Days of Zondo: Fikile ‘Fearfokkol’ Mbalula tripped up by semantics of his Gupta-fix tale By Jessica Bezuidenhout JessBezJourn
Testifying at the Zondo commission into State Capture, Fikile Mbalula confirmed a controversial Gupta call ahead of his appointment –but was grilled about why he repeatedly emphasised that it was former president Jacob Zuma who appointed him to Cabinet during that interview.
As a result, he had framed his responses to draw the distinction between his official appointment by the former president against an earlier congratulatory call from Ajay Gupta. In what he described as a brief conversation, the Gupta brother introduced himself on the phone and then allegedly told Mbalula of his appointment to Cabinet.But Mbalula waited about 10 months before finding an opportunity to share this personal Gupta experience with the ANC during an NEC meeting at which the influence of the Guptas on the party came up for informal discussionI confronted them in a meeting of the ANC’s highest decision making body.”You could hear a pin drop.
A lone voice at that NEC meeting 2011, Mbalula’s confession may have seemed “principled” at some point – it came almost two years before the Guptas Waterkloof aircraft landing in 2013 and years before the #Guptaleaks would see the light of day in 2016 – but his failure to be forthright with Madonsela came back to bite him on Friday.
Mbalula said it was unlikely because the purpose of that interview was different, that it had been an attempt to pin him down as a “Gupta appointee”.
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