Riyaz Patel
Duduzane Zuma is scheduled to testify at the Commission of Enquiry into State Capture Monday.
The former president’s son has been singled out by former finance deputy minister Mcebisi Jonas and former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor as having facilitated underhanded deals between the state and the controversial Gupta family.
Jonas stated in an affidavit that he was called to a meeting with Duduzane Zuma, Ajay Gupta and businessman Fana Hlongwane, where Gupta allegedly offered him R600 million and the position of finance minister if he agreed to work with them.
All three have filed affidavits accusing the former deputy finance minister of lying.
In a letter the Commission in September 2018, Zuma confirmed he was ready to to respond to Jonas’ claims.
During her testimony in August 2018, Mentor told the public inquiry that Duduzane Zuma had introduced her to two members of the Gupta family, along with another individual whom she had initially identified as Hlongwane.
Mentor later retracted that statement that it was not Hlongwane she had been introduced to at that meeting, but insisted that Zuma Jnr. was there.
“When I saw the image on the internet of Fana Hlongwane, I realised that this is not the person Duduzane introduced me to, because the person that Duduzane introduced me to was way taller than the images of Fana Hlongwane,” said Mentor at the time.
The former MP claimed she was “offered” the post of Public Enterprises Minister by the Guptas before Barbara Hogan was removed from the position by then President Jacob Zuma.
Earlier this year, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) dropped charges against Zuma’s son when he appeared in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Zuma was out on R100,000 bail for the charges linked to the controversial Estina dairy farm project in the Free State. He had pleaded not guilty.
In a letter to Duduzane Zuma’s lawyer, the NPA said withdrew the charges because Jonas’ evidence at the state capture inquiry had not been finalised.
At the time, the prosecuting authority says that it is in the interests of justice not to proceed with the criminal charges.
Last week the former head of department in the Free State agriculture department continued his testimony into the failed Estina Diary project, where millions were allegedly siphoned through a Gupta-linked company.
