The head of elections says he was the first person to raise the Gupta matter in the party because he found it concerning.
The commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture heard on Friday that when former sports minister Fikile Mbalula stood up in an African National Congress national executive committee meeting in 2011 while detailing his frustrations with the Gupta family, none of the party top brass in the meeting, including former president Jacob Zuma, supported him or indicated a willingness to deal with the controversial family’s influence over the state.
Mbalula, who is now ANC head of elections, said he was the first person to raise the Gupta matter in the ANC, as he was concerned that if left unattended, it could become a crisis for the governing party. ”We were taught in the ANC to raise issues in meetings… I was not at a rally or being malicious. I exploded… and said that I was told by Gupta I was going to be sports minister and it turned out that way. I had no other person’s confidence doing that… it was my political conscience that guided me.”
”You rose in the meeting of the highest body in governing party and told them what happened to you and that it was wrong… it became important then that the ANC NEC becomes aware of what is happening, not rumours. If I understand your evidence, you wanted something to be done about this? What happened?”“That meeting went quiet… people bowed their heads. They were shrinking in their chairs.
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