'There was almost a sense of mourning at Treasury', Zondo commission hears
The former communications director at National Treasury, Phumza Macanda, has spoken of the shock when former finance minister Des van Rooyen told staff it was unnecessary to work on a statement on the tumbling markets.
The firing of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in December 2015 saw the rand dive by as much as R1,36.
“Our expectations was that the minister would work with us and that the minister would give us his approval to start drafting a statement, but more importantly the minister would give us his guidance on what he thinks should be said publicly about the developments of the previous night.
“We were in shock, there was almost a sense of mourning within Treasury that morning. A lot of us did not know on what to make sense of the developments. We really were in shock,” Macanda told the commission of enquiry into state capture on Monday.
Shortly after Nene’s departure, former director-general Lungisa Fezile received a phone call from the ANC’s head of economic transformation, Enoch Godongwane, telling him that Van Rooyen would arrive with a "Gupta advisor".
The man would later introduce himself at Mohammed Bhobhat.
“When I was at Union Buildings for the swearing in of Van Rooyen, I noticed the people from the Presidency standing with the tall gentleman of Indian origin and they pointed towards me.
"The gentleman walked towards me and informed me he was an advisor to the new minister. I didn’t think anything of it. He told me that his name was Mohammed Bhobat,” Macanda said.
She also said that Bhobat behaved aggressively towards her.
“He said: 'Are you the one who releases statements for National Treasury?’
“I responded to him in the affirmative.
“He then said to me: ‘From now on no statement goes out without my approval. Every statement must be approved by me and the minister'. I was puzzled and taken aback by this because of two reasons.
“Firstly, he was a little aggressive with me but it’s not like there were no pleasantries that were exchanged, but his manner was quiet aggressive and almost hostile.
“It felt like it was important for him to assert his authority quite quickly."
The commission is expected to hear testimony from the ANC’s former secretary-general Gwede Mantashe on Tuesday.