Des Van Rooyen and Jacob Zuma

Photo: Flickr / GCIS

Former Finance Minister Des Van Rooyen at the State Capture Inquiry

Des Van Rooyen was appointed the minister of finance by then President Jacob Zuma in December 2015, but he was quickly removed from the post after only four days.

Des Van Rooyen and Jacob Zuma

Photo: Flickr / GCIS

One of the shortest-serving ministers in South African history, Des Van Rooyen is expected to take the state at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday, 11 August 2020.

Des Van Rooyen – South Africa’s ‘Weekend Special’

Van Rooyen was appointed the minister of finance by then President Jacob Zuma in December 2015, but he was quickly removed from the post after only four days — which earned him the nickname ‘the weekend special’ — after a negative reaction on the markets. Zuma announced that Van Rooyen would be switching portfolios with Pravin Gordhan, who had been serving as the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta).

It is estimated that Van Rooyen’s appointment cost the South African economy R500 billion, which essentially sparked a movement calling for Zuma to leave office.

Van Rooyen will also cross-examine the National Treasury’s former director general Lungile Fuzile.

Fuzile: ‘A law unto himself’

Fuzile made a number of bombshell allegations when he appeared before the commission in 2018, including how he was told he would be getting “a Gupta minister who will arrive with his advisers”, on the evening Zuma fired then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene.

He told Raymond Zondo, presiding over the proceedings, that Van Rooyen brought in Ian Whitely and Mohamed Bobat as advisers. Fuzile has said the Bobat was “a law unto himself” and also disregarded certain protocols.

“It appeared to me that Bobat did not care about protocol or civilities. He appeared determined to assert his authority over me. He was not an employee of the department at that time and his role had never been explained to me by anyone other than himself … He gave me an impression of being a law unto himself”, Fuzile said.

Fuzile also told the inquiry of a number of violations under Van Rooyen’s watch, including the sharing of confidential documents with Gupta-linked associate Eric Wood.

He said one document which had been shared with Wood, had the potential to move the market.

“The information contained in that document was about the strategic thinking of Cabinet on how first to understand the sluggishness of the South African economy and the causes”, Fuzile said.

“He had shared classified information intended for cabinet with people outside the government like Mr Eric Wood. I can only infer that these are people who sought to profit personally from such information. We do not know who else got the information once it had landed in Mr Whitely and Mr Bobat’s hands”