Even De Klerk failed to break me, says Manyi on reports of R1.6m job bid

President of the Progressive Professionals’ Forum (PPF) and President Jacob Zuma supporter Mzwanele Manyi has on Sunday slammed reports that he was blocked from getting a R1.6 million government post.

Responding to the allegations, Manyi said Sunday Times was “trying too hard” to break or soil his name.

“You will not succeed. Even [Hendrik] Verwoed,  [John] Vorster, [P.W] Botha and [F.W[ de Klerk failed,” he said.

Sunday Times has reported that former public service and administration minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi “blocked” Manyi’s bid for a government post. Manyi had reportedly been earmarked for the director-general post in the mineral resources department despite not being qualified.

Ramatlhodi reportedly confirmed to the publication that Manyi did not qualify for the job, even though he had already been interviewed for the position.

“I stopped that thing of Manyi because he did not meet the requirement of a postgraduate [degree]. We could not allow it,” Ramatlhodi was quoted as saying.

Manyi is said to only have a national higher diploma in economic geology.

The advert for the post required candidates to have an “appropriate tertiary qualification”, a postgraduate qualification and eight to 10 years of senior managerial experience.

Ramatlhodi, however, told the publication he could not relax the requirements to suit Manyi, a decision which he claimed made him “unpopular” among his Cabinet colleagues.

Manyi has been implicated in a thread of leaked emails exposed late last month which allegedly show the Gupta family’s influence over Cabinet ministers and state-owned enterprises, and their boards and CEOs.

Manyi reportedly approached the family seeking positions for himself and an unaware former colleague at state-owned companies.

In May 2014, Manyi is alleged to have forwarded his CV and that of attorney Xoliswa Mpongoshe to the family.

In both the emails, Manyi wrote to the CEO of [the] Gupta-owned Sahara computers company, Ashu Chawla, informing him “as discussed with Tony [Gupta]” and then attached the two CVs. However, the emails didn’t state which jobs were being applied for, but there was a clear expectation of employment, according to the report.

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