Hunt for Bosasa graft officials
Premier says provincial government would terminate links with embattled company
GAUTENG Premier David Makhura says his administration is on a manhunt for officials who may have corruptly awarded multimillion-rand contracts to controversial facilities management company Bosasa over the years.
Yesterday, Makhura said his provincial government would terminate its links with the embattled company, which has been heavily implicated in corruption and state capture.
Bosasa’s former chief operations officer, Angelo Agrizzi, told the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that the company had for years dished out bribes to politicians and senior government officials in exchange for state contracts.
Makhura said one of the contracts awarded to Bosasa spanned more than 15 years and saw the company – through the Social Development Department – providing a rehabilitation facility for children who were in conflict with the law.
“Over the past 15 years that contract has been worth R600 million. I have decided that we must terminate that contract with immediate effect. I have instructed the legal team to initiate the process of terminating it.”
Makhura added that his ethics advisory council was investigating whether there was bribery of officials or irregularity in the awarding of the contract over the years.
He said his officials were hunting down even those who were no longer working for the provincial government.
“Where there are government officials who are going to be implicated in any of these deals, we will take action against them. There is nowhere to hide for officials who may have acted corruptly. We will go for them,” he said.
The premier said his administration would not hesitate to terminate contracts with any company implicated in state capture.
“Everything that is taking place at the Zondo Commission is something that I am looking at very closely and I want to say that if there is any business that is implicated at the commission, we, as the Gauteng government, are going to do the same, without any hesitation. We don’t want the provincial government to do business with those in the private sector who are involved in corruption, state capture or unethical business conduct,” he said.
Bosasa has recently successfully applied to the South Gauteng High Court for the reversal of its decision to enter into liquidation.
The company’s board filed for Bosasa’s liquidation last month after FNB and Absa closed their accounts due to allegations of corruption.