Johannesburg - The Bosasa saga is set to take centre stage at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture this week with key witnesses expected to take the stand.
The commission will on Tuesday morning hear evidence from Peet Venter, a former Bosasa auditor.
Later this week, former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi will return to the inquiry following his explosive testimony in January.
Venter is expected to focus on Bosasa’s finances, but he is also likely to testify on his revelation in a sworn statement that revealed that Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson donated R500 000 towards ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2017 ANC presidential campaign.
The payment came to light last year and Ramaphosa was faced with multiple questions from opposition political parties on why his campaign would accept money from a company which has been accused of corruption.
News24 reported that the payment was made by Venter at Watson's behest.
The news website detailed that the payment was done through the use of a none operational company into an attorney's trust account which managed the funds for Ramaphosa’s campaign. It seemed from the onset the purpose was to disguise the original depositor of the funds.
When asked in Parliament last year, Ramaphosa first said the payment was made to his son, Andile, who had business interests with Bosasa.
He then changed his story in a letter to Parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete outlining that the payment was indeed intended as a donation for his campaign.
He said he was originally not aware of this and had only been recently informed and that’s why he had done a U-turn on his first denial.
The president said the money would be paid back.
The Bosasa story came to fore in January when Agrizzi told the Zondo commission that he had been part of a corrupt company which bribed its way into receiving massive tenders from various government departments, but mainly from the department of correctional services.
Politicians were bribed, according to Agrizzi, and those who received bribes included former correctional services officials Linda Mti and Patrick Gillingham.
Politicians were sometimes paid through the installation of security systems to their homes.
Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane and ANC MP Vincent Smith were some of the recipients of such gifts.