Acting government communications head Phumla Williams broke down as she opened up about months of “torture” at the hands of her former boss‚ Faith Muthambi.
During her second day on the witness stand at the state capture inquiry‚ Williams painfully relived alleged emotional and verbal abuse by former communications minister Muthambi – and told of how she had relied on the support of colleagues and medication to carry her through.
Her hope is that the commission will restore the damage caused by state capture that is estimated to have cost SA in excess of R100bn.
Here are some of the quotes by Williams in her testimony that point to a dedicated civil servant who was demoted and stripped of her powers as acting director-general – allegedly to pave the way for others to loot the state.
● Muthambi demoted Williams in 2016 from acting director-general to deputy director-general and forced her to pay back R35‚000 of her salary.
Williams testified how Muthambi stripped her of performing important functions‚ which dealt with procurement and finance.
“I had panic attacks. I saw torture going through my body again.
“I never thought in this government people could do such things. I was tortured for weeks [by the apartheid government] and Muthambi did the same.

“She was cheating the state because basically I was being paid because she wanted that procurement [unit] at all cost.
“She wanted to steal at all cost. It was a ploy to remove finance and procurement away from me...