Riyaz Patel
Deceased Bosasa boss Gavin Watson was to be served with a notice to state his version on alleged corruption involving his company and senior politicians at the public inquiry into state capture, Commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said Wednesday.
Zondo said he had issued a directive as per commission rules to be served on Watson, but this had yet to be done when the businessman died Monday morning.
“The directive was not one that required him to appear before the commission yet. The directive required him to furnish an affidavit relating to the statement by (former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi,” Zondo said before Wednesday’s hearings began.
“Attempts were being made for the directive to be served on Watson … The directive had not yet been served at the time of his passing,” Zondo said.
Watson died in a single-car accident near OR Tambo International Airport Monday. The 73-year-old CEO of Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations, was reportedly alone in the vehicle when it crashed against a bridge pillar.
Agrizzi gave damning testimony before the commission earlier this year, alleging that Watson was the mastermind behind Bosasa’s irregular government contracts worth billions of rands.
The former COO claimed that he was tasked with organising bribes in cash for former president Jacob Zuma, Cartier pens, a Louis Vuitton bag stuffed with banknotes for former South African Airways board chairperson Dudu Myeni, and in the case of ex-minister Nomvula Mokonyane, huge orders of food and drinks for Christmas.
The commission is this week hearing evidence from former Free State member of the executive council for economic development Mxolisi Dukwana. He is testifying on the so-called “asbestos heist,” a project by the province’s human settlement department to eradicate asbestos roofs in the province.
Dukwana alleges that money was instead siphoned off from the provincial government at the request of former premier Ace Magashule.
