Signs of state capture evident early in Zuma's reign - Pravin Gordhan

Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan says it was evident early during former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure that state capture was looming in South Africa.

"The individual acts of corruption were known. Closer to 2014 and to the current period, a new phenomenon began to arise … many of these strange things were at their peak in 2015 in many institutions all at the same time," he said.

Gordhan began his testimony at the commission of state capture with an admission that the ANC had not been tough enough on its members accused of wrongdoing. He said some of the early warning signs of state capture included the changes to boards of state-owned enterprises, especially after Barbara Hogan was removed as public enterprises minister.

Last week, Hogan revealed how Zuma, shortly after his election in 2009, began meddling in the appointment of board members and executives of state-owned enterprises, and how he rejected names she was putting forward to lead the SOEs.

Earlier, Gordhan told the commission that he had found out on television - along with the rest of the country - that he had been fired as finance minister in March 2017.

He said Zuma had not given him the courtesy of telling him in person that he had been removed from the finance ministry.

Gordhan’s testimony has been met with vociferous protests by the EFF and the Black First Land First (BLF) movement outside the commission venue in Parktown, with both organisations calling on him to resign.