EFF STATEMENT ON MINISTER NHI-ANHLA NENE DISHONEST TESTIMONY AT THE STATE OF CAPTURE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
Wednesday, 3 September, 2018
The EFF is shocked by Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene dishonest testimony under oath at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry that he responded to EFF correspondence regarding his alleged involvement in the Gupta capture and interference at the PIC. The EFF wrote a letter to the Minister on the 22nd of May 2018. Today he told the Commission of Inquiry that he responded to the EFF letter.
This is a lie and the Minister has never responded to the correspondence regarding these matters.
The EFF raised the matter in the Standing Committee of Finance several times that the Minister is failing to respond to important correspondence. The committee then resolved that the Minister must respond in 10 working days, he still ignore the Committee resolution and did not bother to respond. On the 12th of June 2018, we wrote a text message to the Minister making a follow up on the correspondence, he simply ignored the message the continued with business as usual.
We then realised that the Minister is being extremely arrogant, refusing to respond to our correspondence, we then submitted questions for written reply published in September 2018 (Question 27381, which we asked the Minister,
a) Did he (Minister) (a) meet any member of the Gupta family during his term as Deputy Minister of Finance and (b) discuss business dealings, particularly the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) funding with any member of the Gupta family;
b) did he ever write a letter to the PIC instructing them to award a certain contract in favour of the Gupta business network?
c) Did members of the Gupta family ever contacted him as the Minister of Finance; if so, (a) what were the details of the engagement and (b) did it relate to following up on a commitment he gave them as Deputy Minister of Finance?
In terms of Rule 145 of the National Assembly Rules, the Minister had 10 working days from the 14th of September to respond to our questions in writing. Instead the Minister continue with his arrogance undermining Parliament in the process.
The EFF did not now raise the matter because Minister Nene was going to testify. It is not correct to say that the questions are coming up because of his testimony. The Minister has proven to be unethical and dishonest, and this is not the first time.
When asked if he had met with the Guptas, he said no and claimed that he only met with them informally at government events when he has visited their homes.
Today, after his misleading submission, we wrote to him to ask for the copy of his response and his office response was that the Minister is considering our request. Even for such a simple letter, the Minister could not simply resend or furnish us with his response to show he is not lying.
The EFF demands that the Minister furnishes us with the letter he claims he wrote to the EFF in response, and also refer us to the official parliamentary questions responses.
We request all these because we need all the information to be on record wherein Nhlanhla Nene denies his actions in facilitating business dealings for the Guptas.
This is already being revealed in his confused submission that he refused to attend the Guptas wedding because he thought the Guptas were corrupted yet was more than ready to go to their private spaces because he knew that they will recommend him to the puppet President that he be appointed as Minister of Finance.
Nhlanhla Nene is not an honest witness and cannot be trusted with State resources as Minister of Finance. He already has abdicated his responsibilities to others because he knows that he is too compromised to be a Minister.
Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, 3 October 2018
