Fikile Mbalula says Ajay Gupta congratulated him before his ministerial post was official
The ANC’s election head says that when he raised the issue in the NEC, people looked down and kept quiet, but the party later condemned the issue
ANC elections head Fikile Mbalula told the Zondo commission into state capture on Friday that he received a call from Ajay Gupta telling him he would be appointed the minister of sport and recreation before the appointment was made official by former president Jacob Zuma. His statement mainly deals with a meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) in 2011. In an affidavit deposed with the commission, Gupta confirmed the call saying he only did so based on what he had read in the newspapers. Mbalula said he raised the issue in the ruling party’s national executive committee (NEC). He said when he raised the issue, people looked down and kept quiet. But the issue was later condemned by the ANC. He said after the August 2011 NEC meeting the issue of the Guptas kept coming up with other ANC members getting more vocal towards the Nasrec conference which elected Cyril Ramaphosa as new party leader. Mbalula also told judge Raymond Zondo that the looting of state resources was ...
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