Yakhe Kwinana state capture report zondo

Photo: YouTube screenshot

Zondo recommends corruption charges for Commission’s ‘worst witness’

Yakhe Kwinana arguably made the most cringeworthy appearance the State Capture Inquiry had ever seen – and DCJ Zondo didn’t forget…

Yakhe Kwinana state capture report zondo

Photo: YouTube screenshot

What can you say about former SAA Executive Yakhe Kwinana? Her appearance at the Zondo Commission last year was jaw-dropping for all the wrong reasons, and she became known as one of the ‘worst witnesses’ in three-and-a-half years of the State Capture Inquiry.

Who is Yakhe Kwinana?

On Tuesday, the first part of DCJ Zondo’s State Capture Report recommended a raft of charges for some of the most notorious grifters employed by the government – and Kwinana found herself at the top of the bill.

The uncooperative witness served on the board of SAA as a chartered accountant. However, her selective amnesia both frustrated and amused Zondo in equal measure. She claimed to have no recollection of signing off on a dodgy R1bn deal, and compared an R85m tender to a fat cake.

Her increasingly bizarre analogies often went in circles, with lawyers left exasperated by her conduct. Kwinana did very little to help the DCJ in his probe, and sure enough, the ex-SAA bigwig has been recommended for corruption charges.

In summarising Kwinana’s contentious conduct, Zondo stated that both she and Dudu Myeni ‘enabled fraud to engulf SAA’.

“The management style and approach of both Dudu Myeni and Yakhe Kwinana enabled acts of fraud and corruption to engulf the entities. It is recommended that the National Prosecuting Authority should seriously consider prosecuting the members of the Board of SAAT at the time, including Kwinana.”

State Capture Report

What happens now?

Cyril Ramaphosa says he will be waiting until he’s read every part of the report before deciding on how he will respond to Zondo’s recommendations. However, the president did give the green light to SAPS and Hawks to ‘act immediately’ if they saw fit.

Yakhe Kwinana went viral for her dreadful appearance at the Zondo Commission, and this failure to keep a low profile ended up making her one of the most unwitting stars of the whole inquiry. Ultimately, she was left with nowhere to hide.