DA tells Malema to put his money where his mouth is over Nene

In a press statement on Wednesday, DA MP David Maynier called on EFF leader Julius Malema to put up or shut up regarding allegations against Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.

The EFF leader earlier this year called the minister “corrupt as hell” and has been at the forefront of an apparent social media campaign to attempt to paint the minister as a Gupta stooge. The EFF even called on Nene to “admit” his association with the Guptas and then resign.

However, during his testimony before the state capture commission, Nene said on Wednesday that the EFF’s allegations, and those of others on social media against him, were baseless.

He also questioned the timing of the campaign, coming as it did just days before his appearance before the commission of inquiry.

Nene said the allegations included that, as deputy minister of finance, Nene had facilitated the Guptas’ access to the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), and that during this period, between 2009 and 2014, he was approached by various individuals and companies seeking assistance in securing financing from the corporation.

“In all instances, these individuals and companies were informed that they should approach the PIC directly,” Nene told the commission.

He explained that during his tenure as deputy minister of finance he had served as the chair of the PIC as he was appointed by Cabinet as a non-executive director and chair of the board of the corporation. His role, however, excluded him from decision making except for specific transactions that would need the board’s approval.

Nene responded in the negative to a question of whether he recalled approving a transaction while chair of the PIC related to the Guptas or any Gupta-linked entity.

He denied acting inappropriately with regards to any investments made by the PIC and repudiated all allegations that he had knowingly sought to promote any funding from the corporation to his son.

The allegation – which Nene said was repeated by the EFF – was that the minister’s son’s oil company had benefited from the PIC during his chairpersonship of the corporation.

He added that the PIC was investigating this allegation, which the minister dismissed as meritless.

Nene further labelled as “fake” a WhatsApp message that alleges his wife had received foreign funds into her offshore account.

“I again reject this with the contempt that it deserves,” Nene said.

The minister said his wife did not have any foreign account and had not received any funds from any foreign sources.

In his statement, Maynier said that Malema had conducted what appeared to be a smear campaign against Nene in alleging that he had played any role in state capture in South Africa.

“Today, the minister confirmed he had met the Guptas, and although he seems to have exercised poor judgment meeting the Guptas, knowing that they were under investigation by National Treasury for their role in the Estina Dairy Project, he strongly denied he had acted improperly, as deputy finance minister and chairperson of the Public Investment Corporation.

“Rather than standing on the sidelines sabre rattling, Mr Malema should now have the courage to appear under oath and give evidence relating to his allegations so that they can be properly investigated by the Zondo Commission.”

Malema, for his part, spent Wednesday while listening to the testimony tweeting about apparent inconsistencies in Nene’s statements. He pinned one tweet of how Nene had once said in an eNCA interview that the Guptas had never asked him to do anything for him, while he today told the commission something somewhat different.

(Compiled by Charles Cilliers)

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