ICYMI: 

Zondo, Nugent, Mokgoro, PIC… and why the ANC believes it to be immune 

At one stage on Wednesday, television news channel eNCA had a four-way split screen.

The channel’s executive producer had a choice of three inquiries and a court case to choose from: the state capture commission, the inquiry into Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi, the commission into the Public Investment Corporation and the high court application by 'premier league' heavy Supra Mahumapelo to nullify the ANC’s Nasrec conference.

And a couple of weeks ago the Nugent commission into the affairs of the South African Revenue Service concluded, which found that what was once the jewel in the crown of state had been gutted by Tom Moyane, a former prisons boss and friend of Zuma. And in Parliament the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises started chipping away at the feeding trough state-owned enterprises became under Zuma’s corrupted leadership. Eskom, Transnet, the SAA, the SABC, Denel – balance sheets all massacred.

Pretorius pauses Bloem's testimony and requests the morning break. 

Zondo adjourns proceedings until 11:30.

Bloem talks about the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Parliament's budget watchdog, and its resolutions about DCS. 

Bloem says recommendations from the Auditor General about the DCS's finances also came to nothing. 

Zondo surmises about what must be done, what must be put in place to prevent state capture from happening again. 

Bloem says he was labelled as a member of the opposition from within his own party because he was asking too many tough questions.

Bloem said he was called by the ANC chief whip in Parliament and reprimanded for raising issues and asking questions.

Bloem: "I was reprimanded, and said that this, what you are doing, this is an ANC government, you can't do this because you are putting the ANC in a bad light outside. Twice, I was called." 

Mbulelo Goniwe was ANC chief whip at the time. 

Bloem: "If the investigators can go back and check what has happened, they will find more damning things than this Bosasa..." 

Zondo: "In relation to corruption?" 

Bloem: "In relation to corruption. They will find more damning things than this Bosasa issue, under the leadership of Khulekani Sithole." 

Bloem: "Year in, year out, there was no control at all." 

"That's why I described it as havoc," Bloem tells the commission. 

Bloem: "Mr Petersen was a corruption buster. He hated it with all his heart, he was straightforward..."

Bloem continues to bemoan the lack of cooperation from the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).

Bloem: "We had very serious problems when it comes to accountability, of the department." 

Bloem: "Information would come late or would not be there at all... it was very difficult to interrogate..."

Bloem is still expanding on the oversight function of Parliamentary portfolio committees, mentions oversight visits to prisons by the correctional services committee, as an example of their duties.

Bloem talks about his time as committee chairperson (from 2004 to 2009) and says the committee has the power to call anyone, any stakeholder, to account before the committee.

Bloem: "The executive must report to Parliament...the portfolio committee can call ministers and officials at any time, to come and account."

Bloem will provide insight from the point of view of Parliamentary oversight committees, and is expected to confirm much of what Angelo Agrizzi shared during his testimony. 

Bloem now starts with a summary of his background. "Since 2009, I am a serving member of the Congress of the People party."

Proceedings have commenced. Dennis Bloem, COPE spokesperson, has just been sworn in. 

ICYMI: 

Ramaphosa's R500k 'Bosasa donation' on ice, ready for AFU 

Campaign managers for President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2017 ANC presidential campaign will not oppose any attempt by the Asset Forfeiture Unit to seize the R500 000 donated by Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson, should the unit choose to move in.

Watson's donation, which is likely "tainted" and possibly the proceeds of crime, has been placed in an attorney's trust account pending the outcome of legal reviews on the matter.

This is revealed in an email from the founder of Forensics for Justice, Paul O'Sullivan, to Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane, in response to a Public Access to Information Application filed by Maimane's office to Ramaphosa's son, Andile, seeking more details of the business agreement between Ramaphosa junior and Bosasa. 

ICYMI: 

Agrizzi's Bosasa wingman on 'chicken' bribes, destruction of evidence and 'war chests' 

Testimony by the second Bosasa witness, former chief financial officer Andries van Tonder, was a short sprint compared to the marathon evidence by Angelo Agrizzi.

Van Tonder, the man behind the camera that captured images of Bosasa CEO counting R1m in bribe cash, took to the stand late on Tuesday, only to be all but complete by lunch time on Wednesday.

Van Tonder’s evidence was missing the bombshells Agrizzi delivered, but was nonetheless crucial to confirming Agrizzi’s version of events, insofar as the culture of criminality at Bosasa.

ICYMI: 

Pretoria chief magistrate implicated in Bosasa scandal at state capture inquiry 

Pretoria chief magistrate Desmond Nair, who presided over Oscar Pistorius's bail application, has been implicated in the fast-growing Bosasa scandal unfolding at the state capture commission of inquiry.

Nair allegedly accepted the installation of R200 000 worth of security systems at his Pretoria home, including a full electric fence, CCTV and alarm systems.

This was revealed by Bosasa employee Richard le Roux, who testified before the commission on Thursday. Le Roux, who was issued with a summons to appear before the commission, works for Global Technology Systems, a subsidiary of Bosasa previously known as Sondolo IT. 

ICYMI: 

How spin doctor tried to 'influence' reporting on Bosasa 

Carien du Plessis, one of the first journalists to expose the rot of corruption around controversial company Bosasa, has told News24 that one of the spin doctors named by Angelo Agrizzi at the Zondo commission tried to influence her reporting about the company in 2006.

Agrizzi, a former Bosasa executive, told the commission of inquiry into state capture on Monday that public relations practitioners Stephen Laufer and Benedicta Dube were contracted by Bosasa to discredit journalists who were exposing corruption involving the company. 

Dube, who is deceased, attempted to intimidate Adriaan Basson, now editor-in-chief of News24, into softening his line on Bosasa.

ICYMI: 

State capture inquiry: Agrizzi puts Zuma's Dudu Myeni front and centre in Bosasa corruption saga 

Dudu Myeni, a close friend of former president Jacob Zuma and chairperson of his charitable foundation, was a vital cog in controversial facilities manager Bosasa's alleged government-wide network of corruption and bribery.

According to Angelo Agrizzi, a former Bosasa executive, she was the conduit through which a monthly payment was made to Zuma when he was head of state. She also gave Agrizzi and Bosasa's chief executive, Gavin Watson, access to confidential documents from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) detailing authorities' investigation into the company. And, according to Agrizzi, it was important to keep Myeni on their side because "she could swing deals".

This and other dramatic allegations were made as part of Agrizzi's testimony to the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture on Monday. It was Agrizzi's eighth day on the witness stand. His testimony has thus fair given deep insight into the Bosasa operation, how it seemingly bribed senior government officials, including ministers, and how it lavished money and gifts on them while receiving lucrative tenders in return. 

ICYMI: 

Bosasa, Watson offered Agrizzi between R50m and R80m to keep quiet – reports 

Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson offered his former colleague-turned-whistleblower Angelo Agrizzi tens of millions in a "hush money deal", to prevent him from speaking out about the company's alleged corruption, according to reports.

The Sunday Times and City Press reported that the proposal involved paying Agrizzi a R250 000 per month "consultancy" fee, and the establishment of a new company which would receive R10m per year for six years. A R5m "good faith" payment would reportedly be made to Agrizzi, too.

Agrizzi has spent the past week giving sensational testimony to the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, about how Bosasa allegedly paid millions of bribes to top government officials in exchange for contracts.