Mzwanele Manyi officially announce as the spokesperson for former president jacob Zuma.
Manyi’s appointment was announced by Zuma’s daughter, Dudu Zuma-Sambudla on Twitter.
She said Manyi, through her communications team, would provide spokesperson services to Zuma and its foundation and “on all matters, including the arms deal case.”
Manyi is a staunch supporter of Zuma who is fighting to have the corruption charges against him dismissed in court.
Zuma is accused of receiving 791 payments worth R 4.1 million between 1995 and 2004 from his former financial advisor and convicted fraudster, Schabir Shaik.
Zuma has pleaded not guilty and has filed a motion to remove lead prosecutor, lawyer Billy Downer. If that is successful, Zuma wants the whole case against him thrown out.
Manyi was appointed government spokesperson and CEO of the government communications information system in February 2011 and has had a controversial relationship with journalists.
In March 2010, he hit the headlines when during an interview with the Afrikaans Channel, Kyknet said people of color were too concentrated in the Western Cape.
He said people of color need to understand that all of South Africa is theirs, not just the Western Cape.
In response to these comments, Trevor Manuel, then Minister of National Planning, wrote an open letter to Manyi, calling him “a racist of the worst order”.
in 2011, former public protector Thuli Madonsela found that, while DG of Labor, Manyi had failed to comply with the civil service code of conduct and the rules on how to deal with conflicts of interest between his functions officials and his role as chairman of the management forum.
In January 2019, Manyi became the political leader of the pro-Jacob Zuma party, the Africa Transformation Movement, which garnered 76,830 votes in the 2019 general election, or around 0.44 percent of the national vote.
At the time of his appointment, Manyi said the ANC “is tired, tired and has lost its moral compass”.
Mzwanele Manyi takes the reins as spokesperson for Jacob Zuma.