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ANC Heavyweights Placed at Heart of Bosasa Operation

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ANC Heavyweights Placed at Heart of Bosasa Operation Legalbrief | your legal news hub Wednesday 29 September 2021 ANC heavyweights placed at heart of Bosasa operation ANC heavyweights and state officials have been placed at the heart of Bosasa’s operation to safeguard itself from any investigation of its corrupt multi-billion rand contracts with government in the latest round of allegations placed before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry, notes Legalbrief. On a fourth day of testimony, former Bosasa executive Angelo Agrizzi laid bare how the controversial facilities company lined the pockets of Ministers, former and current ANC MPs, and officials working in various departments. The corruption also went to the core of Parliament, according to Agrizzi, who alleged long-standing ANC MP Vincent Smith, and other MPs, were paid up to R100 000 a month to protect Bosasa. Heading the list of ANC heavyweights that Bosasa, now trading as African Global Operations, had on its payroll was Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane. According to a Business Day report, the Minister insisted that the firm foot the bill for ANC rallies, birthday celebrations, funeral services and even a rental car for her daughter. Agrizzi said that Bosasa had paid for at least a dozen ANC events, including the party’s Siyanqoba rallies, which are held before elections. Apart from favours for the party, Agrizzi also described how he had been given a list of Christmas groceries to buy for Mokonyane every year since 2002. The company also paid for repairs to her Roodepoort home. Mokonyane has denied the allegations. Mokonyane allegedly received cash bribes of R50 000 over the course of several years – at times delivered to her at her official residence as the Premier of Gauteng, says a Daily Maverick report. Mokonyane, a senior ANC leader who also happens to be the chairperson of the party’s disciplinary appeals committee, was appointed to Cabinet by former President Jacob Zuma in 2014, notes the DM. Agrizzi told the commission he was present, several times when Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson allegedly made trips to Mokonyane’s homes in either Bryanston or Krugersdorp to drop off the cash. He gave commission chair, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, a detailed description of the swimming pools, the stairs, the path lights and even the boardroom furniture or location of Mokonyane’s home office – because he had gone there, he said, several times. Agrizzi, a self-confessed kingpin in the Bosasa corruption empire, testified that after becoming fed up about Bosasa’s overall bribery operation, he asked Watson why they couldn’t just switch to doing business the normal way – without their political connections. Pressed for more detail, Agrizzi explained that while the bribe system worked well at other state-owned entities or departments, Mokonyane later on proved to be less effective as she provided them with absolutely no benefit for the money. He said: ‘When we first met Nomvula Mokonyane we realised she was extremely powerful. We referred to her as energizer bunny. The reason is that whatever we needed, it would be done. If we needed protection, needed people spoken to, it would be done,’ Agrizzi testified. However, he said he tried to put a stop to her payments later on when he realised they were not getting value for their money. But Watson, he claims, allegedly said that Bosasa still needed Mokonyane on-side. Agrizzi detailed how the company allegedly footed the bill for ANC rallies in Gauteng – at the insistence of Mokonyane. According to TimesLIVE, Agrizzi said the company paid for a host of ANC events. He alleged the requests were made by Mokonyane through Watson. ‘There were rallies where we would have to cater for 40 000 or 50 000 people... We would get ridiculous requests saying we would need to cater for supporters – 10 000 at a time,’ Agrizzi said. He could not recall an exact number, but he said Bosasa paid for at least a dozen ANC events, including catering and cakes. Agrizzi said he would receive ‘ridiculous requests’ from Mokonyane to cater for birthday parties. One party in particular was former President Jacob Zuma’s 72nd birthday celebration. Agrizzi said he designed the cake and that it even featured Bosasa’s logo. So close was the alleged relationship between Mokonyane and Bosasa that Agrizzi says the Minister's daughter would request a specific car from a rental company, and that after numerous crashes, he sat her down and offered her driver training. ‘Her (Mokonyane's) daughter would call me up and request specifically an Audi A3 cabriolet… I called her in one day and sat her down and asked her if I could arrange driver training for her,’ Agrizzi said. His affidavit also details how the company paid for repairs