State capture inquiry: Five key allegations Jacob Zuma needs to answer

Former president Jacob Zuma is set to testify before the state capture inquiry from Monday to Friday.
Former president Jacob Zuma is set to testify before the state capture inquiry from Monday to Friday.
Image: ESA ALEXANDER

Former president Jacob Zuma will appear before the state capture inquiry on Monday. 

BusinessLIVE reported that he can choose to answer questions put to him or openly defy a process he clearly regards as illegitimate. It's expected that his lawyer will address the commission.

Zuma is set to testify from Monday to Friday at the public hearings led by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo.

He previously slammed the inquiry as "politicised", lacking impartiality, biased against him and controlled by shadowy forces  he has yet to name.

He insisted there was no evidence that he's done anything wrong.

Zuma's lawyer Daniel Mantsha confirmed that the former president will attend the hearing, but  said the state's decision to decline Zuma's request to see the questions he will be asked if he takes the stand was "nothing but a disinformation campaign and an unfortunate attempt at instigating the public against our client".

In 2018, Zuma was forced to step down by the ANC and was replaced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Here are some of the key allegations against Zuma, based on testimonies at the hearings.

Former head of the government communications service Themba Maseko alleged that Zuma asked him to help the Guptas, who told him to direct the government's R600m advertising budget to the family's newspaper and television channel.

Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor said one of the Gupta brothers suggested she could become public enterprises minister, on condition she agree to scrap SA Airways (SAA) flights to India.

In 2018, BusinessLIVE reported that Nhlanhla Nene told the state he was fired as finance minister in 2015 after refusing Zuma's attempts to force through a deal to buy nuclear power plants from Russia.

In March, minister of transport Fikile Mbalula, according to BusinessLIVE, said he first heard about his appointment as sports minister from one of the Gupta brothers, a few days before Zuma officially named him as such in 2010.

Former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi alleged that the company agreed to pay R300,000 a month to Zuma's charitable foundation in return for protection from prosecution.

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