Johannesburg – The Zondo commission resumes on Wednesday morning and will hear evidence related to Bosasa and the Vrede dairy farm.
Gina Peters, who served as former Bosasa chief executive officer Angelo Agrizzi’s personal assistant, will take the stand.
On Monday the commission heard evidence from Sandy Thomas, the former assistant to former environmental affairs minister Nomvula Mokonyane.
Thomas was mentioned in Agrizzi’s testimony. He said he and his assistant, Peters, had communicated with Thomas on several occasions.
When Thomas was questioned about this, she denied ever communicating with Peters.
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A former Bosasa employee, Richard Le Roux, had also testified to having communicated with Thomas regarding security upgrades to Mokonyane's home.
When Mokonyane appeared at the inquiry in August, she labelled Agrizzi a “liar” and denied that she had received R50 000 from Watson, that Bosasa gave her Christmas groceries and that she had her home security upgrades paid for by Bosasa.
Thomas was questioned about Agrizzi’s claims.
She admitted to having spoken to Agrizzi several times over the years while she worked for Mokonyane. She said most of her communication was with Watson.
Thomas said she had received birthday gifts from Watson and that the former Bosasa boss had also called to enquire about gift ideas for Mokonyane.
"I know that he (Watson) was a family friend. I knew him through the phone, talking to him telephonically," Thomas said.
She also testified that she had seen Watson and Agrizzi at Mokonyane's home after the death of her son.
Regarding security renovations at Mokonyane's home, Thomas said as far as she knew, the security upgrades were done by the government while Mokonyane was a MEC.
She said she had received a call from an official at the office of the premier regarding permission to install CCTV, electric fencing and a guardhouse at Mokonyane’s home.
"They (officials) went and put up the electric fence and the lights and CCTV cameras. They put a room for the police to be sheltered. That I know. I was told because I asked, she said.
Thomas admitted that she had been in contact with Le Roux regarding alarm issues at Mokonyane’s home because the minister’s husband, Serge Mokonyane, had asked her to do so.
She said this communication took place while Mokonyane was the minister of environmental affairs.
"It depended – for example, there was a day when the alarm went crazy and I told them to switch it off and then I called Mr Mokonyane and he said to call this guy Richard. I did not know where he worked (Le Roux). Mr Mokonyane told me to contact him," she said.
Thomas also denied any knowledge of Christmas meat and liquor packages for Mokonyane which were allegedly bought by Bosasa.
She said the only food packages she was aware of were food parcels Bosasa organised for the community of Kagiso. She said Watson was hands-on in that department and would organise for the packages to be delivered to Mokonyane’s home and then later given to community members.
"The large-scale groceries could not have been for the family consumption; I believe that this was confirmed by Mokonyane herself. The large-scale groceries could not have been accommodated at her house.
“However, I remember there were instances where I communicated with people, including Watson, about large-scale groceries for people in Kagiso. Gavin Watson would be the one who would initiate this," Thomas testified.