BOSASA was the player and the referee when it came to securing tenders at the department of correctional services.
This is how former Bosasa executive Angelo Agrizzi described the dealings between the two entities during his testimony at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry yesterday.
The commission dealt mostly with the special investigating unit’s report of its probe into correctional services tenders yesterday.
The unit reported that Bosasa was awarded a television tender worth over R100 million, and months later the company invoiced the department without providing any service.
Commission chairman, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, wanted to know if Bosasa set the rules for the securing of tenders.
“Bosasa was drafting the rules of the game,” said Agrizzi.
His testimony focused on the prison kitchens’ tender that was awarded to Bosasa in 2004.
The company was supposed to provide catering services, maintain equipment, and train correctional services staff and inmates in seven centres.
It was a three-year tender that cost R239 million a year.
Agrizzi said the kitchens tender was extended without due process or Treasury’s approval. Its monetary value was increased by 30%.
