Former Transnet CEO, Siyabonga Gama, has described his visit to the Gupta residence as an ambush. He told the State Capture Commission on Thursday morning that he ended up at the Gupta’s address when he thought he was going to meet Salim Essa at his office.
He says he wasn’t aware that the meeting was going to take place at the Gupta residence.
According to Gama, he would not have agreed to the invite by Essa if he knew that the meeting was to take place at a private home.
Gama says at the meeting, he was introduced to one of the brothers, Tony Gupta.
“I was a bit annoyed because I thought I am going to meet Essa at his offices and then I realised we are at the board room of their residence. If they told me I was going to somebody’s home, I wouldn’t have agreed.”
When asked if was Essa around, Gama said: “In fact, he was with me all the time. He walked me out and I expressed my dissatisfaction to him to say that ‘you shouldn’t ambush me and bring me to people’s homes when I thought you wanted to talk about the business.’”
The Commission hears Transnet related evidence from Siyabonga Gama:
Brian Moelfe and the Guptas
On Wednesday, former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe denied taking bags of money from the Gupta residence despite allegations from two witnesses who said they saw him carrying money in a bag.
He told the commission he did not have a clear recollection about one of his drivers questioning him about bundles of notes he had seen inside his bag.
The witness alleged that Molefe normally carried a brown leather bag when he entered the Gupta residence in Saxonwold and if he did not have the bag, he would re-appear with a sports bag.
“I have no recollection of that incident and I just wonder if he [the driver] did write it in his incident report, but I have no recollection of that incident,” Molefe said.
