Bosasa employee did maintenance work at Mokonyane's house, personal assistant testifies

• Former minister Nomvula Mokonyane’s long time PA said a Bosasa employee regularly did maintenance at the minister's home.
• The PA told the Zondo commission that she had called Richard le Roux on a number of occasions to carry out repairs. 
• She however averred that the Office of the Premier did the security upgrade installations, which the State then challenged.

Former minister Nomvula Mokonyane’s long time personal assistant confirmed to the state capture inquiry that an employee from Bosasa would regularly do maintenance at the minister's home.

This was revealed during the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture on Monday, where Sandy Thomas, who has been Mokonyane’s personal assistant for around 21 years, was testifying.

The state capture inquiry previously heard testimony from Richard le Roux, a Bosasa employee, who corroborated testimony by former Bosasa operations chief Angelo Agrizzi that the company paid for maintenance services at Mokoyane's home as well as the installation of new camera systems.

READ | Mokonyane: There seems to be an 'excessive desperation by Agrizzi to discredit me'

Thomas told the commission that she would receive calls from people at the Mokonyane household when there were issues with plumbing, water, electricity, or the alarm system,

"Where I could sort it out, I would sort it out and not necessarily call Mr Mokonyane," Thomas said referring to the minister's now late husband, Serge Mokonyane.

Thomas said she had called Le Roux a "few times" to sort out issues at the house, sometimes at the instruction of Serge.

She referred to one particular occasion where Le Roux was called out to fix an issue with the alarm system that kept going off. Thomas told the commission that she did not know if the Mokonyanes were invoiced.

She could also not give the commission the exact period over which Le Roux rendered services at the Mokonyane household.

Security upgrades

On the installation of security upgrades, specifically the security camera systems, Thomas said she was contacted by people at the office of the Premier so she could facilitate them getting access to the private home of Mokonyane to do a security risk assessment.

Mokonyane was an MEC in Gauteng at the time.

Thomas said to her knowledge, they later went and did the upgrades such as the fence, gates, lights, and the CCTV cameras.

"They were there, because at one point Mr Mokonyane discussed the issue of the gate," Thomas told the commission.

READ | Mokonyane's birthday bash: Bosasa splashed cash for 174 guests, guesthouse owner confirms to Zondo

It was then put to Thomas, that the commission's investigators contacted the Office of the Premier who said they did not install any security features at the house.

"Well I find that strange," Thomas retorted.

She then appeared to add to her initial statement, saying there was a person from the housing department, security people from the Office of the Premier, and the South African Police Services (SAPS).

She then said it was a man from the department of housing that said they wanted to go to the Mokonyane household to do the security installations. 

"It was done through a gentleman that was responsible for security at the department of housing."

She did not remember his name, but said she remembers his face.

Thomas then said she did not know who installed it or who paid for it, saying that "it was a co-ordinated matter between the security people at housing, SAPS, as well as the security people at the Office of the Premier."

Mokonyane has also appeared before the commission and denied the allegations by Agrizzi, which included that Bosasa paid for a birthday bash, paid for meat, and gave the minister R50 000 in cash every month.

The inquiry continues.