The company at the centre of South Africa’s prison corruption scandal is closely connected to powerful individuals on the political landscape, including the country’s new spy boss, Gibson Njenje. A number of them were also close to Thabo Mbeki’s presidency.
Bosasa Operations, exposed this week in Parliament for allegedly bribing top prison officials to secure contracts worth more than R1,7-billion, makes a killing from government business. This includes work for the departments of correctional services, justice, home affairs, transport and the provincial governments of Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. Bosasa’s chief executive, Gavin Watson, has close links with the governing ANC through his family’s anti-apartheid struggle credentials and his brothers’ post-1994 business interests. Njenje is a founding member of Bosasa Operations and was a director of the company before being appointed head of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in October.
A number of people benefiting from Bosasa contracts or linked to Watson and his family had links to Mbeki’s office, including the ex-president’s political adviser, Titus Mafolo, and Mbeki’s head of office, Lorato Phalatse, who is married to former Strategic Fuel Fund chairperson Seth Phalatse. Watson’s brother, Valence, is the chief executive of Vulisango Holdings, the empowerment partner of controversial mining firm Simmer & Jack. Valence Watson’s business partners include Nozuko Pikoli, the wife of axed prosecutions boss Vusi Pikoli, and Siviwe Mapisa, the brother of Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
Mapisa-Nqakula told the M&G this week that she knows Gavin Watson. “Mr Watson is a former CEO of Dyambu Holdings, a company the minister was formerly affiliated to. Mr Watson resigned from Dyambu and went on to form Bosasa. The minister has had no contact with him since then.” According to the minister, she has “no relationship with Bosasa nor has she benefited from the operations of Bosasa”. She is “not aware of any relationships members of her family may have” with Bosasa. The M&G can reveal that Bosasa is seeking to interdict the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and President Jacob Zuma from continuing its investigation into tender rigging.
In its frantic efforts to halt the SIU’s graft probe -- which could lead to both civil and criminal charges -- Bosasa claims that the SIU leaked sensitive information to the Mail & Guardian that resulted in a “trial by press”. Bosasa is referring to a series of M&G exposés of collusion between Bosasa and senior correctional services officials, including former prisons’ boss Linda Mti and the department’s former chief financial officer, Patrick Gilllingham. Zuma’s involvement in the case stems from Mbeki’s authorisation, as president, of the SIU probe into Bosasa. The SIU and Zuma are defending the matter.
The Bosasa group has benefited from prison tenders worth more than R3-billion since 2004. SIU head Willie Hofmeyr shocked Parliament with sordid tales of corruption inside South Africa’s prisons, disclosing details about how Bosasa put the likes of Gillingham and Mti firmly in its pocket. Hofmeyr’s briefing also raised uncomfortable questions about why Mapisa-Nqakula has been sitting on the SIU report from at least mid-September. It is the duty of the minister -- Mapisa-Nqakula -- or of the acting prisons commissioner, Jenny Schreiner, to launch a civil claim against Bosasa. Hofmeyr said on Tuesday: “It is a matter that justifies the institution of legal proceedings by the department to recover damages from the company.”
Mapisa-Nqakula, who was appointed by Zuma in May to head the prisons department, originally said she had to present the SIU report to Cabinet before releasing it. Her spokesperson, Sonwabo Mbananga, later told the M&G that this release was on hold because of Bosasa’s pending legal action against the SIU. The M&G now has access to the court papers filed by Bosasa against the SIU. Nowhere does it seek to interdict the SIU or Zuma from releasing the final report. Instead the applications focus on the alleged tainting of the probe due to media leaks.
Approached again after Hofmeyr’s explosive briefing to Parliament, Mbananga remained adamant: the minister would still not release the report because the SIU has referred it to the National Prosecuting Authority “and therefore the contents ... are sub judice”. Bosasa’s spokesperson, Papa Leshabane, denied the corruption claims, labelling Hofmeyr’s briefing as “speculative, arrived at without hearing Bosasa, are disputed and will be dealt with in the appropriate forum”. Bosasa also disputes the way in which Hofmeyr dealt with the matter at Parliament. According to Leshabane, their attorneys have advised them that Hofmeyr went beyond the powers of the SIU, acted unlawfully and breached Bosasa’s constitutional rights.
