Mzwanele Manyi complains but continues testimony at Zondo inquiry

Mzwanele Manyi will continue testifying before the Zondo state capture inquiry after earlier requesting that the lawyer leading the evidence recuse himself.

Before the second day of Manyi’s testimony could begin on Tuesday, he accused the commission’s lead lawyer, Vincent Maleka, who has been firm in his cross-examination, of bias.

He said Maleka’s questioning on Monday was too "prosecutorial".

"I have been put up on this stand as if I was a criminal who was lying," Manyi said.

But during a short adjournment, Manyi met  the commission’s evidence leader Paul Pretorius and his team. He agreed to continue testifying as he did not want to "obstruct the work of the commission".

Manyi testified on Monday about government advertising spending in the Gupta-owned The New Age newspaper while he was director-general at Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) in 2011 and 2012.  

Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo had earlier postponed Manyi’s testimony, pending the outcome of a formal application for Maleka’s recusal.