Johannesburg - Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo will this afternoon make a statement regarding the events that had taken place at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State Capture on Tuesday.
“I will be making a statement at 2pm this afternoon regarding the events that had taken place here at the hearing venue during the evening session on Tuesday,” said Zondo.
A heated cross-examination between SC Dali Mpofu who was representing former Sars commissioner Tom Moyane and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan who was represented by advocate Michelle le Roux ended dramatically.
Mpofu told Le Roux to “shut up”, a visibly shocked Gordhan who was giving evidence via a video expressed shock, Mpofu shouted: “you too Mr Gordhan”.
Mpofu went as far as labelling Le Roux as ‘junior counsel’ after he said she interrupted him three times while he was seeking to get answers from Gordhan.
The incident forced Zondo to intervene, reminding Mpofu that he was in charge of the commission.
Meanwhile, the commission continued hearing evidence relating to the South African Revenue Services (Sars) from Sars employee Vlok Symington.
Symington said various persons implicated in his main affidavit were duly notified of such by the commission, and some have elected to file affidavits in response to certain allegations in his main affidavit.
Symington said Moyane withheld critical information that could have confirmed to crime investigators, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority, that there was no case against Gordhan.
Gordhan had approved of his deputy Ivan Pillay’s early retirement.
Symington said former NPA boss Shawn Abrahams wrote a letter to the Hawks asking why was his (Symington) memorandum of 2009 available to the Hawks.
“He was asking that if the memorandum was available to them, why was it not handed over to NPA and Hawks. When we discovered Mr Maphakela also gave a legal opinion in November 2014 about the lawfulness of Pillay's early retirement. Why was the memo not available to NPA and Hawks, but was available to Sars?” said Symington.
On October 30, 2016, Abrahams dropped the case against Gordhan.
Former Eskom CFO Anoj Singh is expected back at the commission to give evidence relating to the power utility.
Political Bureau