Sly Bosasa boss dies in a freak car crash
MagRush writer | August 27, 2019
Gavin Watson, the beleaguered CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of controversial facilities management company, Bosasa, died Monday morning on his way to OR Tambo International Airport after a fatal car crash. He was certified dead on the scene. The police have opened a case of culpable homicide.
The politically-connected business tycoon was allegedly driving a (manual transmission) Toyota Corolla sedan when he lost control and crashed into a concrete pillar in Kempton Park, a few kilometers away from the airport. The Toyota Corolla he was driving in halted horizontally-wrecked on the side of the road. There were no other people nor cars embroiled where the car lay mangled. Apparently, Watson usually drove around on a BMW X5 which was not available at the time – of the accident – due to maintenance schedules.
Bosasa, currently known as African Global Operations, is ensnared in questionable deals which its erstwhile chief operating officer (COO), Angelo Agrizzi, revealed and untangled a web of kickbacks involving government officials during his testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture – also known as the Zondo commission. Under the stewardship of Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the commission is hearing evidence from different witnesses about implicated persons (and/or companies) in runaway state corruption.
Paul Vecchiatto, one of the authors of The Bosasa Billions – the book that divulges how Bosasa amassed billions of rand through corruption-ridden government contracts, says Watson’s death came at a time when the company was busy terminating all its contracts with government and winding down all its services rendered to national and provincial governments. At some point this year Bosasa pulled the plug on a planned liquidation plan after claiming bankruptcy.
Watson was very smart, commented Vecchiatto’s co-author of The Bosasa Billions, James-Brent Styan – adding: Watson did not have an office nor computer; neither did he sign any documentation surrounding government tenders. These sentiments were echoed by Agrizzi at the Zondo commission: “Gavin Watson never signed anything.”
As the Zondo commission is still in full swing, Watson, 73 (years of age at the time of his untimely death), was expected to appear on behalf of Bosasa at some point. He was also infamous for carrying wads of bank notes about ready to pave Bosasa’s way to business favours from the powerful and mighty in government circles. In one of the videos which went “viral” surrounded by his grinning acolytes he can be seen gleefully counting bundles of cash like a plentiful catch of sardines.
Bosasa largely benefitted from supplying government with services ranging from securing prisons with fences and surveillance cameras to catering food. It was very influential in government domains and is believed to have bankrolled political heavyweights and parties in the run-up to the 2019 general elections and other elections before that.
The Mail & Guardian (February 1, 2019) reported that:
“Over about 15 years, Bosasa, allegedly through corruption and the bribery of politicians and government officials, scored more than R12-billion in questionable state contracts, including at Limpopo’s department of social development, Gauteng’s education department, the Northern Cape arts and culture department and the national department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.”
Some among these eye-popping scandals include the much-contested R500, 000 donation to the current SA President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2017 campaign (CR17) backing him to win the governing party’s (African National Congress [ANC]) pole position: president.
The “donation” matter has received parliamentary attention too. The country’s watchdog body, The Public Protector, has also weighed in with an investigation into public office bearers’ conduct and the veil of secrecy surrounding the funding of their political ambitions. The report of that particular probe is currently under court review.