Fikile Mbalula has vowed to “amplify the truth” when he testifies before the state capture commission of inquiry.
“Everything that [former finance minister] Trevor Manuel said regarding head of elections about me is true, and it is now up to me to go to the state capture commission and amplify that truth and put it into context,” Mbalula, who is the party’s head of elections, said.
Manuel testified at the commission on Thursday and told Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that Mbalula had an emotional reaction during one of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meetings over an interaction he had with one of the Gupta brothers. The Guptas are at the centre of state capture allegations.
Manuel revealed that at the NEC meeting in August 2011, members had a tense discussion about the influence of the Guptas. Former president Jacob Zuma attended that meeting.
Manuel said Mbalula cried while talking about an engagement he had with one of the Gupta brothers in 2010. It was during this interaction that he was told that he would become Minister of Sports and Recreation.
Speaking on the sidelines of a media briefing at Luthuli House on Thursday afternoon, Mbalula told News24 that he was not fearful of anyone or anything, and that he wanted his day at the commission so he could “add his voice against state capture”.
“To hell with state capture, it must never happen in this generation and many generations to come.. it must be fought at all avenues,” Mbalula said.
“I am not going to be an accomplice of anti-congress criminal matter… I support the Zondo commission and see it as a necessary process that we all must honour and appear before it if we have been called,” he continued.
He said that he would co-operate and give the commission to “lay matters to rest”.
Mbalula also said his lawyers were talking to the commission’s officials and that he was busy preparing to appear before the inquiry.
The commission aims to get to the bottom of allegations of state capture and its roots, including finding out which officials, including Cabinet ministers, politicians and civil servants, enabled it.
Source: News24
