The commission, led by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, heard on Tuesday - Duduzane’s second day of testimony - that he had been unfairly portrayed and was only now being given the opportunity to relay his side of allegations of corruption that had followed him for years.  

“I'm looked at as a criminal, as the face of corruption, this guy that has plundered trillions out of this country, which is not the case by the way. I would just like to say to the public out there I am not corrupt, I am not taking any money, I never have and I never will, just know it is not me," a confident Duduzane said.

He said he was “unfortunately caught up in a political storm”.

The 35-year-old Duduzane is a business associate of the Gupta family, who are believed to have scored multi-billion rand contracts from various state entities including mining, defence, agriculture and communications because of their proximity to Jacob Zuma and their relationship with Duduzane.

The contracts were awarded when Jacob Zuma was president. 

The Guptas have been accused in the public domain - but have not been formally charged - of using a web of shelf companies locally and abroad to shift profits offshore and of paying bribes and running a shadow government.

The family, who lived in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Saxonwold, where their compound earned the moniker of the “Saxonwold Shebeen”, now live in Dubai, having stated they fear arrest if they return to South Africa.

The Guptas were said to be so influential with president Zuma that they not only knew of new ministerial appointments before it happened, but allegedly told Zuma who to appoint.

Duduzane was given the opportunity to testify at the commission after he was implicated in a wide range of allegedly corrupt activities.

But the young businessman said the narrative that he was corrupt was being driven by the media.

“I’m not corrupt. I have not taken any money from anybody and I never will.”

On Monday, evidence leader advocate Philip Mokoena questioned Duduzane about a meeting in October 2015 where former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas alleged that he was taken to the Gupta compound by the young Zuma and offered a bribe.

Jonas claimed that the Gupta brothers offered him R600 million if he would accept the position of finance minister, which would come with certain conditions - such as pushing for the country's nuclear deal to be expedited. They told him they knew the incumbent Nhlanhla Nene was to be fired.

Nene was axed in December 2015 in an event that rocked local stock markets as president Zuma tried to replace him with backbencher Des van Rooyen. Barely three days later Van Rooyen was replaced with Pravin Gordhan, the result of intense internal and external pressure on the then president.

Duduzane's and Jonas‘ versions of events differ, with the only consistency being they both confirm the meeting took place.

ANA