Although Hofmeyr evidently referred to Bosasa, Mti and Gillingham in his briefing, he didn’t name them, citing pending legal action against his unit. Hofmeyr’s presentation this week vindicated the M&G’s revelations in February that Bosasa had access to tender documents before they were publicly advertised. Bosasa is demanding R500 000 from the M&G for referring to a “corrupt relationship” between the group and the department of correctional services.
Bosasa’s strategy to avoid penalties is two-pronged. First, it is pursuing an application for an interdict preventing the SIU from continuing its investigation until the court has made a final decision. The application is brought by Bosasa Operations, the company’s operations coordinator Angelo Agrizzi, financial coordinator Andries van Tonder, buyer Frans Vorster and Watson. The four men were given notices by the SIU to provide certain documentation during interrogation by the unit.
The applicants claim that the SIU’s probe is tainted because of alleged media leaks and the handling of a seizure operation at Bosasa’s premises. In reply the SIU denies leaking information to the M&G and accuses Bosasa of activating a “data deletion utility” on Bosasa’s servers shortly before the SIU arrived.
In the second court action the plaintiffs ask the court for a permanent order against the SIU, “declaring the entire process of the first defendant’s (SIU) investigations into the plaintiffs to be fundamentally tainted”. Hofmeyr’s presentation brought into sharp focus again Bosasa’s astonishing success in winning government tenders. Even after 2007, when it became publicly known that Bosasa was under investigation for tender rigging, the group continued to secure lucrative contracts from the justice department and the Eastern Cape.
The group’s most recent tender is a R3,9-billion contract awarded by the Eastern Cape to Phakisa Fleet Solution, a Bosasa company, to manage the provincial fleet of vehicles. At the time when the Bosasa group was awarded its first major prisons contract for catering in 2004, the company was owned by Watson’s family trust (26%), Bosasa directors Carol Mkele (33,3%) and Joe Gumede (18,5%), and the Bosasa Employees Trust (22,2%). Between 2004 and 2006 three companies in the group -- Bosasa Operations, Sondolo IT and Phezulu Fencing -- were awarded six tenders by the prisons department at the value of R1,8-billion.
The SIU’s probe focused on four tenders: a catering tender for R717-million over three years; an access control tender at R237-million; a fencing contract for R587-million, and a tender for TV systems in prisons at a cost of R224-million. Hofmeyr’s probe found that in almost all cases Bosasa was involved in the drafting of tender specifications and that procurement policies were severely discounted.
Former correctional services chief Linda Mti is a Teflon man. Though he has been involved in numerous controversies and charges, he has never been censured, writes Adriaan Basson. Despite being arrested for drunk driving on at least three occasions and being convicted twice, he still heads security for the 2010 World Cup local organising committee (LOC) with no hint of any action against him.
Hofmeyr’s briefing to Parliament this week adds weight to the suspicion that Mti received more than free air tickets and hotel accommodation from Bosasa, as reported by the M&G in February. Hofmeyr, though not naming Mti directly, told how Bosasa paid architects to design Mti’s house in the luxury Savannah Hills Estate in Midrand. The only concrete penalty Mti has faced to date is the confiscation of his driver’s licence for six months and a R20 000 fine or two months’ imprisonment in his home town, Port Elizabeth, last month. Mti pleaded guilty to drunk driving and paid the fine. In 1992 Mti was also convicted of drunk driving in Port Elizabeth. He was sentenced to two months in prison with the option of a R400 fine. Mti paid the fine. Two years later he was appointed a member of Parliament for the ANC and shortly after that as the country’s national intelligence coordinator.
In 2006 Mti was again arrested on suspicion of driving drunk, this time in Johannesburg. He was acquitted in 2008. At the same time Beeld revealed that he had a business relationship with Bosasa’s company secretary, Tony Perry. Mti was not reprimanded, but he was redeployed from the prisons department to the 2010 LOC to head security. Last month’s conviction after his guilty plea to drunk driving related to a car crash in Port Elizabeth in 2005. He also received a six-month sentence suspended for five years. The LOC has since responded that they still trust him. Mti declined to comment and said the M&G should refer inquiries to the Special Investigating Unit.
