The big stink
More explosive details expected this week
Angelo Agrizzi is expected to name names, including that of cabinet minister Nomvula Mokonyane, above, as he resumes his explosive testimony at the Zondo commission into state capture this week.
Some of the people implicated in the alleged explosive corruption to protect Bosasa chiefs from prosecution have gone to ground.
The Sunday Times reported that former president Jacob Zuma allegedly pocketed a R300,000 monthly payment to protect Bosasa bosses from prosecution for paying millions of bribes to secure lucrative government contracts. The revelations are reportedly part of former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi’s evidence to be presented before the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture. In the documents, the Sunday Times reported, Zuma’s close friends and confidante such as former SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni and Nomvula Mokonyane, now environmental affairs minister, were showered with expensive gifts by the security firm. Speaking at the ANC NEC lekgotla in Pretoria, party spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the country must not risk undermining the integrity of the state capture commission. “We must not have processes that are established outside of the commission and talk about evidence that has not been presented.
“If there’s any evidence to come before the commission, let’s all wait for that evidence to come before the commission,” Kodwa said. Mokonyane was the only one to respond to the damning allegations. Her spokesperson, Mlimandlela Ndamase, said the allegations have not been presented to the commission. “Whatever allegations the Sunday Times and any other publication are printing have not been presented as testimony under oath.
“As and when they are presented and the minister is formally implicated, she will obviously have the option to exercise her right to go to the commission and respond,” said Ndamase.
“But if the allegations are just what is contained in the papers, her view is that they are quite preposterous. They are of no reasonable sense. The allegations talk of bribes for tenders, but the minister only recalls that Bosasa had no contract that it obtained while she was an MEC in Gauteng and at water and sanitation.” Zuma’s spokesperson, Vukile Mathabela, referred all questions to the chairperson of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Myeni, who did not answer Sowetan’s calls yesterday. Bosasa boss Gavin Watson allegedly gave Myeni an expensive Louis Vuitton handbag stuffed with R300,000 cash to secure her patronage, while Mokonyane was given whatever she wanted for her political influence. Agrizzi is expected to detail how he had been given a list of Christmas groceries by Mokonyane every year since 2002.
It included cases of alcohol and packs of meat.