I wrote to Zuma asking for intervention in my dismissal, Manyi tells Zondo

Former GCIS director-general Mzwanele Manyi says when he learned about the decision taken by former labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana to dismiss him in 2010, he went as far as writing to former president Jacob Zuma to intervene.

Testifying at the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture on Thursday, Manyi said when Mdladlana was replaced by Mildred Oliphant he contacted her to inform her about his termination.

Evidence leader advocate Kate Hofmeyr read out parts of Oliphant’s affidavit which was submitted to the commission.

In her affidavit, Oliphant stated that she had received a call from Manyi who congratulated her on her appointment.

This was a week after she had been appointed.

“He informed me that he was intending to appeal the decision to dismiss him or take the labour department to court over the dismissal,” Oliphant said in her affidavit.

She also indicated in her affidavit she did not want Manyi to return to the department.

However, Manyi said Oliphant had not indicated this to him personally.

“Did you have any interactions with former president Jacob Zuma about your position?” Hofmeyr asked him.

Manyi responded: “I probably would have written to the president highlighting issues and seeking his intervention … he was my employer after all, so I had to talk to my employer.”

Despite stating in his November 2010 letters that he knew he had been fired, Manyi still maintained that he was not dismissed, adding that he had received his December salary.

He said he only knew about Mdladlana’s decision to fire him, although he did not see any letter of termination and that he wanted to appeal it.

Earlier, Manyi accused Hofmeyr of not “operating in good faith” in how she posed questions about his termination.

Manyi said she was “pushing her own narrative” that he was dismissed by Mdladlana in 2010.

“I said here yesterday [Wednesday], I have no evidence of having been dismissed because I was getting paid [in December 2010].”

Oliphant withdrew Manyi’s termination as director-general on January 31, 2011, and on February 2, 2011, he was transferred to the GICS replacing Themba Maseko.

Last year, Maseko testified he was fired shortly after refusing to abide by Zuma’s instruction to “help” the Guptas with their new venture, the now-defunct The New Age newspaper, in 2010.

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