Nomvula Mokonyane before the state capture commission.
- Former minister Nomvula Mokonyane has denied receiving cash payments and gifts from the late Gavin Watson.
- Mokonyane also told the state capture inquiry she never had a meeting with former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi.
- The former minister believes that Agrizzi is “full of hatred”.
The former environmental affairs minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, has denied damning allegations levelled against her by former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi.
Testifying before the state capture inquiry on Monday, Mokonyane said she had never received cash payments or gifts from the late Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson.
Mokonyane also told the inquiry chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, that she never instructed anyone to do repairs at her home. She said her late husband was responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of their home.
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Early last year, Agrizzi alleged that Mokonyane received cash payments from the services firm, while it also paid for maintenance at her home, including a garden service, repairs to electric fencing and the installation of a new camera system.
He alleged the former minister received R50 000 a month in cash from Bosasa.
He also said Mokonyane received gifts, including meat and expensive alcohol, for her family.
‘Never benefitted’
But Mokonyane denied this, saying, “I have never benefitted or received any goods to the benefit of my family”.
She told the commission that, after 16 December, her family would normally go on holiday and only return on 30 December.
“I never received cash coming from Gavin Watson nor also through him, Agrizzi, as he claims…”
Mokonyane also told the commission that she has never had a meeting with Agrizzi at her house or the Bosasa offices.
She also told the commission that there was no wooden staircase at the house, as described by Agrizzi, adding that the former Bosasa COO was “lying” about knowing the features of her house.
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Asked by Zondo why Agrizzi would go to such lengths to make these allegations, Mokonyane said: “I think the extent of the desperate acts of Mr Agrizzi goes beyond just the description of the house.
“The very fact that he thinks for a movement as old as the ANC, [which is] 108 years old, can actually be dependent on a Nomvula for it to remain a popular organisation, that has earned being a leader of society, smacks of his ignorance and naivety.”
Mokonyane also added: “Secondly, I just think whatever that has happened between him and Gavin, he is at pains to really, not only tarnish Gavin by looking for people who, at that particular time and even now, their names have been tarnished both in the media as well as the perception that have been branded about them.”
She also told Zondo that Agrizzi had never denied that he “hates” black people and that he complained about the relationship she had with Watson.
“I think the man is full of hatred and there was a situation between him and Gavin, this is why I say [a] dead man tells no story,” she said.
