South African Corrections Department cancels Bosasa contracts

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South Africa has cancelled contracts with services firm Bosasa after a company former executive told a judicial inquiry he handed cash bribes in designer bags to politicians.

Bosasa former chief operating officer, Angelo Agrizzi, told the anti-graft hearing last month he and others paid millions of rand to lawmakers and bureaucrats for contracts, including deals to supply food to prisons.

He and four other former employees at the privately owned company were later arrested on charges of corruption and fraud.

The firm declined to comment on the case and did not respond to calls. It said last week it had applied for voluntary liquidation after its banks told it they would close its accounts.

Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations, is the latest in a series of companies to suffer penalties since President Cyril Ramaphosa came to power a year ago, promising to root out corruption.

“In light of testimony at the Zondo Commission, the Department of Correctional Services made an undertaking that all large-scale contracts would be reviewed,” Justice Minister Michael Masutha said in a statement.

Bosasa was served with a 30-day notice to cancel contracts for nutritional services at seven facilities where it fed more than 46,000 inmates, Masutha said. Plans were in place to keep up food supplies, he added, without going into details.

Opposition parties preparing to challenge Ramaphosa in May elections say graft flourished under his ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.

The hearings led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo were set up to investigate accusations that corporate interests including the Gupta brothers – previously the heads of one of the country’s biggest conglomerates – unduly influenced former president Jacob Zuma.

The Guptas and Zuma deny wrongdoing.