Themba Maseko tells the inside story of the Guptas' R600m media heist
In testimony before the state capture commission, Maseko detailed how the Guptas aimed to divert all government advertising spend to themselves
This is an edited extract from Themba Maseko's testimony to the state capture commission. In it, he explains how he was approached while CEO of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) to divert advertising money to Gupta-owned news media. GCIS was responsible for the media-buying function on behalf of all national government departments. This entailed identifying and buying advertising space on all media platforms (radio, print media and TV). The total government expenditure on advertising was valued at around R600m a year at the time.
Around September-October 2010, I received a call from Ajay Gupta requesting a meeting to discuss what he said was a new project, which he and his company were launching, which he indicated required government support. I was reluctant to accede to Ajay Gupta's meeting because I did not have any details of the 'project' that Mr Ajay Gupta was referring to. However, as he spoke more about the 'project' and explained that the proj...
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