Willie Basson, a former farmer in Vrede, gave testimony at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, telling evidence leader advocate Leah Gcabashe that he met the three Gupta brothers at the Estina Dairy Farm.
Basson, a businessman in the Free State town of Warden, 8km from the Estina Dairy Farm, sold his farms recently, but was involved in cattle and game farming since 2000 and had been employed to help construct a dam on the farm in 2012 after he was contacted by a man in India he identified as a Mr Prasad, who said he was involved in the management of the farm.
According to Basson, who gave testimony in Afrikaans which was translated by an interpreter, he did additional work when a contractor was hired to provide machinery to the farm, as it did not have any of its own. He further says that the contractor called him and asked him to bring his equipment and work with the contractor.
The commission has several invoices for the work done by Basson, most of which were either made out to Estina Dairy Farms or the Vrede project rather than to the contractor.
Basson seemed to be under the impression in his testimony that Estina belonged to the Guptas, rather than to the provincial government.
