PICS: Gavin Watson’s BMW X5 was actually parked for months – source

Update (4.22pm: An earlier version of this incorrectly attributed the source of the information about how Gavin Watson parked his BMW and set off in a Toyota to former Bosasa fleet manager Frans Vorster.)

A source in Gavin Watson’s family revealed to The Citizen on Sunday evening that reports about how the late CEO of Bosasa “parked his BMW X5 for the weekend” last month before checking out the Toyota Corolla in which he was found dead after a crash are allegedly untrue.

The information about the BMW was first reported on by News24.

News24 reported last month that Watson parked his metallic-blue X5 at the company’s Krugersdorp office before signing out – “for the weekend” – a company Toyota Corolla, in which Watson later died in somewhat mysterious circumstances that Monday.

This created the impression that Watson may have been driving the X5 on the Friday before his death, but The Citizen has been told by the family this cannot be true, though there were subsequently counterclaims backing up the original reporting (see update below).

Former Bosasa fleet manager Frans Vorster also reportedly said it was strange that Watson would have chosen to drive a car with a manual gearbox, which the Corolla had, since he “could only drive automatic cars”.

Bosasa spokesperson Papa Leshabane said on the day of Watson’s death that the BMW had been suffering from mechanical problems.

However, the Watson family member – speaking on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing sensitivity around a pathology report that has concluded in its preliminary findings that Watson was already dead when the Corolla hit a pillar – told The Citizen that the BMW had been, and apparently remains, in perfectly working condition.

After sending photos of the car covered in what looks like long-term dust and grime, the family member said: “That was the car last week. That’s months of grime. It hasn’t moved since March.”

According to the source, the car had simply been left to stand after “liquidators seized it in February”.

Update (4.50pm: Other sources The Citizen has spoken to maintain, however, that they saw Watson driving the vehicle on the Thursday before his death, and that the dust on the vehicle is normal for that area of Krugersdorp.)

The late Gavin Watson’s BMW X5. Picture: Supplied to The Citizen

The late Gavin Watson’s BMW X5. Picture: Supplied to The Citizen

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