Former finance minister Trevor Manuel and former SANDF chief General Siphiwe Nyanda are scheduled to testify before the Zondo commission into state capture on Thursday.

Last month, Zondo, who is chair of the commission, denied an application by the Gupta family’s lawyer Mike Hellens to cross-examine Manuel.

This was the second time the family was denied opportunity to cross-examine witnesses.

The family’s lawyer had applied to cross-examine Manuel regarding his testimony about Fikile Mbalula’s appointment as minister of sport and recreation, which Mbalula suspected Atul Gupta had “unlawfully interfered” in, Business Day reported.

The newspaper reported that Manuel was expected to testify about his claims that Mbalula had confessed to the ANC’s national executive committee about his interaction with Atul.

Business Day had previously reported that Mbalula had said it was not Atul who appeared to have knowledge about his appointment as the minister in 2010, but instead it had been Ajay Gupta.

Eskom and the Guptas

On Wednesday, former Glencore chief executive Clinton Ephron told the commission that he was devastated when former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe told him Eskom would not be updating the company’s contract with the power supplier.

Ephron took to the stand and delved into the extra-ordinary levels of pressure placed on Glencore, allegedly to force it to place Optimum coal mine under business rescue so that it could be snapped up by the Gupta family.

He further recalled how the Gupta family attempted to buy the mine.

Glencore purchased Optimum Coal Holdings in 2011, which includes the Optimum and Koornfontein mines as well as a “generous allocation” at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal. This allowed the effortless export of large amounts of high-quality coal mined at Optimum by the owner of Optimum Coal Holdings.