Pretoria: Former South African President Jacob Zuma said that he initiated the idea that led to the controversial Indian-origin Gupta family establishing their media empire, which has since collapsed. He said he had conceived the idea of having an "alternative media" in South Africa because "the media in this country is very biased; at all material times, just critical".
He started his long-awaited testimony before the Zondo Commission, which is inquiring into allegations of “state capture” during his rule. He had then suggested that a newspaper be established, which the ANC had agreed to. This led to him approaching the Guptas with the idea.
“When this paper was operating and really being appreciated in this country to bring in an alternative voice, … I wondered whether I could push them further,” he said. “I suggested the paper to them; I suggested the (TV) channel (ANN7). The Guptas partnered with a media house in India to establish the ANN7 channel, which was closed down after allegations of their involvement in "state capture" emerged.
Zuma resigned as president in February last year after huge outcries over his alleged involvement in corrupt and illegal activities that left a number of government departments bankrupt. He was replaced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was subsequently re-elected during national election.
The commission had heard evidence from a number of witnesses, including former ministers of state, implicating Zuma in a range of activities, among them his closeness to the three Gupta brothers who allegedly fleeced a number of government organisations of billions of rand. Zuma has repeatedly denied these allegations.
I was targeted on the presidential jet
Testifying before the commission, he said numerous attempts had been made to poison him in early 2019 as well as to kill him at a stadium in KwaZulu-Natal. "On the plane that I had been using, many things were found that were aimed to get rid of me. Not one, many. At the right moment, I will give you those items that were found in order that I should not reach my destination."
Ramaphosa calls watchdog's report 'flawed'
Meanwhile South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he will seek an urgent judicial review of what he described as an irretrievably flawed report in which the country's graft watchdog said he misled parliament over a campaign donation. "After careful study, I have concluded that the report is fundamentally and irretrievably flawed," Ramaphosa told a media briefing, adding that it was therefore appropriate the courts make a final and impartial judgment on the matter.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's report followed an investigation by the watchdog into a 500,000 rand ($35,878.56) donation to Ramaphosa's 2017 campaign for the leadership of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) from the CEO of services company Bosasa.
Ramaphosa said the report's findings were not rational, based in fact or arrived at through a fair and impartial process - assertions Mkhwebane refutes - and that he would seek a judicial review of the report, its conclusions and the remedial action it recommended.
