Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy has abandoned her application to cross-examine two witnesses who implicated her at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
Her lawyer Duncan Wild told the commission’s chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that it had become apparent to Munusamy that the two witnesses did not have direct evidence linking her to any wrongdoing.
In 2019, former crime intelligence official Colonel Dhanajaya Naidoo and Hawks investigator Kobus Roelofse testified that Munusamy was one of the journalists who allegedly benefited from the coffers of the State Security Agency.
Roelefse told the commission that more than R140 000 from the Crime Intelligence slush fund was allegedly paid in 2008 into a WesBank car finance account to settle Munusamy’s debt.
In the video below, Naidoo implicates journalists:
Wild says Munusamy is still prepared to testify to clear her name.
“She has set out her version of the events however she remains will to testify should she be required but for those reasons and the fact that she doesn’t have the financial resources to involve lawyer in preparing for the cross-examination she wishes not to persist with those two applications.”
Munsamy was an Associate Editor at Tiso Blackstar when the allegations were levelled against her and was granted special leave pending an internal probe into the matter.
