Dudu Myeni allegedly called Mr X’s daughter to ask: ‘Why is your father selling us out?’

Former SAA board chair Dudu Myeni allegedly called the daughter of a witness testifying in camera at the commission of inquiry into state capture to ask: “Why is your father selling us out?”

The witness had applied to give testimony in-camera at an undisclosed location out of a concern for their and family’s safety. This resulted in the witness being called Mr X while giving testimony at the commission.

Mr X told the chairperson of the commission, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, that he would gain nothing by testifying at the inquiry but that this would most likely increase the threat to his safety, cost him friendships, and lead to the community in his area losing faith in him.

The commission heard that Myeni allegedly called Mr X’s daughter on 24 January.

Mr X’s testimony on Monday and Tuesday was on various payments that were made into his business account, including three payments from Premier Attraction 1016 CC – a company Myeni’s son, Thalente, was a partner in.

Mr X said that when he was questioned by the commission’s investigator on these payments, he asked the investigator to inquire from those who had made the payments into his business accounts as to why they had paid the money.

On the next day, after he had met with the commission’s investigator, Myeni allegedly called Mr X’s daughter to ask why her father was “selling” them “out”.

However, Mr X told the commission that he had not checked on his daughter’s phone whether the number alleged to be Myeni’s was actually hers.

On Monday, Thalente Myeni told the commission that the three payments – one on 24 October 2015 of R1 million, R1,150,000 on 11 December 2015, and R1 million on 2 February 2016 – were for work that Mr X’s company, Isibonelo Construction, had done for Premier Attraction 1016 CC.

“I’ve never worked for him,” Mr X testified on Tuesday, adding that there are no invoices his company had sent to Premier Attraction 1016 CC.

The commission heard that Myeni senior had on two occasions instructed him to transfer money into a bank account which turned out to be that of the Jacob Zuma Foundation.

READ MORE: Dudu Myeni instructed Mr X to transfer money to the Jacob Zuma Foundation