State capture inquiry begins

Interesting profile of evidence leader Paul Pretorius: https://www.news24.com/Analysis/paul-pretorius-guiding-sa-through-the-morass-of-corruption-20190131

As the face of the state capture commission, Paul Pretorius is doing a job on behalf of the country. He meticulously walks each one down a very deliberate, carefully thought out path. He takes us all along on the difficult journey of understanding just how deeply our country has been compromised and captured. It is his job, on behalf of us all, to coax, to lure and to extract the truth from each witness so that we fully comprehend how cheaply South Africa was sold.
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Vytjie Mentor to be cross examined before Zondo commission

Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor is set to return to the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into allegations of state capture on Monday and will be the first witness to be cross examined.

According to a statement by the commission, Mentor will return to the witness stand to complete her evidence and be cross-examined by those who were granted leave to do so.

Duduzane Zuma, son to former president Jacob Zuma, as well as businessman Fana Hlongwane will be cross-examining Mentor.
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More at : https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/...oss-examined-before-zondo-commission-20190209
 
Mentor. Worst. Witness. Ever.
Wonder if she's lying or just incompetent. Suppose you can see why the Guptas were recruiting her and it looks like even they found her too useless.
 
State capture inquiry: Mentor insists flight details are accurate despite discrepancies

Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor remains adamant that she caught an SAA flight to Johannesburg and back to Cape Town on a Monday sometime between September and October in 2010.

This is despite records before the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture reflecting that she caught a return flight to Gauteng via SAA on Friday, October 15.

Mentor is being cross-examined at the commission following her testimony in August 2018. She posted on her Facebook account that she had been offered the position of public enterprises minister by the Gupta brothers if she stopped SAA's direct flights to India.

She also claimed former president Jacob Zuma was at the family's Saxonwold mansion when the offer was made to her.



Mentor faced off with commission evidence leader Mahlape Sello who quizzed her on her travel plans around that period.

Previously, Mentor was told there was no evidence of her travel arrangements with SAA but admitted during Monday's session that there were two other flights discovered via the agency Parliament used.
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More at: https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/...s-are-accurate-despite-discrepancies-20190211
 
Vytjie Mentor retracts her Gupta testimony

Atul Gupta was in South Africa during the alleged trip to China, where she claimed to have seen him, and Mentor retracted that evidence.

Three months since she last took the witness stand, former ANC member of parliament Vytjie Mentor yesterday conceded to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that Atul Gupta and businessperson Fana Hlongwana were not part of the official SA investment delegation to China 10 years ago, where she claimed to have seen Gupta.
She also did not provide evidence of SA Airways (SAA) flight records to back her earlier testimony she had travelled from Cape Town to Johannesburg on October 15, 2010 for an engagement with former president Jacob Zuma.
That ended up being a meeting at the Guptas’ Saxonwold compound and she was offered the post of public enterprises minister.
Under cross-examination by the commission’s senior counsel, Mahlape Sello, Mentor, who was presented with Emirates Airlines and home affairs records proving Atul Gupta was in South Africa during the alleged China trip, Mentor was forced to make a retraction.
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More at: https://citizen.co.za/news/south-af...5/vytjie-mentor-retracts-her-gupta-testimony/
 
Mentor apologises to Hlongwane, corrects testimony

JOHANNESBURG - Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor has returned to the Zondo commission for cross-examination on some inconsistencies in her original statement.


Appearing before the inquiry is not an easy task, she said. But she has chosen to do it in order to help rid the country of corruption.


Mentor said she would like footage of day one of former president Jacob Zuma's visit to China in 2010 to be sourced in order to test her submission that she saw Atul Gupta in Beijing.
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More at: https://www.enca.com/news/mentor-apologises-hlongwane-corrects-testimony
 
presented with Emirates Airlines and home affairs records proving Atul Gupta was in South Africa during the alleged China trip
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Are either of those information sources even remotely reliable given he has two private jets and clearly is connected enough to make home affairs sing any song he wants them to sing?!?

