President Cyril Ramaphosa will give evidence before the state capture commission of inquiry in April, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo announced on Wednesday.
Zondo, who chairs the commission investigating allegations of state capture, said Ramaphosa will appear before the commission on April 22 and 23, and again on April 28 and 29.
“I understand that President Ramaphosa will testify representing the ANC. But I have indicated that from the commission’s side the president will have to testify as president of the country and former deputy president of the country,” Zondo said.
Zondo said Ramaphosa will give evidence as ANC president on behalf of the governing party on April 22 and 23.
On April 28 and 29 Ramaphosa will provide evidence as president of the republic, he said. Ramaphosa was also deputy president during former president Jacob Zuma’s last term in office as president.
The ANC has been implicated as a central player in allegations of state capture at the commission, while Ramaphosa also held the second most senior political office in the country when he served as deputy president from May 2014 till February 2018.
The commission is investigating allegations that took place during Zuma’s two terms in office.
Zuma and his friends, the Guptas, are at the heart of state capture allegations in SA, which among other things brought SOEs to their knees and decimated institutions such as the SA Revenue Service and various law-enforcement agencies.
Two years ago, Ramaphosa filed a six-page affidavit in which he detailed his relationship with the Gupta family. Ramaphosa said he had met the family three times in total, from 2012, when he was elected deputy president of the ANC.
“My interactions with the Gupta brothers were at events where nothing of any consequence was discussed. I never engaged with them beyond the basic greetings, pleasantries and common courtesies,” he said.
He said the only occasion where matters of substance were discussed was when the Guptas met ANC officials to discuss the closing of their bank accounts in April 2016. At that meeting, the controversy around their relationship with Zuma was discussed, he said then.
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