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Former chief executive of Government Communications and Information Systems Themba Maseko was given an ultimatum by the Guptas to either toe the line and give into their “irregular” demands or find himself jobless.
As a result of him not submitting to their directive, Maseko soon found himself unemployed.
This was the testimony given by former director-general in the presidency Frank Chikane when he, on Tuesday, appeared before the Zondo commission and corroborated parts of Maseko’s testimony before the state capture inquiry last year.
Chikane told the commission that he had met Maseko on numerous occasions, particularly when he was seeking guidance on how to handle work-related matters.
“Maseko asked for advice. He had been asked to go and meet the Guptas, and he was worried about the implications. He came to ask me what he should do because the president [Jacob Zuma] asked him to see the Guptas. I said to him if the president asks you to meet a person, you can’t not meet that person if there is no prima facie case against them,” said Chikane.
He said he advised him to do as the president has requested.
“I said ‘if you don’t go, the president might charge you for undermining him’. I said ‘go’.”
He said after this meeting with the Guptas, Maseko met with him again.
“He said they asked him to do something irregular. I said now you have the right to say ‘no’ because it’s about violating the law, about irregular activity. He said he was given an ultimatum that if [he doesn’t deliver], [he] will not be DG by Wednesday.”
The shocked commission chair, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, interjected: “You say that he, Mr Maseko, told you that the Guptas or Mr Ajay Gupta [...] he had been told that if he did not comply or cooperate he would not be DG by Wednesday. Now, I don’t remember that in his evidence he gave that part,” says Zondo.
To which Chikane responded: “Indeed, on Thursday, he called me to say [he is] no longer DG of GCIS. I said we now have enough evidence. This is the time you should now take it on.
“That’s the pain of corruption; it costs clean people dearly. If you did take a stand at that point, like some of us did, we paid dearly, added Chikane.
READ:Zondo in the process of rescheduling with Zuma
He was quick to add that he advised Maseko to reject Zuma’s orders to take part in any irregular dealings.
“They said to me that they had been there and asked him to do something irregular in terms of his portfolio. At that point, I told him to say no because it would violate the law.”
The commission had previously heard from Maseko, who testified that he was allegedly redeployed from his position for refusing to do the Guptas’ bidding and being the family’s lackey. He claimed that then president Zuma – who was in the family’s back pocket, he said – made sure that he lost his job to a more willing Mzwanele Manyi.
During his brief and drama filled appearance before the commission this year, Zuma denied instructing Maseko to help the Gupta brothers, or orchestrating the axing of Maseko.
Chikane, however corroborated Maseko’s testimony, saying the former had approached him and told him that his refusal to help the Guptas access government advertising money cost him his job.
Chikane was part of a forum of directors-general that in 2016 drafted a memorandum calling for an inquiry into state capture by the Gupta family.
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