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When former minister of finance Nhlanhla Nene was fired from his post in December 2015, officials in the department of Treasury felt a sense of “mourning”.
This is according to the testimony of Phumza Macanda, who appeared at the state capture inquiry on Monday morning. She described to the commission how distraught employees were at the sudden announcement.
Macanda was director of communications at National Treasury at the time. She is currently head of media relations at Absa.
“We were in shock. There was almost a sense of mourning within Treasury that morning. A lot of us did not know how to make sense of the developments. We were just standing around talking to each other‚” Macanda said.
The sudden firing of Nene brought on the role of an unforeseen financial adviser to the incoming finance minister, Des van Rooyen. The adviser, reportedly a Gupta-allegiant, Mohamad Bobat, began to quickly make decisive decisions, surpassing the authority and rules of Treasury.
Macanda said that during her first interaction with Bobat, which took place at the Union Buildings at the swearing-in ceremony of Van Rooyen, his demeanour towards her was aggressive.
“He was a little aggressive with me, his manner was almost aggressive and hostile,” she said at the commission.
Macanda also said that Bobat and Van Rooyen did not appear to share a close relationship, after witnessing Bobat being highly irritated that Van Rooyen did not answer his calls.
Following an uncomfortable exchange, the pair exchanged numbers when Van Rooyen told him that he did not have Bobat’s phone number.
Bobat introduced himself to Macanda on December 10, when Van Rooyen was being sworn in as the minister of finance at the Union Buildings.
“He informed me that he was the adviser to the new minister. He introduced himself. He asked me what my job was and I explained it to him,” she said.
Macanda also testified that Bobat sought to oversee the processes that were already in place when it came to statements that were released, and insisted on approving statements by himself and the minister, despite the usual process being that the deputy-general and the minister were meant to be signing off on statements.
“He then said to me that no statement goes out without [his] approval. He said every statement must be approved by [him] and the minister,” she said.
Last week former Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile also testified at the commission about how Van Rooyen had arrived at Treasury with an adviser, and how taken aback he was.
“Mr Bobat did not care about protocol and civilities at all. He appeared determined to assert authority over me. He was not bothered that he was not an employee of the department and that his role had never been explained to me by anyone else other than himself,” Fuzile said at the commission.
Fuzile also said that he had received a warning from the head of the ANC’s economic transformation committee, Enoch Godongwana, who told him on the same night of Nene’s axing: “You are now going to get a Gupta minister who will arrive with [Indian] advisers.”
Macanda’s testimony has added credibility to Fuzile’s testimony.
Mzwanele Manyi, former head of the Government Communication and Information System also testified at the commission on Monday. He defended government spending on advertising linked to the Gupta family.
Manyi said that he would not deny it if he was accused of encouraging government spending on the Gutpa-owned newspaper, The New Age.
“If anyone was to come here and say ‘Manyi encouraged me’ I would not come here and deny that. Government has invested in a lot of equipment. A lot of money has been spent by government to ensure they use media as a partner, but media is not of the same mind‚” he said.
He said the spending of advertising at The New Age was “a welcome project”, because it “has a different posture in terms of a glass half full”, and that it had offered a different narrative compared with mainstream media.
He said for the 2011/2012 financial year, the total advertising expenditure amounted to R194 million, of which R8 million was allocated to The New Age.
The inquiry continues.
