by the Gupta family at their Saxonwold compound in the presence of Duduzane and controversial businessman, Fana Hlongwane. Duduzane's corruption case is in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Jonas testified that Duduzane had arranged a meeting with him through calls and text messages. The two then finally met at an upmarket hotel in Rosebank in 2016 where Duduzane kept telling Jonas how his father liked him. He said he was then driven to the Gupta mansion in Saxonwold by Duduzane ''to meet with more people'' in a private space. The former deputy minister said this is when Ajay Gupta offered him the position of finance minister and a R600 million bribe to ''stash away in any account' anywhere in the world. Ajay boasted to Jonas that the family had made many people rich, including Duduzane, who had become a billionaire. Duduzane and Hlongwane remained quiet and did not utter a word when the offers were made, said Jonas.
Ajay then offered Jonas, according to his testimony, a pre-payment of R600,000 on the spot as he stood up to leave for a flight to Cape Town. Jonas said he rejected both the offers and left.
African National Congress (ANC) Presidency spokesman Zizi Kodwa said his party welcomed Duduzane's decision to give evidence.
''We overwhelmingly welcome the fact that people are warming up [to the commission] and want to testify. People are now seeing that the commission is the only platform to deal with this [state capture] matter,'' Kodwa told reporters on the sidelines of the inquiry on Monday.
- African News Agency (ANA)