Suspended senior prisons official Patrick Gillingham’s opulent lifestyle, allegedly partly bankrolled by Bosasa, was laid bare this week in Parliament. The former finance chief of the prisons department was presented as a main beneficiary in the irregular awarding of lucrative tenders. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) claims that he was handsomely rewarded for his loyalty to the company. The “at least” R2.1-million of kickbacks allegedly paid to Gillingham included cars for him and his children, rugby tickets at Loftus Versfeld, an overseas trip for his daughter and a house in an exclusive Midrand estate. Court papers before the North Gauteng High Court also mention the cars for his children, but Gillingham’s lawyer Ian Small-Smith this week denied his client’s guilt. “It is factually incorrect to allege that Bosasa Operations and/or any company in the Bosasa group purchased the vehicles in question. Upon proper investigations it would be revealed that not Bosasa Operations, or any company in the Bosasa group, had anything to do with the purchase of the vehicles.” Gillingham does not have a tertiary qualification.
Beeld reported in 2006 that he was managing the department’s budget of more than R9-million a year with only a matric certificate. After school Gillingham joined the prisons service as a warder. His personal and professional lives soon converged when he married the daughter of a senior prisons official in the apartheid regime.
Gillingham’s career in correctional services bloomed. He quickly rose through the ranks to become functional services director and later KwaZulu-Natal’s commissioner, before being promoted to the chief financial officer position. In 2007 it seems Gillingham was becoming a liaibility. He was moved to the position of regional commissioner for Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West -- a move perceived as a demotion and linked to his involvement in the Bosasa saga that was starting to hit the headlines. In September last year he was suspended by former prisons boss Vernie Petersen after he [Petersen] was presented by the SIU with a draft report of its findings.
Gillingham has been on paid leave ever since. During his tenure as chief financial officer, Gillingham was a confidant of both prisons boss Linda Mti and his minister Ngconde Balfour.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Showing posts with label Linda Mti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linda Mti. Show all posts
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Linda Mti's Bosasa bonanza
Controversial facilities management group Bosasa lavished flights and luxury hotel stays on former prisons boss Linda Mti -- while it landed prisons contracts worth more than R1-billion. The mutually beneficial relationship between Bosasa and Mti, now head of security for the 2010 Local Organising Committee, is laid bare by travel records in the Mail & Guardian’s possession.
They show that Bosasa:
* Sponsored the domestic air fare of Mti and his family members on at least five occasions;
* Paid for Mti’s stay at the luxury Hemingways hotel in East London on at least two occasions; and
* Rented premium cars for Mti when he visited East London at least twice.
Mti received these benefits while prisons commissioner. During the last two years of his tenure the group won contracts from the correctional services department worth more than R1-billion. Mti failed to respond to numerous queries, while Bosasa’s lawyer advised the company not to answer the M&G’s questions.
Mti left correctional services under a cloud of suspicion in 2006 after Beeld revealed that Bosasa’s company secretary, Tony Perry, had registered a private company for him. He was subsequently appointed head of security for the Fifa World Cup.
Bosasa’s travel records show that:
* On June 15 2005 Mti flew to East London at Bosasa’s expense and was put up in the four-star Hemingways hotel for four nights. The company also paid for his Avis premium rental car. The trip came shortly after Sondolo IT, 40% owned by Bosasa Operations, won a R237-million contract for the supply and installation of access control systems and CCTV at 66 prisons on April 29 2005.
* On July 25 2005 Bosasa sponsored the return airfare of Mti’s relative, Sehlule Mti, from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth and back. Three days later Bosasa paid for Mti and then National Intelligence Agency deputy director general Gibson Njenje to fly from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth.
In December 2005 Bosasa company Phezulu Fencing won a R487-million tender to supply and install security fencing at 66 prisons.
* On March 3 2006 Bosasa sponsored a weekend trip for Mti to East London, where he stayed in the Hemingways hotel’s presidential suite. Bosasa’s travel agent was instructed to rent a seven-seat Mercedes Benz Vito for Mti.
Two weeks later, on March 17 2006, Sondolo IT won a R224-million tender to install TV sets in all prison communal cells.
A day later Bosasa paid for Mti’s son, Vukani, to fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a return ticket.
Njenje told the M&G he was Bosasa’s founding non-executive chairman before being headhunted by the NIA. While in the NIA’s employ his travels to Port Elizabeth were covered by Bosasa twice -- on June 10 and July 28 2005.
He told the M&G he saw no problem with Bosasa paying for his travel while he was a state employee. “I was headhunted into a government position while active as a businessman with various interests. All I needed to do to comply with the employment conditions was to resign as an executive director from the companies,” he said.
