‘Rubbish or nonsense’: Floyd Shivambu insists State capture narrative is fiction and biggest scam in SA politics
Secretary general of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party), Floyd Shivambu said the State capture narrative which stems from the judicial inquiry conducted by former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has no merit.
In August, IOL reported that the outspoken Shivambu dropped a bombshell, confirming that he had resigned from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by his long-time ally Julius Malema, and was joining former president Jacob Zuma’s MK Party.
Shivambu, flanked by Julius Malema and other leaders of the EFF read out his resignation letter and confirmed that he would be joining MK party.
As his star continues to rise in the new political party, Shivambu has been appointed secretary general of the MK Party which its mainstay in KwaZulu-Natal province.
On Wednesday night, Shivambu was interviewed on broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, where he said for too long he had been misled into believing the narrative against leaders of the MK Party including Zuma, former Eskom and Transnet CEO Brian Molefe, and former Transnet chief executive officer, Siyabonga Gama.
“Let us deal with those issues emphatically and decisively. The biggest scam in South Africa’s politics and political history was this nonsense or rubbish called State capture narrative which was driven for a very long time," Shivambu said.
"Some of us got to realise even before uMkhonto weSizwe party was formed that we were driven into a wrong agenda to pursue president Zuma because he did not want to account to the white capitalist establishment,” he said.
“There has never been an instance, not even once, where the white capitalist establishment got to direct and micro-manage president Zuma. He associated with progressive forces domestically and at a global level because he understood the agenda he is fighting for.”
Shivambu said State capture did not happen.
“There is not such thing that got to happen. That is why even from a mechanical point of view, the people that you say are facing corruption allegations and all of that, are not facing such. They tried to charge commander Brian Molefe with corruption, but those charges have been dropped. There is no meaningful case against our Member of Parliament, commander Siyabonga Gama,” said Shivambu.
“There is no case against Lucky Montana, there is no case against anyone because all of that State capture nonsense was just fiction that was meant to bastardise and to scare off those who were in pursuit of radical economic transformation.
“That is the agenda that we openly and proudly associate with. We call on the people of South Africa to realise that we were misled for a very long time, with so many lies,” he said.
In June, IOL reported that Corruption Watch said that its withdrawal of the case against Molefe was not an exoneration but a result of poor formulation of the charges as they preceded the final report of Zondo’s State capture commission.
That came after the High Court in Pretoria handed down Corruption Watch’s formal notice of withdrawal of the case against Molefe, which was done “by agreement between the parties” with each party to bear their own costs.
IOL