Johannesburg - The State Capture Commission has found that there is “clear and convincing evidence” pertaining to Bosasa’s attempts to influence office-bearers, functionaries and government officials.
In the voluminous four-part Volume Three of the State Capture report, which was released earlier on Tuesday evening, the commission lead by Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo found that Bosasa’s primary mechanism in attempting to influence public office bearers was the payment of cash bribes.
“This was no doubt aimed at developing a corrupt form of loyalty to Bosasa, through the dependence on the regular payments that would develop. By spreading the benefits relatively widely, it also sought simultaneously to maximise its corrupt influence, but also to decrease the likelihood of whistle-blowers coming forward to expose particular corrupted public office-bearers,” the report stated.
It also found that Bosasa’s attempts to influence key people were not only confined to cash payments, but they also built houses, provided various furnishings for homes, installed several home security systems, including for energy minister and former ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe who benefited from Bosasa’s “corrupt modus operandi”.
The company had installed CCTV cameras at his homes in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg and Cala in the Eastern Cape.
Bosasa also bought motor vehicles, premium luxury gifts and paid for travel and accommodation for a number of associates.
Read the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture Report_Part 3 V1.pdf
Read the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture Report_Part 3 V11.pdf
Read the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture Report_Part 3 V111.pdf
Read the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture Report_Part 3 IV.pdf
“Bosasa was a business organisation that was heavily invested in securing tenders from particular government departments and organs of state,” Zondo stated, adding the company sought, through Mantashe, to influence the leadership of those departments and organs of state.
While Mantashe contended that some of these security upgrades were entirely innocent, borne of arrangements made between his security person and a family friend, Zondo said he downplayed his capacity for influence as secretary-general of the ANC.
Zondo further stated that Mantashe’s attempt to characterise the installation of security equipment at his houses as a traditional project, similar to a traditional wedding where family or friends voluntarily contribute to the cost “was not convincing”.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Political Bureau