“My shareholding and all benefits accruing were a matter of declaring and that I did as required. Some of the companies I was a shareholder in had or have relations with Bosasa. My private travel expenses would be one of the benefits that accrued to all the shareholders of the companies I am referring to.
“So, as it were, it was not a matter of Bosasa ‘sponsoring’ my travels, but an arrangement between companies.”
The M&G received three calls this week from “concerned Bosasa employees” who said they were afraid the M&G’s reporting about their employer would cost them their jobs.
Two threatened to organise a protest march on the M&G’s office, accusing the paper of being “racist” and printing “untruths”.
“Who will look after my children if I don’t have a job anymore?” an employee from the East Rand said.
Bosasa spokesperson Papa Leshabane did not return the M&G’s calls on the matter.
Here’s the proof
Annexure A: Confirmation of travel booking for Linda Mti and Gibson Njenje by Bosasa’s travel agent
Annexure B: Email from Bosasa’s operations coordinator Angelo Agrizzi to Bosasa’s travel agent about ‘VIP booking” for Mti
Annexure C: Confirmation of travel and accommodation booking for Mti by Bosasa’s travel agent
Source: Mail & Guardian
They show that Bosasa:
* Sponsored the domestic air fare of Mti and his family members on at least five occasions;
* Paid for Mti’s stay at the luxury Hemingways hotel in East London on at least two occasions; and
* Rented premium cars for Mti when he visited East London at least twice.
Mti received these benefits while prisons commissioner. During the last two years of his tenure the group won contracts from the correctional services department worth more than R1-billion. Mti failed to respond to numerous queries, while Bosasa’s lawyer advised the company not to answer the M&G’s questions.
Mti left correctional services under a cloud of suspicion in 2006 after Beeld revealed that Bosasa’s company secretary, Tony Perry, had registered a private company for him. He was subsequently appointed head of security for the Fifa World Cup.
Bosasa’s travel records show that:
* On June 15 2005 Mti flew to East London at Bosasa’s expense and was put up in the four-star Hemingways hotel for four nights. The company also paid for his Avis premium rental car. The trip came shortly after Sondolo IT, 40% owned by Bosasa Operations, won a R237-million contract for the supply and installation of access control systems and CCTV at 66 prisons on April 29 2005.
* On July 25 2005 Bosasa sponsored the return airfare of Mti’s relative, Sehlule Mti, from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth and back. Three days later Bosasa paid for Mti and then National Intelligence Agency deputy director general Gibson Njenje to fly from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth.
In December 2005 Bosasa company Phezulu Fencing won a R487-million tender to supply and install security fencing at 66 prisons.
* On March 3 2006 Bosasa sponsored a weekend trip for Mti to East London, where he stayed in the Hemingways hotel’s presidential suite. Bosasa’s travel agent was instructed to rent a seven-seat Mercedes Benz Vito for Mti.
Two weeks later, on March 17 2006, Sondolo IT won a R224-million tender to install TV sets in all prison communal cells.
A day later Bosasa paid for Mti’s son, Vukani, to fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a return ticket.
Njenje told the M&G he was Bosasa’s founding non-executive chairman before being headhunted by the NIA. While in the NIA’s employ his travels to Port Elizabeth were covered by Bosasa twice -- on June 10 and July 28 2005.
He told the M&G he saw no problem with Bosasa paying for his travel while he was a state employee. “I was headhunted into a government position while active as a businessman with various interests. All I needed to do to comply with the employment conditions was to resign as an executive director from the companies,” he said.
“My shareholding and all benefits accruing were a matter of declaring and that I did as required. Some of the companies I was a shareholder in had or have relations with Bosasa. My private travel expenses would be one of the benefits that accrued to all the shareholders of the companies I am referring to.
“So, as it were, it was not a matter of Bosasa ‘sponsoring’ my travels, but an arrangement between companies.”
The M&G received three calls this week from “concerned Bosasa employees” who said they were afraid the M&G’s reporting about their employer would cost them their jobs.
Two threatened to organise a protest march on the M&G’s office, accusing the paper of being “racist” and printing “untruths”.
“Who will look after my children if I don’t have a job anymore?” an employee from the East Rand said.
Bosasa spokesperson Papa Leshabane did not return the M&G’s calls on the matter.
Here’s the proof
Source: Mail & Guardian
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