to the Minister's Roodepoort home. ‘At that stage I didn’t think anything was wrong and everything went for the books as normal as if we were using it for something else. ‘There were numerous requests given through the year (between 2002 and 2003). These included organising and paying for funerals in respect of deceased family members, rental vehicles for two to three months at time for her daughter, and numerous catering for rallies on her instruction,’ Agrizzi told the commission. The former executive described how Bosasa got Smith on board and went about securing state contracts, mostly from the Department of Correctional Services and Department of Justice & Constitutional Development. He said he employed the services of Sesinyi Seopela to facilitate payments to government officials and to pass on vital information on contracts, notes a Business Day report. Agrizzi said he had given Seopela up to R500 000 a month between 2008 and 2016 to pay department of Correctional Services officials. This amount was increased to R750 000 after Tom Moyane was appointed the department’s national commissioner. Agrizzi testified that Bosasa bribed officials at the Justice Department with R15m. He also claimed he had met Smith, along with then MPs Vuselelo Magagula and Winnie Ngwenya, in 2011 at a hotel on Rivonia Road in Johannesburg. All three were part of the National Assembly’s Correctional Services Committee at the time. ‘What was agreed at that meeting was that despite the negative press publicity and despite issues raised in the press that were in essence against Bosasa, that the parliamentary committee would keep quiet on it and they would make sure they could manage it so it wouldn’t stop Bosasa from getting any new business,’ he said. He alleged that Bosasa had paid Smith R45 000 a month, Magagula R30 000 and Ngwenya R20 000. Smith’s monthly bribe was said to have increased to R100 000 in 2016. Agrizzi recalled one occasion where he met Smith at a Mugg & Bean restaurant to make a payment. He described how Smith would sometimes wear a leather jacket and tuck the money into its pockets, notes a TimesLIVE report. He also alleged that Smith, in 2016, requested that the monthly payment be increased to R100 000 – with which Bosasa complied. He also detailed how, after a crime occurred at Smith’s home, Bosasa installed security upgrades including cameras, an alarm system and improved fencing. Smith is said to have also requested Bosasa to pay his daughter's university fees. In one of the payments, Agrizzi said Bosasa paid about R276 000 to a British university in 2016 for Smith’s daughter’s tuition fees. The money was allegedly paid to Smith's company EuroBlitz. The report notes Smith asked in 2018 to be removed as chairman of Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee until a probe into allegations that he received large sums of money from Bosasa was finalised. In a statement at the time‚ Smith said he entered into an agreement for a personal loan with Agrizzi. But Agrizzi denied this. He told the commission that Smith even offered to sell him shares at a hospital in Midrand, but he refused. Parliament, it seems, has done nothing to investigate alleged payments to Smith nearly five months after he admitted to receiving a R671 000 ‘loan’ from Agrizzi. Business Day notes that when it contacted one of the co-chairs of Parliament’s Joint Ethics Committee, Humphrey Maxhegwana, to establish what progress had been made in investigating Smith, he said he knew nothing about any probe. Maxhegwana said he was surprised at being asked about the complaint against Smith as ‘I am not involved with that’. DA MP John Steenhuisen reportedly confirmed to Business Day that he had laid a complaint about Smith’s admission that he had received money from Bosasa, and his alleged failure to declare receiving this money, in September 2018. ‘It is simply staggering that some five months after I lodged a complaint with the Ethics Committee in the Vincent Smith matter that the chairperson is not even aware of it,’ said Steenhuisen. ‘It is little wonder we are facing a scourge of corruption and dirty dealings by politicians like Smith when there is a complete absence of a consequence for those accused of wrongdoing it is crucial that Parliament stops dragging its feet.’ Smith reportedly declined to comment on the evidence against him. ‘At this point I will get advice before I comment on any matter,’ he said. Asked about the status of the complaint that was lodged against him with the Ethics Committee, he responded: ‘The matter is before the ethics committee and is not yet finalised as far as I am aware.’ The Seopela connection is explained in a BusinessLIVE report. Seopela, who once served as ANC Youth League president Peter Mokaba’s bodyguard, is alleged to be the middleman that Bosasa paid to pass on vital information on government contracts, and to pay officials for securing deals for the company.
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