Johannesburg - The commission of inquiry into state capture will on Friday continue hearing testimony from former Head of Financial Risk Management at SAA Cynthia Stimpel.
Stimpel began testifying on Thursday and revealed that former president Jacob Zuma's name was used in attempts to secure a share of a lucrative contract at SAA.
She told the commission, headed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, that businessman Jayendra Naidoo had informed the national carrier’s erstwhile chief financial officer, Wolf Meyer, that his company had Zuma’s blessing to be part of the deal.
At the time Naidoo was a representative of First South, a financial institution gunning for a share of SAA’s R15billion capital-raising initiative in 2015/16.
“He (Meyer) said he had been called into a meeting by one of the potential funders. He went to the meeting; he thought they were going to discuss the maximum amount they could offer. He was told that they must ensure that SAA gave this client the deal because ‘number one’ wanted this deal to happen,” she said.
Stimpel recalled that she frowned when she heard that and asked what Meyer meant.
“He said he understood that ‘number one’ meant the president at the time, Mr Jacob Zuma,” she said.
Stimpel also testified about the appointment of BnP Capital to source R15bn in funding for SAA without following a competitive bidding process.
The commission will also hear aviation-related testimony from Director of Grissag AG Pieter van der Merwe.