Angelo Agrizzi is well into his ninth day of dishing the dirt on Bosasa, Gavin Watson and how deep the State Capture rot runs, and many South Africans have enjoyed the show.
Whilst many suspect that he has ulterior motives for doing so, anything that may help bring down the architects of State Capture is generally welcomed by most South Africans.
You get the feeling that tide may have turned after the events so far today, when a racist tirade, first made public in September of last year, was discussed at the Zondo Commission.
Via News24, here’s how that went down:
Agrizzi suggests they play the entire 3-hour recording for context.
Agrizzi: “I’m embarrassed of myself, I’m ashamed of myself for ever doing that. Please, understand the context – no sleep, I was beside myself, and I’m not gonna make excuses. You can even hear me slur.”
Agrizzi: “Once again chair, I am a racist, I agree. Judge me on that.”
Agrizzi: “It’s fine. You can play it.”
Well, at least he didn’t go the route of ‘I’m not a racist, I have lots of black friends’.
And then the following exchange:
Whilst we do not have a recording itself, City Press has previously outlined what took place when Agrizzi refers to his former black business partners repeatedly with the k-word.
Even though this has been in the public domain since last year, you would imagine this will change much of the public sentiment towards him:
In the voice recording, which City Press has a copy of, the voice of a male, believed to be Agrizzi, can be heard making reference to “k****rs” several times. The man questions why there was a need in the company for “Joe”, seemingly referring to Gumede, and “Papa”, referring to Leshabane.
“What you need Papa for? … You don’t need Joe … what you need him for? … What I’m saying to you [is] what I can’t understand is how on earth your father listens to Papa and Joe,” said the voice on the audio.
It further stated: “Those k****rs … I’m telling you they are k****rs alright because they are screwing your father with information that he shouldn’t listen to …”
The speaker then seems to be convincing the Watsons – the children of Bosasa’s chief executive officer (CEO), Gavin Watson – to remove them from the company.
In another section of the recording, he tells the Watsons how much he had done for their father as the business was being built. “Those k****s have done nothing for your father. What is it that they are holding over his head? What is it?”
He threatens to “go personally to that company [AGO]” to deal with his former partners.
“I will f*ck each of those k****rs out there … I’m telling you now I will…,” he says.
At another point, referring to Leshabane, he says: “That k****r just needs a good hiding…”
You’re really not coming back from that, are you?
Just before an adjournment for lunch, there was this exchange:
Now we wait to see if people are still willing to believe what a self-confessed racist with a wealth of information about this country’s dirtiest dealings has to say.
When the inquiry returns after lunch, you can watch the live stream below:
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