ANC calls on law enforcement agencies to 'act' over Bosasa revelations
5 February 2019
The ANC has welcomed a decision by the Department of Correctional Services to review its contract with Bosasa, while calling on law enforcement agencies to take immediate action over revelations of wrongdoing stemming from numerous commissions of inquiry currently underway.
The party, through its acting spokesperson Zizi Kodwa, said it was encouraged by the decision taken by correctional services to assess its contracts following damming allegations from Cope spokesperson, and former ANC MP Dennis Bloem at the state capture commission last week.
Bloem told Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that contracts Bosasa had with the department amounted to a "money laundering scheme".
The former ANC MP, who once served as chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services, alleged that the department had paid Bosasa R240m for three years to provide catering for some of the country’s prisons, but never provided staff to cook for inmates, who were still required to prepare and cook meals for themselves.
Zondo, following the revelations, asked the commission's legal team to investigate if Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations, still enjoyed an alleged corrupt relationship with the department.
He also called for urgent steps to be taken by law enforcement agencies to stop further plundering of taxpayers’ money.
"The ANC calls on the state or government and law enforcement agencies to act on the revelations from various commissions of inquiry if there is overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing," said Kodwa.
Two other commissions of inquiry are also currently underway, one looking into the Public Investment Corporation and the Justice Yvonne Mokgoro inquiry into suspended National Prosecuting Authority’s deputy national director Nomgcobo Jiba and advocate Lawrence Mrwebi’s fitness to hold office.
"The preliminary investigation from these various commissions reveals a systematic and toxic relationship between business and public officials, which needs to be regulated with tighter policy controls such as the PFMA [Public Finance Management Act], and early warning systems," said Kodwa.
He added that the revelations from the numerous commissions applied to all governing parties.
"Be it small or big party, it affects all political parties. We need strong policies to regulate the relationship between business and public officials," said Kodwa.
