A triumphant Gavin Watson, the CEO of the company formerly known as Bosasa, returned to his office at the business' Krugersdorp headquarters on Thursday to a joyous welcome from employees, some of whom hugged him.
Watson, smiling from ear to ear, was granted access to the offices of African Global Operations (AGO) following a court order handed down on Wednesday which gave the provisionally appointed liquidators 12 hours to return control of the company to its directors.
Workers are heard on footage singing a struggle song about persevering through difficult times.
The board of AGO had placed the company under voluntary liquidation on February 12, 2019.
On March 4 its directors, represented by AGO chairperson Joe Gumede, filed an urgent application with the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to have the provisional liquidators, Cloete Murray and others, removed.
The court ruled in favour of AGO, handing control back to the directors who have all been implicated in wide-scale corruption through testimony by former company executive Angelo Agrizzi before the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture.
Agrizzi revealed that Watson had been instrumental in the operation of a bribes-for-tenders scheme that resulted in millions of rands in cash being paid to government officials and politicians in exchange for lucrative state contracts.
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