Ex-protocol boss tells Zondo of ‘inaccuracies’ in Waterkloof Gupta landing report

The former head of state protocol, Ambassador Bruce Koloane, on Monday told the commission of inquiry into state capture of serious issues and “inaccuracies” in the Justice Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster report on the landing at Waterkloof Air Force Base of an aircraft carrying guests to the Gupta wedding.

Koloane told the commission chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that as one of the people implicated in the illegal landing, he was never invited by the JCPS cluster team of directors general (DGs) to give his side of events.

He further said one member of the JCPS cluster team, former Sars boss Tom Moyane, was never part of a sitting of 14 or so National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (Nicoc) members who interrogated him.

Koloane said he was not afforded the opportunity to interact with the information gathered by the JCPS cluster team.

The ambassador said he also was not afforded ample time to prepare for the committee’s interrogation and that after he questioned this he was given a list of questions and a chance to consult his legal counsel, responding to the questions within three days.

Koloane said another concern is that on the day the committee called him to clarify some of his responses to the written questions, former minister Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Jeff Radebe, had already received the report and was publicly reading the JCPS cluster team report.

“I wanted to go on record that the manner in which the JCPS report was compiled smells fishy and if it smells fishy it is fishy,” Koloane said.

The ambassador said some of the individuals who are said to be the authors of the JCPS cluster team report had not interacted with him.

Another inaccuracy Koloane raised was that he had told somebody that former minister of transport Ben Martins had approved the landing, and that it was inaccurate that he had at some stage made reference that he was under pressure from “number one” – former president Jacob Zuma.

“My job was only in the protocol, I had no business in other portfolios,” Koloane told the commission.

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