Koloane makes spectacular U-turn at Zondo commission
Former head of state protocol Bruce Koloane has admitted to the commission of inquiry into state capture that he lied to influence the landing of a private Gupta jet to land at the Waterkloof Airforce Base.
On Monday, Koloane told the commission that he did not remember ever using the name of former president Jacob Zuma in a telephonic call with a defense force official.
But after being provided with recordings of the telephonic conversation on Monday, Koloane returned to the commission on Tuesday singing a different tune.
"It was an error of judgment in wrongfully using the name of the then Transport Minister Ben Martins, the current Minister of Defence, as well as the Presidency in the statement I made to try and exert pressure on the officials who were supposed to facilitate the processing," he told Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
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Koloane told the commission that he wanted to impress the Indian High Commissioner, who had contacted him to complain that the clearance was taking too long.
"There was nothing in it for me at all and I pushed because of one of my core responsibilities was servicing bilateral relations with all the diplomatic missions in South Africa and India being one of the strategic countries I had an interest in appeasing him and we had built a personal relationship over time as I was interacting with ambassadors. I wanted to appear to him to be the most effective guy who can make things happen. And I admit with no reservations that it was a wrongful act on my part."