Evidence leader Kate Hofmeyr and Judge Ray Zondo were mildly shocked as former SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni said she would not respond to questions related to SAA.
Myeni took the stand at the State Capture Inquiry on Wednesday to respond to allegations of corruption, bribery, fraudulent awarding of tenders and intimidation levelled against her by various witnesses. She is also implicated in being a key player in deals related to security company Bosasa and orchestrating the suspensions of officials at Eskom.
On appearing remotely, Myeni said she had been exposed to someone with Covid and was self-isolating at her home. After being sworn in for her testimony, she dropped a bombshell and said she would evoke her right to remain silent.
Myeni added her respect for the commission made her commit to presenting herself before the commission to deal with all the accusations against her. Myeni explains documents were leaked to OUTA which were used against her in court. However, Zondo states the documents were already in the public domain.
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“Matters pertaining to SAA, I would really prefer to invoke my right to silence. You will recall chairperson that OUTA, the private organisation that took me to court, they opened a case in 2017, it was before the start of this commission.
“For some reason, which we did write to the commission to inquire about the documents that were being used by a private organisation with the letterheads and the logos of the enquiry, the majority of the documents, from OUTA were files coming from the commission,” said Myeni.
Zondo then asked her if she could answer other questions which were not related to SAA. She explained a judgment brought forward by OUTA declaring her a delinquent director for life was still pending. Her response to SAA related testimony would jeopardise that court case.
Weekend reports that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had finalised an investigation into Myeni and were waiting to hear her testimony at the commission would also place her in a prejudiced position, Myeni’s lawyer, Adv Thabani Masuku said.
In response, evidence leader Kate Hofmeyr told Zondo the right of silence does not apply in these proceedings. Myeni will have to answer and if she evokes the right of silence, a judgment would be made by Zondo to ascertain if she can be silent or not.
Myeni was then advised to continue with her testimony with an agreement that the commission would be fair and unbiased towards her, bearing in mind the charges she is facing.
