Former president Jacob Zuma's presidency was marred by "madness and paralysis" as he and his strong faction in the governing ANC did as they wished, former minerals minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said while he testified before the state capture commission of inquiry on Thursday.
Commission chairman Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo asked whether the ANC national executive committee (NEC), was hapless over Zuma and his relationship with the Gupta family?
The Zuma faction was in charge, and would caucus and impose decisions in the NEC, said Ramathlodi.
He told the commission that if the faction wasn't able to do so, Zuma himself would do it. Ramathlodi said it was a period of madness and a paralysed NEC that watched helplessly. He said Zuma auctioned off the executive to the Guptas who did as they wished and took away the State from the country's citizens.
Meanwhile, the Commision heard how former Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba facilitated two meetings between SAA and the Gupta's Jet Airlines, in a bid to force SAA into closing down the Mumbai route.
Former SAA Board chairperson Cheryl Carolus took the stand on Thursday, where she recounted the details of the meeting to the Commission.
Although Carolus was not in both meetings, she gave evidence based on what she was told by former SAA CEO, Siza Mzimela.
She said while director-general at the department of public enterprises, former Eskom CEO Tshidiso Matona, tried to persuade SAA to support the now-defunct The New Age (TNA) newspaper after the national carrier's bid adjudication committee turned it down.
Mzimela had established a bid adjudication committee to ensure fairness and transparency in tender processes, and opted not to subscribe to the newspaper as it did not meet the business criteria for SAA, she said.
- African News Agency (ANA)
