Former GCIS Head Themba Maseko has revealed to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that on the day which he was scheduled to meet Ajay Gupta he received a call from former President Jacob Zuma.
Zuma requested Maseko to help the Gupta family with their media project.
Maseko has wrapped up his testimony at the commission in Parktown Johannesburg.
He says Zuma called him and this was the Gupta’s way of demonstrating their power.
He says during the conversation Zuma asked him to meet with the Guptas.
“I had my concerns about the Gupta families. I heard rumours that were already circulating at the time so I was initially reluctant to meet them but then I agreed to meet them.’
“I couldn’t think of any reason why they thought the meeting was important at than point other than the fact they were on the brink of setting up a media company starting with the New Age newspaper which was scheduled to take place in the later part of the year.”
Maseko says upon meeting Ajay Gupta at their Saxonworld compound, he instructed him to redirect the communications budget to the New Age newspaper.
He says he told Ajay that he did not have the power to do so as the R600 million budget that he was speaking of was shared among government departments.
Maseko says Gupta then became agressive telling him that it was an instruction.
