EFF calls for minister Ntshavheni’s head after state capture findings

The EFF has called for communications and digital technologies minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to stand down for allegedly aiding and abetting state capture at state-owned arms manufacturer Denel. 

The minister is implicated in part 2 of the inquiry report handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa by acting chief justice and inquiry chairperson Raymond Zondo.

The report alleges Ntshavheni participated in the decision to fire the executive in 2015 to make way for appointments that would benefit the Guptas. 

In the report, Zondo reveals Denel was run into the ground after the dismissal of group CEO Riaz Saloojee and the board that was in charge between 2011 and 2015. He said the company was functioning optimally until this point. 

The executives were fired for vague reasons and eventually paid millions to force them out of their positions. 

At the time, Ntshavheni was a member of the board and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) risk and audit committee which took the decision to fire the executives. 

“This is without a doubt not only irregular but reveals a corrupt intention by Ntshavheni and her cronies on the board, who paid millions to executives they accused of misconduct. This affirms the findings by the state capture inquiry that the sole intention was to get them out of the company to ease the business interests of the Guptas,” said the EFF.

Among Denel-related revelations is that the corruption-accused Gupta family captured the company through the procurement of the Gauteng-based defence manufacturing company VR Laser in 2014. 

The Guptas or their associate Salim Essa are also accused of “engineering for themselves a position as Denel’s most privileged supplier of complex engineering systems. This included steel armour plates and being Denel’s single and exclusive partner”. 

The report said Denel executives and its board violated the constitution and it described the  awarding of the contracts as “irregular and flawed”.

The inquiry recommended that board members appointed from 2015 be criminally investigated and possibly prosecuted for violating the Public Finance and Management Act . 

Zondo also recommended criminal investigations into those who supported the suspension of Saloojee. 

The EFF said Ntshavheni must be investigated by authorities and held liable for millions paid to the executives.

“She must be immediately investigated by law enforcement agencies as per the recommendations of the inquiry for failing to convene a timely and legitimate disciplinary process for those she purged. 

“Further to this, she must be held personally liable for the millions lost by Denel in the payout her and her board members made to the executives they victimised to allow the Guptas to infiltrate the entity,” said the EFF.

The minister issued a statement in which she denied doing dirty work for the Guptas. She also insisted that the decision to fire the executives was procedural and within the law.

“I wish to put it on public record, as I have recorded it with the commission, that I have never met any of the Gupta brothers or any of their associates.

“I was never lobbied for the decisions I supported nor opposed as a non-executive member of the Denel board of directors.”