Zondo defends call for criminal investigation as Mantashe disputes state capture report

News24

18 hours ago

Zondo defends the commission's recommendations for criminal investigation against Mantashe.
Mantashe challenged the findings regarding the Bosasa security installations.
Zondo cites that the commission recommended an investigation and did not conclude that Mantashe was guilty.
Former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has backed a call for a criminal investigation into Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe, based on the state capture commission's findings.
Zondo, whose tenure at the Constitutional Court ended last year, deposed an affidavit at the Johannesburg High Court on 16 May, responding to claims made by Mantashe in his review application, citing that the commission acted beyond its mandate by suggesting that he should be subject to a criminal investigation.
In the affidavit, Zondo is adamant that there was nothing untoward in the findings against Mantashe, citing that the commission merely made a recommendation to law enforcement authorities.
'The commission did not find that the applicant (Gwede Mantashe) was guilty of corruption or even that there was a prima facie case of corruption against him. It found merely that there is a reasonable prospect that a further investigation will uncover a prima facie case against Mr Mantashe,' read the papers.
Zondo further argues that it is surprising that Mantashe does not express the notion that the findings subject him to harm.
Mantashe does not contend that the finding has done him any harm. Any reasonable reader will understand that in the impugned part of the report, the commission only went as far as to raise a question for further investigation. His response to the commission's finding and recommendation should have been that he would await the outcome of such further investigation as may be undertaken by the law enforcement agencies.'
Raymond Zondo
In July 2022, City Press reported that Mantashe embarked on a legal bid to set aside damning corruption allegations contained in the state capture report.
The commission extensively recommended that he be criminally investigated by police for accepting Bosasa's installation of security systems. Mantashe argues that this was beyond the scope of the commission, as it was acting outside its terms of reference in probing corruption which took place in public office.
In his affidavit, Mantashe disputes the evidence given to the commission by former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi, citing that he had never met him in his life and that his evidence to the commission was 'completely untrue.'
Agrizzi had told the commission that Bosasa had sponsored security upgrades at Mantashe's home in the Eastern Cape.
However, Zondo said in court papers that the commission properly dealt with evidence given by Bosasa.
'The commission concluded that the evidence overwhelmingly established that Bosasa, its leadership, employees, and associates were able to again illicit control over the procurement process of departments and organs of the state through systematic and aggressive targeting of public officials with offers of gratification in the form of bribes and a range of other material benefits,' read the papers.
He also said that Bosasa's evidence implicated former president Jacob Zuma in alleged wrongdoing.
'Bosasa sought out officials across different levels of seniority within the state, ranging from former president Zuma at one end of the spectrum to municipal officials and employees of state-owned entities at the other end,' read the papers.