Mentor is looking more and more like a damn double-agent though, purposely sowing doubt to get Zuma off ...
 
One would think that before testifying, you would first get your facts straight. :rolleyes:
 
R13... said:
Mentor. Worst. Witness. Ever.
Wonder if she's lying or just incompetent. Suppose you can see why the Guptas were recruiting her and it looks like even they found her too useless.
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I don't think she expected to be under oath when she made these allegations (mainly on social media I think). Although her testimony is likely to be completely thrown out, she probably well to come out. I don't think she is lying considering other such offers from Guptas. She should have kept detail records before allegations though.

https://citizen.co.za/news/opinion/opinion-columns/1543255/poor-vytjie-mentor-seems-lost-plot/

"
She was the first ANC member to come forward about Gupta state capture, and she was rightly applauded for doing so, because the floodgates that have culminated in the #GuptaLeaks started to open right after her post.

She played no small part in making that happen.

Former minister Hogan wasted no time to step forward and underline that she believed Mentor, because she had also been approached by the Guptas to have government drop SAA’s route to India, she said.

The then deputy finance minister, Mcebisi Jonas, eventually also alleged he had been offered a truly preposterous bribe of R600 million to become the Guptas’ finance minister on a leash.
"
 
CR looking more like a lame duck

MPS TAKE RAMAPHOSA TO TASK OVER DEALING WITH 'CORRUPT' LEADERS

EFF leader Julius Malema said action needs to be taken against Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, who allegedly received groceries and payments from Bosasa

Opposition parties have asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to explain why he is not dealing with corruption committed within the African National Congress (ANC) and allegedly by his own Cabinet members.

Party leaders on Tuesday debated his State of the Nation Address in Parliament.

Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane accused the president of failing to act against his own members implicated in the Gupta and Bosasa scandals.

“I’m sure you would like to have people like Angelo Agrizzi and his Bosasa colleagues take the fall. What the ANC will not allow you to do is to arrest people like Dudu Myeni and honourable Nomvula Mokonyane who should by now be arrested.”

This was then echoed by Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema who said action needs to be taken against Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, who allegedly received groceries and payments from Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations.

“You cannot have some of the people highly implicated people in your Cabinet and you tell us you are committed to fighting corruption unless you too have benefited from the frozen chicken. If you have eaten a frozen chicken, then you will be scared unless Nomvula has got something we don’t know about you.”

Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi joined the other parties in saying corruption needs to be eliminated.

“We aim to become a top global performer in terms of countries we do business with, but when we are so high up in the corruption index, how confident will investors be?”
 
Mentor complains about unfair treatment at #StateCaptureInquiry

JOHANNESBURG - Former African National Congress (ANC) Member of Parliament Vytjie Mento r has complained of unfair treatment, accusing the state capture commission of inquiry of focusing on evidence that contradicts her testimony instead of that which corroborates it.
Mentor returned to the stand on Tuesday, with the inquiry putting to her its own version of events, contradicting what she told the commission last year.
Since Monday, the commission has been dealing with findings of its own investigation into Mentor's testimony.
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More at: https://ewn.co.za/2019/02/12/vytjie-mentor-complains-about-unfair-treatment-at-state-capture-inquiry
 
This was from Monday

#StateCapture: 5 discrepancies from Vytjie Mentor’s testimony

JOHANNESBURG - Former African National Congress MP Vytjie Mentor on Monday took to the stand at the Zondo commission where she is the first witness to be cross-examined following her testimony last year.
Mentor’s evidence in connection with a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) trip to Beijing, China, where she allegedly met Atul Gupta - as well as her description of the Gupta family’s controversial compound in Saxonwold - were cast into doubt by the commission’s evidence leader Advocate Mahlape Sello.
With her credibility now in the spotlight this week, the former MP defended her testimony and said she took exception to her credibility being attacked.
“My credibility has been attacked during the process the lawyer for the Gupta family was making a presentation to [the commission]. It has been attacked in relation to the in loco inspection visit [to Saxonwold]. I take exception to that and I have not had an opportunity, either myself or my legal team, to defend my credibility as it has been attacked,” Mentor told the commission.
Here are the five discrepancies from Vytjie Mentor’s testimony as revealed during her first day of cross-examination:
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More at: https://ewn.co.za/2019/02/12/statecapture-5-discrepancies-from-vytjie-mentor-s-testimony
 
