Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe was on Friday under the spotlight at the Zondo commission on why he had accepted free installations to the tune of R300 000 from controversial facilities management company Bosasa in 2013 and 2016.
Former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi
testified before the commission that Bosasa had targeted influential
politicians and officials and gave them favours, including bribes and upgrades
to their homes, among other gratifications.
Agrizzi told the inquiry that Bosasa had installed security
upgrades at three of Mantashe’s properties.
Mantashe said he had tasked his security advisor Mzonke
Nyakaza to install cameras at his Boksburg house after attempted break-ins and
that it was him who secured cameras from Bosasa’s Papa Leshabane without
Mantashe's intimate knowledge.
“In the political settings, there is very strict division
of labour. I was tapped out of details of security arrangements and the
security advisor handled that aspect himself,” Mantashe said.
Evidence leader advocate Viwe Notshe SC, however, quizzed
Mantashe on why his Eastern Cape properties also had security installations by
Bosasa.
Mantashe said the Eastern Cape security upgrades were
“informed by the success of the Boksburg installations".
“The installations were effected in the Eastern cape in
2016, having seen the effectiveness of the cameras in Boksburg where we even
found a person who was stealing from within, who is working in the property. We
thought that we should put those cameras in those properties as well,” Mantashe
argued.
Bosasa has been marred in allegations of corruption and
money laundering, as well as the bribing of politicians and top officials in a
bid to secure political protection and secure lucrative state contracts.
Mantashe has been questioned on why he had accepted Bosasa
to provide the cameras free of charge and why Bosasa was also involved in all
the upgrades.
“Papa Leshabane came to the Boksburg property when Mzonke
was working on the project and offered to give Mzonke better cameras than what
we bought from Game. Now, if they continued to the Eastern Cape and other
areas, then that was their arrangement as security people,” he said.
Mantashe disputed allegations by Agrizzi that the security
upgrades had cost around R300 000, and argued that they had only cost around
R10 000. Notshe however pushed him to
explain who had footed the bill for the installations.
“I thinking the statement, Mzonke says Papa Leshabane
offered the cameras at his own cost,” he said.
Notshe however disputed Mantashe’s claim, pointing out that
Nyakaza had not made the claim in his statement filed to the commission.
Mantashe insisted that he did not know who had funded the
installations in his properties until there were questions around Bosasa. The
inquiry continues. Sowetan
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