#StateCaptureInquiry: Ipid boss Robert McBride's testimony postponed

Published Feb 14, 2019

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Johannesburg - Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) boss Robert Mcbride's testimony at the Zondo commission has been postponed. 

The commission's legal team said on Thursday that the postponement was necessary as those who will be implicated by McBride's testimony need to be notified. 

Advocate Paul Pretorius, for the commission, said McBride's testimony will implicate more than 30 individuals. 

McBride has had a controversial reign as the head of the Ipid and often clashed with various high profile individuals within the police service. His next appearance will be announced after those implicated have been notified. 

The inquiry also dealt with former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor's testimony regarding her alleged visit to the Gupta compound in Saxonwold in 2010. 

The commission legal team and Mentor went to the Gupta compound in December 2018 for a site inspection. Erna Wiese, an architect at the Department of Public Works, took the stand on Thursday to verify what was observed at the Gupta compound. 

She confirmed what the commission had heard earlier in the week that Mentor's testimony regarding the details about the Gupta compound could not be corroborated. 

Weise said they could not find any of features described by Mentor at the Gupta compound. 

Mentor admitted on Monday that certain aspects that she described did not exist in the house. She requested that the building experts should test the various features that she claims had changed. 

She admitted that steps in the main house had seemed different as she struggled climbing up the stairs. 

She also said the bathroom seemed different along with the parameter wall and a passage where Zuma and Ajay had appeared from. 

Mentor has requested that these "new" features be tested to determine if any changes were made to the set-up of the home. 

Weise said a forensic inspection of the house to determine whether features could have been removed would cost over R800 000 and public works does not have the expertise. 

The commission also heard testimony from former ANC MP Dennis Bloem who corroborated certain aspects of Mentor's testimony. 

Bloem said he was part of the joint intelligence committee of Parliament in 2010 when he was approached by Mentor who told him that she had been invited to meet with one of the Gupta brothers at the family compound in Saxonwold. 

The commission will resume on Monday with testimony from Treasury officials. 

From Wednesday, the commission will begin hearing testimony on Eskom. 

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