Vytjie Mentor damages state capture inquiry

The sad thing about the Vytjie Mentor saga is that whatever she may have been able to contribute to exposing state capture will forever be clouded by the fact that she has put her own credibility at issue by being wrong so many times.

The latest was this week, when she admitted – via a letter from her lawyers – that she had mistakenly identified Fana Hlongwane as a key player in state capture.

According to her testimony during the second week of the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Mentor testified that Hlongwane was present when she met with then president Jacob Zuma. While she maintains the man with Zuma at a meeting she attended was businessman Hlongwane, it was pointed out that she had previously named Brian Hlongwa in a book she wrote.

Now she’s admitted that she identified the man despite not knowing what Hlongwane looked like – and even having to google his image to see who he was.

The last thing we need at this juncture in the inquiry is loose cannons, and Mentor is undoubtedly one.

The danger in accepting her emotional and sometimes incorrect testimony is that the guilty parties might use it to evade the truth themselves.

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