More cracks on day two of Vytjie Mentor's cross-examination

Former ANC member of parliament Vytjie Mentor's cross-examination continued at the Zondo commission on Tuesday.Mentor has been cross-examined at the inquiry on a testimony she gave before the commission in August, with the inquiry presenting evidence which has revealed various inconsistencies with Mentor's testimony.

Lakela Kaunda

Mentor was cross-examined by lawyers of cooperative governance and traditional affairs chief operations officer Lakela Kaunda.In her previous testimony, Mentor said that she had received a call from Kaunda informing her that her request to meet with then-president Jacob Zuma to discuss pebble bed modular nuclear reactors was granted.
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More at: https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/so...-day-two-of-vytjie-mentors-cross-examination/
 
Audio recording suggests Vytjie Mentor lied about Hawks meeting

Audio recording suggests Vytjie Mentor lied about Hawks meeting

JOHANNESBURG - An audio recording has been used at the state capture commission to accuse former African National Congress MP Vytjie Mentor of lying about the details of her meeting with the Hawks in 2016.
Last year, Mentor testified accusing Hawks official Mandla Mtolo of telling her to remove former President Jacob Zuma's name from a criminal case she lodged in 2016 if she wanted it to be investigated.
But a recording of that meeting tells a different story.
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More at: https://ewn.co.za/2019/02/13/audio-recording-suggests-vytjie-mentor-lied-about-hawks-meeting
 
Vytjie Mentor wraps up testimony after a day of weak links and comebacks

Tension ran high at the State Capture inquiry on Tuesday where former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor’s legal team questioned an alleged disproportionate presentation of information critical of her evidence by the commission’s legal team. This came as Mentor’s credibility took centre stage amid a striking dearth of corroborating evidence for some of her claims.
The strain of inconclusive strands of evidence began to take its toll on former ANC backbencher Vytjie Mentor, who concluded her testimony before the State Capture inquiry early evening on Tuesday. Author of the self-published book, No Holy Cows, Mentor was initially heralded as a potential star witness in the case against the Guptas and former President Jacob Zuma. But she has had to testify to events going back nearly nine years and a lack of independent corroboration in respect of some parts of her testimony made Mentor seem suspicious and somewhat desperate to sew things up at times. Beyond her initial colourful stint in the witness box in 2018, her claims increasingly require a deeper dive for back-up — no doubt frustrating for Mentor, who then resorted to questioning the validity of official records obtained by the commission from the Department of Home Affairs and South African Airways as well as a cellphone bill produced by one of the implicated parties, former Zuma aide Lakela Kaunda — all because they don’t back up her claims. There are several key points to which Mentor testified that the commission’s legal team dissected through official records or statements from other witnesses in a bid to get to the truth about her claims that the Guptas had offered her a Cabinet post back in 2010 — and that Zuma had appeared in the family’s home to calm her down as she loudly expressed her agitation.
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More at: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/art...mony-after-a-day-of-weak-links-and-comebacks/
 
Why is the newspaper referring to her in a negative way as a "backbencher"?
 
IMO a witness who makes factual errors, and allegations that cannot be corroborated, is worse than useless, and wastes everyone's time. The evidence leaders should have sifted this out beforehand.

Its like a news reporter quoting "unconfirmed sources". There's often no smoke without fire, but this is a serious inquiry, with defendants who will use the full weight of the law to fight back...
 
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