Mentor moved to new hotel prior to her last day of testimony

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has taken a swift decision to relocate former ANC member of parliament Vytjie Mentor to another Gauteng hotel due to her safety concerns.

Mentor, who has been giving testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, yesterday broke down into tears and told commission head Zondo there were signs pointing to her hotel room being unsafe.

“Two nights ago, I discovered that the latch of the door of my hotel room was faulty, something rendering the door not to function safely.

“When I alerted the hotel, they fixed the problem,” she said.

“This morning, I went back into the room to fetch my glasses and when I tried to open the door with the card, the card could not function and later it opened without the card.

“I cannot sleep in a hotel with a room that is unsafe and can be easily opened.”

Mentor, who today completes her testimony, has been staying in the hotel since arriving to give account of the extent of state capture and corruption during the Jacob Zuma presidency.

Zondo said Mentor’s safety was “quite a serious matter due to her evidence implicating various people”.

Mentor was “rightfully concerned” about her safety.

“I would like the legal team to try and see … where she can spend the night peacefully, even if it means relocating.

“I would like to be informed whether proper arrangements were made for her tonight and whether other measures have been explored for her safety,” said Zondo.

INFO

How the Hawks tried to protect Zuma and company 

• The directorate for priority crime investigation – or the Hawks – attempted to erase any reference to former president Jacob Zuma, his son Duduzane, the Gupta family and some ministers in a statement alleging corruption by former ANC member of parliament Vytjie Mentor, the commission was told yesterday.
• Mentor said Hawks senior official advocate Alouis Mtolo visited her home two years ago with a “corrupted typed statement” with facts altered from the original hand-written one she had made to police in the Western Cape.
• “In my statement, I said they all had a corrupt relationship with the Gupta family. I asked Mtolo where my original hand-written statement was and he said this was my typed version.
• “When I pointed out to a few errors which made it difficult for me to sign it, Mtolo said the typist was Afrikaans speaking and I refused to accept the explanation.
• “He then said the investigation would not proceed if I did not cross out reference to president Zuma, son Duduzane and some ministers. I told him if it would take removing the names to get the investigation done, I would do it,” claimed Mentor.

– brians@citizen.co.za

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