Minister blocked Manyi bid for top minerals job

Former public service and administration minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi blocked Gupta family defender and one-time government spin doctor Mzwanele Manyi from scoring a cushy R1.6-million-a-year government post.

Manyi, who has played a key role in advancing the white monopoly capital narrative, had been earmarked for the director-general post in the Department of Mineral Resources despite lacking the required qualifications, Ramatlhodi confirmed.

He had reportedly already been interviewed for the position when Ramatlhodi put the brakes on the move.

"I stopped that thing of Manyi ... Because he did not meet the requirement of a postgraduate [degree]. We could not allow it," he said.

The Times reported last week that Manyi sent his CV to the Gupta family in 2014. Two years later, Gupta-linked Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane reportedly wanted him to replace Thibedi Ramontja, who had resigned citing personal reasons.

Zwane is said to have lobbied Ramatlhodi to make an exception for Manyi, who did not meet the requirements for the job. Manyi has a national higher diploma in economic geology.

Ramatlhodi , who has since been fired, said he could not relax the requirement and blocked the appointment - a decision he said had made him "unpopular" among his cabinet colleagues.

According to the advert for the director-general post, candidates were required to have an appropriate tertiary qualification, a postgraduate qualification and eight to 10 years of senior managerial experience.

The requirements included in-depth understanding and knowledge of the mining industry and the regulatory regime affecting it .

Asked for comment on the director-general bid, Manyi said: "I do not discuss government-related matters. What is government's final response, that is the response."

He described any link between the director-general job and his CV being e-mailed to the Guptas in 2014 as "absolute rubbish".

Questions sent to Zwane went unanswered.

Manyi was previously a director-general in two departments - labour and the Government Communication and Information System.

He has long had a relationship with the Guptas. A Gupta guard revealed that Manyi visited the family' s compound in Saxonwold, Johannesburg, in 2011, when he was at GCIS.

After leaving the public service, Manyi worked for the Guptas' ANN7 TV station, where he claimed he was "head-hunted" for a show that was later canned.

Last December, the Sunday Times reported that the Black Business Council rebutted Manyi's attempt to have Gupta company Oakbay become a corporate member. Manyi called this "blue lies".