How Duduzane finally ended up facing Zondo

The watershed Saxonwold encounter four years ago between the Guptas and former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas, at which Jonas was allegedly offered R600 million if he accepted the position of finance minister, is expected to have a sequel at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture today when former president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane appears before Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

Besides having been implicated in evidence given by Jonas at the inquiry, Duzuzane, a Gupta business partner who maintained strong business ties with the family during his father’s reign as president, was also fingered in testimonies given by former African National Congress MP Vytjie Mentor and former Africa News Network (ANN7) television editor Rajesh Sundaram, for having assisted the infamous family, who became central in the state capture project in South Africa.

Seen as part of several attempts to take over National Treasury, Duduzane facilitated the October 2015 meeting with the Guptas, which saw Jonas declining the offer.

Jonas went public with revelations that Duduzane and businessman Fana Hlongwane were present at the Saxonwold Gupta family compound where the incident occurred.

From mining to media, revelations of Duduzane’s involvement in multibillion-rand deals with the Guptas have been made by witnesses before Zondo, with the Jonas claims having sparked tensions within the ruling ANC.

In his testimony last August, Jonas painted a picture of a desperate Duduzane, who allegedly pulled all the stops to ensure that the Gupta meeting took place. Recalling a sequence of events, Jonas told Zondo that it began with Hlongwane meeting Jonas in Johannesburg to repeat Duduzane’s request for a conversation, stressing the importance of the Guptas.

Then there was a short telephone conversation on 17 October 2015 saw Duduzane extend an invitation to Jonas to attend the ANN7 South African of the Year Awards, which Jonas declined due to a busy schedule.

A 23 October 2015 meeting took place between Duduzane and Jonas at the Hyatt Hotel in Rosebank at which – according to Jonas – “he (Duduzane) appeared quite nervous and spoke in vague terms”.

Jonas drove in Duduzane’s two-door Mercedes-Benz to what Duduzane described as “a more private place nearby to discuss important matters”, which turned out to be the Gupta family compound in Saxonwold.

It was at the meeting that Jonas learnt that Zuma planned to fire Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister and he was told that “the old man likes me”. He was also told that the Guptas were “in control of everything, including the National Prosecuting Authority, the Hawks and the National Intelligence”.

In offering the R600 million, Ajay told Jonas that the Guptas “worked closely with a number of people” who included then public enterprises minister Lynne Brown and then Transnet group chief executive officer Brian Molefe.

Duduzane, who is expected to put his version before the commission, is expected to shed light on the goings-on at the Gupta family home, where Mentor also claimed to have been offered a position of public enterprises minister if she scrapped the lucrative SA Airways Johannesburg-Mumbai route, which was later taken over by the Gupta-linked Jet Airways under Malusi Gigaba as political head of department.

Senior counsel Piet Louw, who cross-examined Jonas in March on evidence implicating Duduzane, was yesterday not available for comment.

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