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Under no pressure to clear my name: Mantashe

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ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe says he is under no pressure to clear his name.

Speaking to the media outside at the commission on inquiry into State Capture on Tuesday, ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe put on record that he has never held a meeting alone with the Gupta brothers.

He appeared before the commission to present the ANC’s evidence clarifying why the party had met with the country’s big four banks after they cut ties with the Guptas.

So far, Mantashe has been implicated in the testimonies of some of the witnesses at the commission.

He is expected to return to the commission at a later stage. He says this is where he will elaborate further on why he had those meetings with the controversial Gupta family.

“State capture a reality”

ANC national Chairperson and former Secretary General Gwede Mantashe has admitted that state capture was a reality. Mantashe told the commission that Gupta owned company Oakbay investments met the ANC to persuade it to put pressure on the banks to reopen their accounts.

Mantashe presented ANC’s evidence to the commission of inquiry into state capture. He told the commission that state capture was a reality. The ANC says it met the Gupta owned company after Oakbay Investments’s bank accounts were closed.

After two meetings with Oakbay, Mantashe told the commission that the party then met with the banks Mantashe testified that Oakbay wanted the ANC to exert pressure on the banks to reopen the company’s accounts so it could pay its employees.

Earlier it was former GCIS Head Mzwanele Manyi versus advocate Vincent Maleka. This after Manyi accused Advocte Maleka of being inconsistent when posing questions to him. Manyi asked Adv. Maleka to recuse himself from cross-examination. But later withdrew his request saying he did not want it to look as if he were standing in the way of the commission establishing the truth.

Maleka then cautioned the Commission to be careful in considering Manyi’s request, saying it would set a precedent that would allow witnesses to choose who could question them.

The commission will now hear the testimonies of former Minister of Public Service and Administration Ngoako Ramathlodi and his former advisor, Sam Muofhe. – Report by Mbali Thethani

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