Zuma says he does not remember calling former GCIS boss

Former president Jacob Zuma on Monday told the commission of inquiry into state capture that he did not recall phoning the former chief executive at the Government Communications Information Systems (GCIS) Themba Maseko to ask him to assist the Gupta brothers.

Zuma took the witness stand at the commission to responded to testimonies which implicated him. The first witness testimony the commission dealt with is that of Maseko.

Maseko had told the commission of how Ajay Gupta knew about internal R600 million the department allocated for advertisement spend.

Zuma told the commission that though he did not recall phoning Maseko, he saw nothing out of the ordinary with the Guptas calling the department to secure advertisement for the New Age, a publication whose establishment the former president supported.

“It might have happened,” Zuma said of the phone call to Maseko.

Maseko testified that Zuma had called him on the same day that he arranged to meet with the Guptas after conceding to pressure.

Zuma said he did not know of Maseko’s meeting with the Guptas but knew at the time that the members of the family were meeting a number of people.

Zuma told the commission that he had no knowledge of an alleged requested by Ajay Gupta for the department to spend the entire R600 million at the ANN7 and the New Age.

Watch the testimony live courtesy of the SABC:

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