Henk Bester said Nailan Padayachee and Dave Reddy were demanding to be included in the supplier development component of the project that had been launched by then-President Jacob Zuma.
A screengrab of former managing director of rail at Hatch, Henk Bester, appearing at the state capture inquiry in Johannesburg on 20 October 2020. Picture: SABC/YouTube
JOHANNESBURG – Former managing director of rail at Hatch, Henk Bester, on Tuesday morning told the state capture commission that when his company was contracted to undertake a rail expansion project for Transnet, he received a call and a visit from Nailan Padayachee and Dave Reddy, who said they were sent by “number one”.
Bester said they were demanding to be included in the supplier development component of the project that had been launched by then-President Jacob Zuma.
Bester said he believed “number one” could be Zuma, former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe, or former CFO Anoj Singh.
“They came to see me, if I can say it like this, almost as if they were sent to me. So they indicated that there was a wish from Transnet, and they were sent by ‘number one’ that they need to be part of our supplier development component of the project,” he said.
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