CAPE TOWN - The DA on Friday said it would lay a complaint with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) following the claims to the Zondo commission that ANC officials asked facilities management company Bosasa for cash for their election campaigning.
DA member of Parliament (MP) Natasha Mazzone described the testimony by the former COO of the company Angelo Agrizzi that an ANC member of the executive council (MEC) from North West asked him for funding for election purposes as "jaw-dropping".
"If Bosasa contributed laundered money to the ANC’s election campaign, the company must also be reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS) for violating section 3 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, sections 4 and 6 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, as well as sections 29 and 30 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act," Mazzone said.
"The DA will be laying criminal complaints against the company the moment the Zondo Commission releases the transcripts of today’s testimony."
Agrizzi has in three days of explosive testimony also told the commission probing the state capture scandal that contracts Bosasa, now renamed African Global Operations, held with the government were tainted with corruption. The contracts were collectively worth more than R1 billion.
The DA has already asked the Public Protector to probe a contribution of R500 000 to President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2017 campaign for the leadership of the ANC.
Ramaphosa initially told Parliament the payment was made to his son in relation to a service contract and was above board.
But days later he formally corrected the statement, saying it had in fact been funding for his leadership campaign and he had been unaware of it.
"It is essential that the IEC, SAPS and the public protector prioritise these investigations as the allegations point to the subversion of our elections and is an assault on our very constitutional democracy. Indeed, we repeat our call on Ramaphosa to immediately initiate an independent inquiry into Bosasa corruption," Mazzone said.