The State Capture inquiry, or the Zondo Commission, as it’s formally known, is back this week.

Oh, and it’s back with a serious bang.

Given that we are so used to hearing about corruption involving staggering sums of money, it takes something pretty special to make us sit up and take notice.

Enter former chief operations officer for Bosasa, Angelo Agrizzi, who took the stand yesterday for day two of his testimony. He clearly and methodically outlined exactly how the company would dish out bribes in order for Bosasa to secure favourable contracts.

Bosasa, which now trades as African Global Group, is a company with close ties to the ANC, and it emerged last month that CEO Gavin Watson had made a personal donation of R500 000 to Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2017 presidential campaign.

First up, the video from TimesLIVE:

I think that footage, and Agrizzi’s commentary, speaks for itself.

Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson might be a name you’re not all that familiar with, but how about Eastern Cape rugby royalty Cheeky and Luke Watson?

Yeah, they’re one big happy family, and a family that the Daily Maverick says “make the Guptas look like amateurs”.

Let’s dive into that one:

…Agrizzi, currently testifying before the Zondo commission of inquiry into State Capture, will blow the lid on high-level corruption, State Capture and money-laundering by his former employer…

If Agrizzi’s testimony plays out as the summary before the Zondo commission of inquiry has suggested, it will dwarf the capture and corruption by the Gupta family.

In its first three months, that family was at the epicentre of almost all testimony; that changed today as another family took its place.

The Watson family hail from the Eastern Cape, where Cheeky Watson’s decision to play rugby with black South Africans and forego a Springbok cap in the Eighties made them local heroes. They were close to former Eastern Cape premier Makhenkesi Stofile and were activists in the liberation movement.

The family, led by Gavin Watson [pictured above with Jacob Zuma], parlayed this influence into a massive security and facilities conglomerate which has made billions of rand from state contracts.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe had security installed at his Boksburg home, and at two Eastern Cape properties, by Bosasa.

Definitely also a coincidence that Bosasa made payments and security installations at the home of ANC MP Vincent Smith.

Smith has since stepped down as chairperson of a special parliamentary committee which chaired hearings into land expropriation without compensation.

Some further bombshells dropped by Agrizzi during his testimony:

[He] traced Bosasa’s genesis as a highly politically connected company called Dyambu. Dyambu sought to win catering contracts on the mines and it paid bribes to officials of the National Union of Mineworkers to get them to exert political pressure on Goldfields in order to win its first tenders.

Later on, Bosasa would perfect the strategy of using trade unions to gain traction in huge security and catering deals at the country’s prisons, airports and elsewhere. It also runs the refugee repatriation facility called Lindela.

Seems like the return on those cash bribes has been pretty, pretty good.

Agrizzi will continue his testimony at the State Capture inquiry today, which should make for interesting viewing.

[sources:timeslive&dailymav]