Bosasa employee ‘called to fix alarm’

RENOVATIONS at the house of then minister of environmental affairs Nomvula Mokonyane came to the fore again yesterday at the Commission of Inquiry into state capture as her long-time personal assistant confirmed that work was indeed carried out by Bosasa’s maintenance employees.

However, Sandy Thomas, who took the stand for the first time, vehemently disputed certain aspects of the previous testimony given by former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi.

Thomas is represented by Mokonyane’s

legal team at the inquiry.

Last year, Agrizzi alleged that Mokonyane had established a corrupt relationship with deceased Bosasa chief executive Gavin Watson.

Agrizzi said Watson saw Mokonyane as a powerful political figure, and sponsored security renovations to her West Rand home.

Former Bosasa employee Richard Le Roux had testified to having communicated with Thomas regarding security upgrades at Mokonyane’s home.

When Mokonyane appeared at the inquiry recently, she labelled Agrizzi a liar and denied that Bosasa had paid for security upgrades to her home.

Regarding security renovations at Mokonyane’s home, Thomas said as far as she knew the security upgrades were done by the government while Mokonyane was a MEC.

Thomas admitted that she had been in contact with Le Roux regarding a problem with an alarm at Mokonyane’s home. The minister’s husband, Serge Mokonyane, had asked her to contact Le Roux. She said this took place while Mokonyane was the minister of environmental affairs.

Mokonyane is expected to give evidence again on Thursday.