Chikane: Corruption costs clean people dearly
Reverend Frank Chikane says former Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) director-general Themba Maseko spoke to him before his meeting with the controversial Gupta brothers.
Chikane, who served as director-general in the presidency under former president Thabo Mbeki, took the stand at the commission of inquiry into state capture on Tuesday.
Chikane also worked under former presidents Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma.
Maseko has told the commission that he was axed from his position at the government’s communication unit due to his refusal to spend money at the Gupta-linked New Age newspaper.
Mzwanele Manyi was hired as his successor.
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Chikane told the commission that Maseko had some reservations about meeting the Gupta brothers as there were reports of their alleged involvement in corruption.
"He had been worried about the implications of meeting the Guptas. He came to ask me what he should do because the president asked him to meet the Guptas.
"I said if you don't go the president might charge you for countermanding him.”
Chikane says Maseko spoke to him after the meeting, and told him he was asked to do something irregular.
"He then called me and said I have been given an ultimatum and if I don't deliver I will not be DG by Wednesday.
"At that point I said: ‘Well Mr Maseko, we now have enough evidence. You are living evidence of this corrupt activity, this is the time we should take it on’.”
Chikane says the Maseko believed it was a clear example of corruption within the state.
"That's the pain about corrupt activity, that it costs, it costs clean people, dearly.
"If I was asked to do something illegal and I say no and I am told by an entity outside government that I won't be in my job by Wednesday, and indeed I am not in my job, that tells you that somebody outside government runs government."