The tragicomedy of Des van Rooyen’s brief stint as finance minister in December 2015 was on full display at the state capture inquiry on Thursday as former national treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile recounted the department’s close encounter with state capture.

Fuzile told of Van Rooyen’s bizarre instructions to him, his confusion about his advisers appointed by the Guptas and the attempt to “decimate” the national treasury, whose excellence had been recognised worldwide.

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