A
gold necklace, a white BMW, bags of cash and a R5m wedding — these were
some of the shocking revelations shared by Norma Mngoma on the lavish
lifestyle she lived with former minister Malusi Gigaba, mainly thanks to
the Guptas.
Mngoma is the estranged wife of Gigaba.
She
was testifying on Monday evening at the Zondo commission of inquiry
into state capture, mainly about her family’s relationship with the
Gupta family which is accused of having captured the state during
former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure.
Mngoma also revealed how Gigaba allegedly:
- Was given a white three series BMW as a gift by Ajay Gupta.
- Given a gold necklace by Ajay Gupta as a gift for their firstborn son.
- Frequented the Gupta household in Saxonwold and got bags of cash.
- Packed stacks of cash in their home safe and told her it was money from Ajay Gupta meant to fund elections for the ANC.
- Received cash as their wedding gift.
- Was told by the Guptas how Brian Molefe would become the next CEO of Eskom months ahead of the announcement.
- Shared
a friendly relationship with Siyabonga Gama to the extent that he used
the former Transnet CEO to score a job for his sister at the parastatal. - Was
told by former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni and Ajay Gupta that he
would be moved back to the department of home affairs for his lack of
co-operation, a move that, when it eventually happened, made him
unhappy. - Asked her to tag along to the welcoming party for the controversial landing of the Gupta family at the Waterkloof Airforce Base.
She further recalled seeing a money-counting machine at the Gupta residence during a tour of the compound, led by Ajay Gupta.
Mngoma’s
testimony on Monday was met with delays when Gigaba tried,
unsuccessfully, to block her from testifying, citing spousal privilege,
and revelations about their minor children. He had further
asked that Zondo allow an in-camera testimony by Mngoma, which would
have excluded the media and public from viewing the hearing.
Commission chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, dismissed the application, allowing for the testimony to go ahead. This was despite the reluctance of Mngoma to testify due to misgivings about how the commission had handled her affidavit.
Mngoma gave a shocking testimony about how her wedding in 2014 cost between R4m and R5m — paid for in cash mainly by Gigaba.
“[The wedding] It was R4m to R5m … it was paid in cash,” said Mngoma.
She
explained to the commission that it was not odd that the wedding cost
that much as it was two weddings — a white wedding and a traditional
wedding.
“I didn’t find it strange [the amount]
because Malusi has been a minister for a very, very long time and also
he told me that he had savings with the money market that he saves money
from. And most of the expenses we don’t pay for them because it’s paid
by the state … so to have a lot of cash is not something that was
strange to me,” said Mngoma.
“If you break it down
that [the amount of cash kept by Gigaba] is not that large, it can be
large to you but it was not large to him,” added Mngoma, explaining how
Gigaba would carry large sums of cash.
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