ANC MP Vincent Smith and other members of a parliamentary committee had received monthly bribes from the company Bosasa, now trading as African Global Operations.
This was the bombshell evidence of former Bosasa chief operations officer turned whistleblower, Angelo Agrizzi, who continued to testify at theZondo Commission of Inquiry into state capture.
He told the Commission that Bosasa had paid the bribes to Smith and some portfolio committee members to effectively look the other way when questions were raised about Bosasa's government contracts.
At the time the company had a multi-million rand contract with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and Correctional Services for the implementation of access control and surveillance equipment at various courts across the country.
However, Bosasa had been dogged by the media scrutiny after theSpecial Investigating Unit started probing its affairs.
Agrizzi said "a decision was made that the parliamentary committee would manage the negative impact of the media coverage on Bosasa so that it wouldn't impact on future business.
“It was agreed that MPs Vincent Smtih, Vincent Magagula and WinnieNgwenya would receive monthly cash payments to ensure an end to negative media coverage of Bosasa's dealings with correctional services," he said.
"Vincent Smith would be paid R45,000, Vincent Magagula would be paid R30,000, and Winnie Ngwenya would be paid R20,000. Even though they didn't have powers to allocate tenders, they have very strong ability to make life difficult or raise objections."
He said at one point the payments to Smith increased to R100 000a month.
Earlier in the day, Agrizzi revealed that Environmental AffairsMinister, Nomvula Mokonyane, was on a R50 000 monthly retainer, among other benefits she enjoyed from the company.
He said the payment to Mokonyane took place from 2002 until he left Bosasa in 2016.
- African News Agency (ANA)
