Public Enterprises Deputy Minister Ben Martins has confirmed meeting with former PRASA CEO Lucky Montana and the Guptas.
Martins is appearing before the Eskom Parliamentary inquiry. He however says suspended Eskom head of legal services Susan Daniels’ version of events related to the meeting with the Guptas are not consistent.
When Daniels appeared before the inquiry in November last year, she alleged that she was at the meeting with Martins, Ajay Gupta, Duduzane Zuma and another Gupta associate Salim Issa in July 2017.
Martins says he was at a funeral of the Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa and later attended an African National Congress (ANC) lekgotla in Irene.
He says: ‘The official Department of Public Enterprises Minister Diary reveals that on the 29th July 2017 I had attended the funeral services of Mr Ronnie Mamoepa at the St Albans Cathedral in Pretoria. I attended the funeral service at approximately 1:30 PM. I then departed to the Sty Georges Hotel in Irene to attend the African National Congress National Executive Committee Lekgotla, which was scheduled at 2PM. Upon my arrival at the St Georges Hotel in the company of the VIP protection services, I was issued with a Deputy Ministers accreditation card. After registering I attended the economic transformation commission chaired by Enoch Gondowana.”
