ANC’s Jessie Duarte ‘keen’ to appear before Zondo commission

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said on Wednesday that she was “very keen” to appear before the Zondo commission into state capture herself to answer on matters related to her interaction with ANN7 and The New Age newspaper, which were owned by the Guptas.

“I’m very keen to go. It is important that we all understand the role played by the ANC in the establishment of ANN7 and The New Age,” she said at a media briefing in Cape Town.  “By the time I got there [in 2012] they were already in place. But I’m happy to discuss meetings I had with Moegsien Williams [editor of The New Age]. I am not afraid to say that we did discuss a media that would give the ANC unmitigated space for its views.”

Duarte said that she was pleased the editors had given their explicit support to the ANC. “They were the only newspaper that ever said that they would support the ANC. Whatever happened after that was something else.” 

The New Age and ANN7 went on to play an overtly factional role in the ANC’s internal battles, providing disinformation on detractors of former president Jacob Zuma and putting out a narrative that certain people in the ANC were involved in a conspiracy against Zuma to preserve the dominance of “white monopoly capital”.

Duarte also repeated the ANC’s commitment made a week ago that it will give evidence to the commission of inquiry on the meetings it held with banks following the closure of the Gupta bank accounts. The commission is chaired by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo. 

Both the ANC and a ministerial delegation held meetings with the banks in the wake of the closure of the Guptas’ accounts. The accounts were closed towards the end of 2016 on the grounds of numerous suspicious transactions that could not be explained, indicating possible money laundering or criminal activity. Duarte, who took part in the meetings for the ANC, said that no specific clients were discussed at any point. “We had to understand what the banking laws were,” she said.

The party has come under public pressure to appear before the commission as the perception grows that it is the ANC that, in fact, should be on trial, given the involvement of its leadership in corrupt dealings with the Guptas.

Duarte said that the ANC’s top six officials had decided that it must disclose the details about its meetings with the banks as these were held in the ANC’s official capacity. The involvement of ANC leaders in dealings with the Guptas that were not on behalf of the ANC was something those individuals must answer for at the commission.

“Perceptions are that the ANC is on trial and we are concerned about that. However, we are much more concerned that general perceptions that arise from the Zondo commission must be based on facts. It should not be the perspective or view of an individual. Zondo must make findings … The fact that a person’s name is mentioned does not mean they are corrupt,” she said.

Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor, who was one of the first witnesses to appear at the commission, gave evidence that she had told then ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and Duarte in 2010 that a Gupta brother had offered her a ministerial job. However, Duarte only became ANC deputy general-secretary in 2012.

Said Duarte, “The fact that Vytjie Mentor mentioned my name does not mean I am corrupt. I never met Vytjie before, other than to speak to her when she broke her leg.”