Communications minister Khumbodzu Ntshavheni was “probably culpable” in the Gupta family’s capture of state-owned arms manufacturer Denel. That is according to the second part of the Zondo Commission’s State Capture Inquiry, which delves into how state-owned companies Transnet and Denel were effectively hijacked by the Guptas and their political allies.
Ntshavheni’s role in the capture of Denel centres around the dismissal of three employees who had resisted the Guptas’ attempts to gain control over Denel through its board chairman at the time, Daniel Mantsha.
Mantsha, a former attorney of record for former president Jacob Zuma, was appointed by then public enterprises minister Lynn Brown, despite being struck from the roll between 2007 and 2011 for legal transgressions.
The commission’s report found that Mantsha and his abettors on the Denel board had manufactured a scheme to eliminate the three employees and replace them with individuals more amicable to the Gupta’s offers.
The three employees which the board suspended were Denel CEO Raiz Saloojee, CFO Fikile Mhlontlo and the company’s secretary Elizabeth Africa. Saloojee’s suspension came despite what the commission labelled as excellent performance at the company’s helm.
The suspensions were based on a contract awarded to Denel, which allegedly breached the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), but to date, no sufficient evidence has been presented that this was the case.
Like Mantsha, Ntshavheni claimed there was “strong evidence” that the executives were guilty of serious acts of misconduct and that this evidence was already available at the time of their suspension.
But for more than a year, the Denel board failed to hold disciplinary hearings for the suspended executives in which they could be presented with the evidence against them.
The commission also rejected Ntshavheni and Mantsha’s attempts to blame the disciplinary process delays on Denel’s legal department head.
It seemed clear that the board had continued to deny the executives an opportunity to respond to the allegations against them because they knew this would exonerate the executives. The commission did not mince words when it came to minister Ntshavheni’s continued support of Mantsha’s view on the matter.
“It would have been expected that anyone who may not have realised this when it happened would have realised it by now, but even in 2021 — when so much evidence has been put in the public domain — Minister Ntshavheni still thinks that there was nothing wrong that the Board did,” the report stated.
Source: mybroadband
In other news – Pearl Thusi is up for Valentine’s Day date with Mr Smeg?
Local actress Pearl Thusi could be spending her Valentine’s Day with social media personality Michael Bucwa aka Mr Smeg. Thusi had such a great time with the Twitter influencer and entrepreneur that she is even open to a second date with him.
Thusi in response to a fan said that she “wouldn’t mind” going on a second date with Mr Smeg on February 14, which is Valentine’s Day. Learn more
