State Capture: Zuma Was A ' Pet ' To Bosasa Boss

Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson Frequently Guided Previous President Jacob Zuma and Routinely Had Breakfast With His Wives, The State Capture Inquiry Heard On Thursday.

Former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi told deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo that Watson reliably visited Zuma.


Gavin Watson with then president Jacob Zuma on a visit to the company's Krugersdorp headquarters in April 2015. Picture: Twitter

"If I may just add, he had the type of relationship with the president… where he could tell the president what to do. It was frequent.


"He would visit the president quite regularly and I remember.... he told me what a mess [Nkandla] was in terms of the building and that it shouldn't have cost R250m (R246m)," said Agrizzi.

The gatherings with Zuma were because of previous National Prosecuting Authority heavyweight Nomgcobo Jiba neglecting to suppress a case investigating Bosasa's dodgy dealings.


Agrizzi affirmed that at a gathering at previous correctional services commissioner Linda Mti's home on May 8 2016, Watson rehearsed a "pretend" of what he was going to state to Zuma.

"He had already arranged a meeting with the president so it was going to happen. He was just telling Mr Richard (Linda) Mti what was going to happen [at the meeting]," Agrizzi further alleged.

In the recording that was played at the commission, Watson tells Zuma in the role play:  "Mr President, we need to get this thing closed down… We need to get the right people in the right place.  Ntlemeza is the right guy at that place. Now we have to get the right person at the NPA…"

Ntlemeza is the previous Hawks boss who left his office in 2017 after the Supreme Court of Appeal invalidated his appointment as the leader of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).