Former South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng has confirmed to the State Capture Commission that he has met with the Gupta brothers on numerous occasions at their Saxonworld compound.
Motsoeneng is testifying at the State Capture Commission at Parktown, Johannesburg, on Tuesday.
He has admitted that he took former SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo to meet the Guptas.
Last week Mokhobo told the commission that a week after her appointment she was taken to the Gupta home in Saxonwold by Motsoeneng.
Motsoeneng says this was because of the TNA agreement they had just signed.
“I went to her a day before that morning she referred to that I just came and said let’s go to the Guptas. No, we discussed chairperson. And yes, in the morning I went into her office and told her I have some stuff I need to take care of at 10. If we can see these people; ‘if you’re OK’ but we’d already discussed a day before. We went chairperson – she was very happy I was very happy. We ate breakfast.”
“Yes Chair I used to enjoy Curry there,” Motsoeneng told the commission.
Asked about his interaction with the family and the SABC dealings, Motsoeneng told the commission he saw it was an opportunity to ‘Capture’ them instead.
“We would fly to all these provinces with the Guptas even to Cape Town because we were in partnership, and they had everything. For me, it was an opportunity to also Capture them,” Motsoeneng tells the Commission.
Earlier during his testimony, Motsoeneng maintained that he did not apply for the COO position.
Motsoeneng was removed from the position after it was found he lied about his qualifications.
Responding to evidence leader, Thandi Norman, he says he was unhappy as he had been acting in the position for two years and wrote to the board.
Motsoeneng claimed at the State Capture Commission that he never lied to the public broadcaster about having a matric certificate. He told the Commission that he joined the SABC in 1989 and went on to hold many positions.
