Myeni, Duduzane, Guptas still AWOL as committee considers sending police

Parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises is struggling to get Dudu Myeni, Duduzane Zuma, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta to appear before it so it can complete its work on the inquiry into state capture.

Chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on public enterprises Zukiswa Rantho said the committee was desperate to get these four state capture accused to face questions.

“We are very desperate as a committee to get hold of these individuals because all the evidence that we got in our inquiry revolves around them,” Rantho said on Radio 702 this morning.

She said the committee wanted the four to answer to allegations of corruption and verify information submitted to the committee by individuals who have appeared before it.

She added these include issues of procurement at the power utility and contract issuing and the issue of employing or deploying individuals to the Eskom board.

Last month, Myeni was a no-show at an Eskom inquiry after she told parliament she was too sick to fly to Cape Town to face questions about her alleged interference at the power utility.

However, reports surfaced of Myeni spotted ‘sipping wine’ on day she was too sick to travel.

This was the second time that the former South African Airways chairperson snubbed the committee to avoid answering to her alleged role in state capture.

Earlier this year, she exchanged a series of text messages with the committee secretary stating that her lawyer was “not around” and that her legal representatives needed more time to prepare.

“We have been very patient with her. We have tried our best to speak to her. We have agreed that if she says she is sick therefore we need a sick note that comes from a doctor,” Rantho said.

She said Myeni, however, has failed to provide the committee with a doctor’s sick note, adding that the committee was considering involving law enforcement agencies to track down the four.

“If they [law enforcement agencies] find them we will then discuss a way of bringing them to the [committee],” she said.

Rantho said the four would not be forced to appear before the committee, but that the law enforcement agencies would use means within the law to ensure that they do.

She said the committee had not been patient with the four by choice, but were struggling to locate them.

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