Motsoeneng willing to testify at Zondo commission, warns ANC leaders will be in trouble
11 March 2019
Former SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng says he would "gladly" testify at the judicial commission of inquiry looking into allegations of state capture, should he be called to do so.
The former public broadcaster boss-turned-politician was addressing members of his political party, the African Content Movement (ACM), in Soweto on Sunday.
"Should I be called to go testify at the Zondo commission, I will gladly do [so]," Motsoeneng said at the gathering.
Motsoeneng said many ANC leaders had "tried to capture" him while he was at the SABC, IOL reported on Monday.
"If I go to the commission, some of the ANC people are going to be in trouble because I was not captured by them – they tried to capture me, but I capture myself unfortunately," Motsoeneng was quoted as saying.
Last year, City Press reported that Petrus Venter, an auditor employed by a company contracted to controversial services management company African Global Operations (AGO), formerly Bosasa, revealed in a sworn affidavit that the company's chief executive, Gavin Watson, "approached me to assist him to pay the legal costs of Mr Hlaudi Motsoeneng".
AGO was the focus of the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture for several weeks earlier this year, when its operations, network of patronage and links to high-ranking government officials and civil servants were laid bare by former chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi and other past and present employees.
Motsoeneng racked up a bill of around R1.1m in legal fees in his failed defence of a disciplinary hearing in 2017.
At the same time, Motsoeneng told the gathering that his ACM would take the North West when South Africans head to the polls on May 8.
"ACM will take North West province because a professor who speaks only good English without solutions was appointed as premier. The province is currently leaderless," he added.
Motsoeneng launched the party in December. At the time, he said the ACM would make sure that a constitutional democracy with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary benefits all citizens equally, reducing inequality.
