“I have never been to Saxonwold or looked for the shebeen. I have never been to the wedding.”
These were the words of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, who stuck to his guns in denying he ever had a relationship with the Guptas.
Gordhan was testifying at the Zondo commission yesterday.
He told commission chair deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo how he fought off efforts by the Gupta family who requested to meet him on various occasions and even sought to invite him to their compound in Saxonwold.
“There was no such relationship with the Guptas. There was no meeting where two people sit and transact and back to back conversations take place. I am not for sale,” Gordhan told the inquiry as he has been accused by the EFF of lying to Parliament about his meeting with the Gupta family.
The minister said the only place he saw the Guptas was at public events like cricket matches and business breakfasts and he also never interacted with them on those occasions.
Gordhan said he was introduced to Ajay Gupta by former president Jacob Zuma.
“.... he was introduced to me by the president as his friend Ajay Gupta and he had interests in finance.
“As a courtesy to the president, I listened to a comment he wanted to make about finance and business for two minutes and I think it became clear that I was not interested and he left and my meeting with the president continued.”