NATIONAL NEWS - The testimony of Richard Le Roux, an employee of a Bosasa subsidiary, GTS (formerly known as Sondolo IT), at the commission of inquiry into state capture on Thursday delved into the work the company’s special projects had done on the properties of government ministers and ANC officials.
These included Minister of Environmental Affairs Nomvula Mokonyane, Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe, former SAA chair Dudu Myeni, former department of correctional services commissioner Linda Mti, ANC MP Vincent Smith, Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Thabang Makwetla as well as chief magistrate Desmond Nair.
Le Roux told the commission about the company’s “special projects” and the team put together to carry out the work, which included installing security systems, CCTV cameras, electric fences, and pool pumps, to name a few.
Le Roux said that, as head of the team that carried out the special projects, he had acted on instruction from the company’s former COO Angelo Agrizzi or Gavin Watson, Bosasa CEO, or either of Bosasa’s directors, Papa Leshabane, Joe Gumede, Trevor Mathenjwa and Syvion Dlamini.
Le Roux claimed that in November 2017 he was “pressured” by Watson and his daughter, Lindsay, to write an affidavit stating that Agrizzi had been the sole person who instructed the team to carry out the special projects.
He said he had initially refused to do so because he did not want “to get in between [the argument between Agrizzi and Watson]” and because it would have been “unfair”, “untruthful”, “unethical” and “unlawful” when the instructions were not only given by the company’s former COO.
However, after contacting Agrizzi about this matter, Le Roux wrote a statement, with the assistance of the former COO, in line with what the Watsons required, and emailed it to the Watsons.
A handwritten note was later added to that statement with the signatures of two witnesses, namely Andries van Tonder and Leon van Tonder – the latter is expected to take the stand after the lunch adjournment.
The handwritten note stated that Le Roux had written the statement sent to the Watsons under “duress”.
A copy of the statement with the handwritten amendment was kept by Agrizzi and Le Roux and was not sent to the Watsons.
Le Roux’s testimony gave detail on the work carried out by Bosasa’s special projects team at the various properties of high-ranking officials.
