Photo of Dudu Myeni and Zuma with Gavin Watson causes a stir
Facebookers see the photo as evidence that it has exposed the former SAA chair as a liar, but it may not be quite so simple.
Dudu Myeni (far left) with Jacob Zuma and Bosasa executives on a visit to one of their plants. Picture: Facebook
An image, allegedly from 2015 when then SA chairperson Dudu Myeni and then president Jacob Zuma met with Bosasa executives, has caused a flood of comment on social media.
User Vikash Mathura uploaded the photo on Monday afternoon claiming that it put into question Myeni’s defence that she could not have been bribed by Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson because she had allegedly never even met him.
However, this is not entirely accurate.
At the state capture commission on Monday, former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi dropped the bombshell that Watson had allegedly committed to paying Myeni R300,000 in cash in a Louis Vuitton handbag he delivered himself.
He mentioned that it was understood that these monthly payments would allegedly buy favour with then president Jacob Zuma through the Jacob G Zuma Foundation, which Myeni chaired.
Myeni sent eNCA texts responding, saying, “I have never had a meeting at Bosasa offices with Gavin. We went as a delegation to see their prawn plant, it was an official visit.”
This would imply that Myeni’s denial was actually misunderstood and that she never denied meeting him with the official delegation – she was denying that they had ever met on any other occasion. However, many on Facebook have used the photo as “evidence” that she was lying.
Myeni has claimed Agrizzi was lying, that his “greed is worrisome” and that he was a “racist, bitter man”.
Earlier Agrizzi had told the commission he had first “bumped into” the then South African Airways chairperson at an informal meeting at the Sheraton Hotel.
He said Watson openly told “us” he was paying R300,000 per month to Myeni.
“The strange thing is it was always cash,” said Agrizzi about the payments.
He said on occasion that he, Agrizzi, had to arrange to pack the money, though he was not the one delivering the cash.
However, Agrizzi said he was present at one occasion when cash was delivered to Myeni, adding that he could recall other times he was present, a year after the hotel meeting – around 2012 or 2013 – when he was indeed present when Myeni received the money.
Agrizzi said Watson and Trevor Mathenjwa had been the ones to deliver the cash to Myeni and that Myeni had paid a visit to the company’s offices on a number of occasions.
He said one morning, early, around 5am to 6am, Watson asked him how he should impress Myeni and that Watson then consulted Agrizzi’s wife, who advised that the luxury handbag should be purchased for Myeni.
He said he could confirm that the handbag was delivered to Myeni because she later thanked Agrizzi personally for it.
Agrizzi said arrangements were made for the purchase of the handbag, which was then taken to Bosasa offices, adding that he saw R300,000 being placed in the bag.
“My wife never bought a bag, somebody went and collected the bag, definitely not my wife,” Agrizzi told the commission.
He added that Watson told him that Myeni was “over the moon” and very happy about the bag and that he could not recall what was said about the money.
Agrizzi said he was aware of the R300,000 monthly payments to Myeni because he made the arrangments in this regard for Watson.
He said certain payments for high-profile people may appear once or twice on his records – the black book – because Watson handled such people, adding that Watson never liked keeping a record of these payments “in case he got caught out”.
There were times when Myeni called on Watson to arrange high-end, expensive functions for Zuma and when she needed security at her house, Agrizzi said, adding that this was done without asking any questions because “she was very, very important, she could swing deals, she was powerful”, Agrizzi said.
Agrizzi told the commission that Myeni had been instrumental in a fracking deal in the Eastern Cape and that the company made use of her because she was close to the president.
A letter dated 14 April 2016 is part of Agrizzi’s statement and was allegedly sent to Bosasa by the former president’s foundation, expressing its gratitude for a birthday party the company had arranged for Zuma.
(Compiled by Charles Cilliers. Background reporting by Makhosandile Zulu)
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
