Former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni on Thursday lost her cool, defying a standing order from state capture commission chairperson deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo to mask a witness who implicated her.
But what pushed her?
Because Mr X, whom she has now told the whole world is her family member, spilt the beans at the commission about how Myeni moved money around.
For her antics, Myeni could face a criminal charge, but that depends on whether her lawyers can convince Zondo to hold off on such action.
What exactly did Mr X say 10 months ago that irked Myeni so much? At the time he testified anonymously because he feared for his safety.
Mr X, during his testimony at the Zondo commission, lifted the lid on how R2.3m siphoned from the Umhlathuze Water Board, of which Myeni was chairperson, was allegedly laundered in 2015 using various companies.
His construction company, Mr X told the commission at the time, was used as the conduit for money paid via inflated invoices to be disbursed to a certain engineering company.
In January 2015, Mr X said, Klomac Engineering, a water board supplier, paid R2.39m into his company’s business account on the instruction of Mboniseni Majola, a Myeni-linked internal engineer at Umhlathuze at the time.
Mr X’s company received the money without doing any work for Klomac, he said.
The payment from Klomac to his company, Mr X testified, was deposited on January 26 and, about a month later, “vanished” to Sifezakonke, on Majola’s instructions.
On February 11, Mr X transferred another R1m from his business account to a money-market account.
But there was also hard cash moving around, with Majola apparently collecting it for Myeni.
“Sometimes he would request hard cash, but it was never equal to the [amounts transferred] because of bank limits,” said Mr X.
Some of the monies Mr X facilitated ended up with the Jacob G Zuma Foundation, while hard cash was allegedly “hidden” at Myeni’s home office in Richards Bay.
Mr X’s company received more than R3m in three separate payments from Premier Attraction, a company owned solely by Myeni’s son, Thalente, according to state capture evidence leader advocate Kate Hofmeyr, who recited Mr X’s testimony on Thursday.
The first payment of R1m from Thalente to Mr X came in during October 2015. Mr X then received an instruction from Myeni to withdraw the cash, which he did, and then delivered it to Myeni’s home office.
“Ms Myeni called me. I went to apply for a withdrawal from the bank because it was large amounts. I would then deliver the cash at her homes. It was rare for her to collect in person,” Mr X said.
“She had offices at both her homes, so I would go in and hide the money, call her to inform her of where the money was hidden. Because of how close we were, I had access to her homes because I used these offices sometimes. I hid the money because only [she] was meant to collect the cash. Once or twice, I handed the money to her in person.”
Myeni on Thursday said she did not have a safe at her home in which to hide hard cash, but admitted that Mr X might have visited the house because “we are family”.
According to Mr X, the second payment of R1.1m from Thalente’s company landed in his business bank account on December 11 2015.
He testified that he was again instructed by Myeni to make a transfer to the Jacob G Zuma Foundation bank account and, two months later, R800,000 was wired by Thalente to Mr X, who passed it on to the foundation.
Myeni deflected questions since she was also chairperson of the Zuma foundation.
Ms Myeni … Ms Myeni … Ms Myeni, if I have made an order …no, no, no, just hang on Ms Myeni.
— Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo
Instead, whataboutism was the convenient defence as she complained that finances of foundations of other former presidents such as Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, FW de Klerk and Kgalema Motlanthe were never a subject of public scrutiny.
Myeni painted Mr X as a bitter relative who could not handle her opposition to his shenanigans at a family level.
“The relationship between me and Mr X broke down because there was an assumption from Mr X [that I would look the other way] about things he was doing that were going to put him and the family in trouble,” said Myeni.
“At that particular time the relationship was strained. For instance, chairperson, we had a bereavement in the family and a wedding for my half-brother, who worked for Mr X for years. When I met him at these events he would not look me in the eye. I would talk to his wife and daughter.
“What stood out at that particular time, one of his houses got burnt to ashes. I heard this from family members, not from him. I phoned him, saying, ‘How can you not tell me such a thing?’”
Myeni revealed Mr X’s identity just before lunch, against Zondo’s order that he remain masked to protect him and his family. The media has been asked not to identify him, despite her revelation.
“Mr [reveals name], chairperson, is [reveals relation] ... There is no truth in hiding his identity ... ,” said Myeni, before Zondo interjected, saying, “Ms Myeni ... Ms Myeni ... Ms Myeni, if I have made an order ... no, no, no, just hang on, Ms Myeni”.
Evidence leader Kate Hofmeyr submitted that Myeni’s conduct was tantamount to obstructing the work of the commission, thus she should be charged criminally.
“Section five of the Commission’s Act makes it an offence for a person to wilfully obstruct the work of the commission,” said Hofmeyr. “Today, Ms Myeni breached this. Chairperson, you made it clear to her that you had given a ruling that Mr X's identity was not to be revealed. Ms Myeni then stated she had read the full transcript of Mr X’s evidence.
“She was told in no uncertain terms that his evidence will or may implicate her. She was further advised if she intended to oppose the application she was allowed to be present at the hearing.
“Against that background, despite those facts, Ms Myeni revealed the identity of Mr X, a conduct that is liable to deter future witnesses from coming forward,” Hofmeyr argued.
“We submit that you direct the secretary of the commission to lay a charge against Ms Myeni for contravening section five of the Commissions Act. It is our submission this commission requires matters like this to be dealt with resolutely.”
Myeni’s legal team asked for time to prepare a formal submission, which Zondo granted, giving them until Monday.
But Zondo expressed “disappointment” at Myeni’s conduct, adding that he felt disrespected.
“On the face of what happened, what you (Myeni) did is really something that would discourage other witnesses who want to give evidence anonymously when they fear for their safety or their lives,” said Zondo.
“If something like this happens, it undermines the work of the commission in a very serious way. I did not expect this from you. If somebody disrespects an order that I have made, that person disrespects me as well.”
