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Former Minister of Environmental Affairs Nomvula Mokonyane. (Photo: Flickr / GCIS)
In a morning of testimony that could be described as evasive, the Zondo Commission heard corroboration from parts of the alarming accusations by former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi against former environmental affairs minister Nomvula Mokonyane.
Taking the stand Monday morning at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry on allegations of state capture was the former minister of environmental affairs Nomvula Mokonyane’s personal assistant, Sandra Thomas. Thomas became Mokonyane’s personal assistant in 1999, when Mokonyane was a Safety and Security MEC in Gauteng. She has remained his personal assistant during Mokonyane’s tenure as Gauteng Prime Minister, Minister of Water and Sanitation, Minister of Communications and Minister of Environmental Affairs, and remains with Mokonyane in her current deployment at the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House.
Thomas told Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo that she, for 21 years, had become “part of the family.”
“How do you fill the void when [women] they are also wives and mothers. “
It was a family that the Zondo Commission has heard received Christmas meat packages worth R17,000 and had extensive home security installed by Bosasa. Angelo, former chief operating officer of Bosasa Agrizzi also claimed that Mokonyane received R50,000 cash bribes from Bosasa. over the course of several years.
Testifying before the commission on July 20, Mokonyane denied having asked or instructed Bosasa or the company’s subcontractors for repairs or maintenance and security work on his home.
However, when questioned by advocate Viwe Notshe on Monday, Thomas said that every time “the ladies” of the Mokonyane household called about a problem with the home security system, she called Richard le Roux, former head of Bosasa special operations. She said that when “the ladies” called her about domestic matters, she would pass messages on to Mokonyane’s late husband, Serge Mokonyane, but when it came to security-related issues, he would tell her to contact Le Roux directly.
When Notshe asked why he didn’t call an alarm company, he said, “I don’t know who takes care of the alarms.”
He did not know if Le Roux ever left a bill at the house for his services, as other contractors such as plumbers or electricians used to do. Regarding an SMS in which Thomas messaged Le Roux to fix a problem with the alarm system, Notshe noted that he did not give Le Roux the address, which meant that he must be familiar with the house.
“He could have been in the house without my knowledge,” Thomas replied.
She denied that Bosasa had installed the security system at Mokonyane’s home and said that it facilitated access to the home for representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, officials from the Department of Housing and members of SAPS.
Zondo said he recalled Agrizzi testifying that Le Roux installed and maintained the security system, but that information could not be found in the affidavits before the commission yesterday. However, he said Thomas’s evidence appeared to support testimony that Bosasa formed a team under Le Roux to guard the security system at Mokonyane’s home.
Thomas said he dealt with Le Roux after Mokonyane was promoted to a ministerial position in 2014.
When asked if he had met Agrizzi, he said that he had only met him once when he visited Mokonyane’s house to offer his condolences after the death of his son, and that he had spoken to him by phone “once or twice” .
Pressing her about a gift of flowers she had received from Agrizzi, Thomas admitted that saying that she had spoken to him “once or twice” meant she could have spoken to him more than that.
“He called me about various things,” saying, “Mr. Watson asked me to call him.”
“A relationship develops over the phone,” Thomas said.
In regards to Agrizzi’s testimony that groceries were delivered to Mokonyane around the Christmas period, Thomas said that while they were delivered to Mokonyane’s home and unloaded in the garage, they were distributed to poor families in Kagiso.
When asked who did the distribution, he said he did not know as he was not there. This happened every year, except the “last few years.” Sometimes they would skip a year and then Mokonyane would make his own arrangements, Thomas said.
She said she had only met Bosasa’s late boss Gavin Watson once, also after Mokonyane’s son died, but she knew he was a friend of the family and had developed a telephone relationship with him over the years. .
Since Thomas’s birthday was the same week as Mokonyane’s, Watson would sometimes “surprise” her with a gift. When it came to gifts for Mokonyane, she said that “people would call” and she would suggest what they should give her, but she didn’t know what they decided to send her, or whether Mokonyane received the gifts or not.
Referring to an email from Agrizzi’s assistant Gina Pieters, submitted as evidence, Notshe said the email asked people to help with two baskets worth R1,500 each, one for Mokonyane and one for Thomas. , with Thomas’ address provided for delivery. The email thread also stated that no reference should be made to Bosasa and provided Thomas’s cell phone number.
When asked if he received the basket, Thomas said he did not recall receiving it. He was also unable to confirm whether Mokonyane received a basket.
Notshe also pressured Thomas about Agrizzi’s testimony that Bosasa provided a rental vehicle for Mokonyane’s daughter for three months and paid for the costs of the family funeral. Thomas denied that he arranged the car rental or that funeral payments had been received.
More arrests in case of fraud related to the Vrede dairy farm and the Department of Agriculture of the Free State
The commission was suspended after Thomas’ testimony and will continue on Wednesday, with Pieters to testify in continuing Bosasa-related matters, and is then expected to move to the La Paz dairy project in the afternoon, with the former CFO of the Free State Department of Agriculture, Seipati Dlamini, on the stand. DM
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