'Zuma punished me for not working with the Guptas'
Former Public Service and Administration Minister Ngoako Ramathlodi believes his removal from the mineral resources portfolio was done as punishment by former president Jacob Zuma.
Ramathlodi took the stand at the commission of inquiry into state capture on Wednesday morning, where he detailed the events which led up to him being fired as the minister of mineral resources.
He was replaced by Mosebenzi Zwane.
Ramathlodi says Zuma told him the public service portfolio was a promotion but it came shortly after he refused to suspend Glencore's mining licenses, without due procedure.
This is after a meeting with former Eskom chair Ben Ngubane, whom Ramatlodi said "tried to intimidate” him into making the decision.
“Chair, I had refused to cooperate with him (Zuma) in that portfolio (minerals).
"I felt we were doing a good job and we were being forced to do wrong things. The promotion was punishment, to send a message and the interesting is that once I got out there, a Gupta Minister (Zwane) came in," said Ramathlodi.
Ramathlodi also gave a frank account of the relationship that former President Zuma had with the Gupta family.
He said Zuma had two secretaries; one stationed at the Union Buildings and the other at the Gupta compound.
"The Guptas had a secretary in their house which handled the president's diary, in other words the president has two secretaries, one belongs to the Guptas, the other is in the Union Buildings.
"They could easily interfere with his diary even if they wanted to.
"Now we are asking ourselves, what is this hold that they have over him? We couldn't understand their grip, you know. It's like a python when it grabs itself around you, unless someone takes out the tail from the soil, you are finished because it has a horn at the back there which gives it balance.”
According to Ramathlodi, the Gupta brother could summon Zuma to their home whenever they wished.
"The Guptas had the power to summon the president to their home and then they would boast about it. They had the power to summon ministers who were wet behind their ears who can just run there.
"So they called you to their home they did not even try and meet you in a hotel. They want you in their home. That is their modus operandi,” Ramathlodi told the commission.