South Africa’s Zuma Denies Interference At Transnet

Former president of South Africa Jacob Zuma is this week appearing before a judicial inquiry into corruption and state capture to respond to allegations from various witnesses regarding his time in office.

On Wednesday Zuma denied claims made by one of his former cabinet ministers that he had sought to interfere in the appointment of Siyabonga Gama as CEO of state transport and infrastructure firm Transnet back in 2009. While former public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan previously told the inquiry that the Transnet board had preferred another candidate and that at the time Gama was facing disciplinary proceedings relating to procurement irregularities, she claimed the former president had applied pressure in Gama’s favour.

According to recent reports Transnet has been at the centre of a number of corruption scandals over the past decade. Gama, who was appointed in 2015 has been implicated in a number of allegedly corrupt contracts.