Bosasagate: More questions only an independent inquiry can answer

28 November 2018

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes yesterday’s press release by law firm Edelstein, Farber and Grobler (EFG), who have now confirmed that they did in fact act as a conduit through which money was channelled to Cyril Ramaphosa’s campaign to become ANC President. This includes – but is not limited to – the dubious R500 000 “donation” from Bosasa CEO, Gavin Watson.

In particular, EFG states that “the trust account was created for the purposes of collecting funds in respect of the CR17 campaign and the funds received in the trust have been properly accounted for and audited.”

But if this were true, and all of the funds were properly accounted for, then why didn’t they know that Bosasa had made a donation, and why did the President initially say this payment was for his son? There are still far more questions than answers. This is why we have called for the President to initiate an independent inquiry into Bosasa, so that we can get to the bottom of all of these questions.

If the President, EFG, and Mr Afriat are satisfied that all (other) transactions were above board, there should be no hesitation to accede to this request for an independent inquiry.

Moreover, I will be formally approaching the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, requesting they probe the precise role Jeffery Afriat played during his tenure as a director at Trillian Capital, and to establish whether he had any relationship with the Gupta family and their business associates, including the Zuma family.

The reality is that Mr Afriat was a director of Trillian Capital. Afriat is also cited twice by name in Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture report. Afriat resigned as Trillian director shortly before the Budlender Inquiry into Trillian was launched. These are not wild allegations, they are just facts, and they are worthy of further exploration by an independent inquiry.

I have called on President Ramaphosa to immediately appoint a full-scale independent inquiry - headed by a retired judge to be selected by the Chief Justice - to fully investigate the Bosasa scandal, which now involves the President and his family. The President should do so without delay.

Issued by Mmusi Maimane, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 28 November 2018