From Parliament to prison — Vincent Smith receives seven-year sentence for Bosasa corruption

Almost six years after the Zondo Commission heard explosive testimony from former Bosasa executive Angelo Agrizzi implicating several senior ANC leaders, including Vincent Smith, the former MP was sentenced to seven years’ direct imprisonment after entering into a plea and sentence agreement with the State.

This shows that the wheels of justice, although slow, are turning in State Capture cases, said the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), advocate Andy Mothibi.

Agrizzi, the man responsible for packing cash bribes into grey bags for delivery and for keeping a record of the payments in a little black book, told the commission in 2019 that Bosasa had made payments of more than R800,000 to Smith while he served as an MP and chaired Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services.

At the time, Smith denied that the money was a gratification. He told Justice Raymond Zondo the payments were a personal loan from Agrizzi to help cover his daughter’s university fees.

However, on Thursday, 5 March, Smith pleaded guilty in the Gauteng Division of the High Court to charges including contravening Section 7 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, fraud, money laundering and contravening the Tax Act.

‘Abuse of authority’

Judge Mohamed Ismail sentenced him to 12 years, five of which were suspended on condition that he does not commit similar offences during the suspension period. He will effectively spend seven years in prison.

In addition to the gratification charges, the sentence covers fraud and corruption committed both personally and through his company, Euroblitz 48. Crucially, he failed to disclose his role as the company’s sole director and shareholder to the Registrar of Parliamentary Members’ Interests.

In accepting the plea agreement, Judge Ismail said he had to consider that Smith was a legislator entrusted to uphold South Africa’s laws, which he had failed to do. He said corruption was a serious problem that had reached alarming levels and must be dealt with firmly.

Smith was sentenced exactly four months after Agrizzi also entered into a plea agreement with the State and was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment for fraud and corruption, wholly suspended for five years.

In papers before the court, Agrizzi detailed his involvement in several transactions, including giving former Correctional Services officials gratifications, which he said he did “wrongfully and unlawfully” on the instruction of Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson, who died in 2019.

Bosasa was awarded at least R2.37-billion in government contracts between 2000 and 2016.

NDPP Mothibi welcomed Smith’s conviction and said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was committed to ensuring that State Capture matters were dealt with.

“Inasmuch as the trial took longer than anticipated to be finalised, the wheels of justice finally got in motion, and the rule of law was upheld. I commend the prosecution team involved in the matter,” said Mothibi.

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Implicated ANC members

ANC Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane featured prominently in Agrizzi’s testimony. He alleged that she accepted monthly bribes of R50,000 over several years, with the cash sometimes delivered directly to her official residence during her tenure as Gauteng premier.

Mokonyane was also alleged to have requested maintenance or security work at her home to be carried out by Bosasa or its subcontractors, and, according to Agrizzi, she held an extravagant 50th birthday party at the Victorian Guest House in Krugersdorp, which was paid for by Bosasa.

Agrizzi told the commission that he was present on several occasions when Watson made trips to Mokonyane’s homes in either Bryanston or Krugersdorp to drop off the cash. He gave Zondo detailed descriptions of the homes.

When she appeared before the commission, Mokonyane denied almost every aspect of Agrizzi’s allegations against her, painting herself as a hard-working, big-hearted politician.

Another ANC leader implicated in corruption by the Zondo Commission is Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe. While serving as the ANC’s secretary general, he allegedly received tens of thousands of rands worth of free security upgrades — including CCTV and fencing — at his three private homes in Boksburg and the Eastern Cape, all funded by Bosasa associates.

He denied the allegations during his testimony in 2021. He said it never occurred to him that the high-end security cameras at his properties, allegedly funded by Bosasa, could be seen as a bribe, because he was “not amenable to bribes”.

The commission later recommended that law enforcement agencies should investigate whether a prima facie case of corruption could be made against Mantashe for receiving the free installations.

ANC MP Cedric Frolick was also implicated in the Zondo Commission. He was accused of having dodgy dealings with Bosasa, including receiving a monthly payment of R40,000.

He was said to have played a critical role in “winning over Mr Vincent Smith, the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services and Justice” for Bosasa’s benefit.

In 2023, four senior ANC MPs who had been implicated by the Zondo Commission — Thulas Nxesi, Frolick, Mosebenzi Zwane and Winnie Ngwenya — were exonerated by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests.

The committee said that Frolick’s alleged actions predated its adoption of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interests, which could not be applied retrospectively.

Ngwenya, who was also accused of taking money from Bosasa while she was a member of the portfolio committee on correctional services, denied all allegations before the ethics committee, which found her explanation satisfactory.

Nxesi, the former minister of employment and labour, was accused of receiving payments from controversial businessman Edwin Sodi, whose companies secured multimillion-rand asbestos contracts in the Free State and Gauteng that were later exposed as sham projects.

Nxesi provided the committee with an affidavit stating that the payments were not for his gain but for fundraising purposes, which tallied with Sodi’s explanation of the payments.

Fight against corruption continues

Acting government spokesperson Nomonde Mnukwa welcomed Smith’s conviction, saying it showed the government’s commitment to accountability, rebuilding public trust, and using public resources for the benefit of all South Africans.

“Government reiterates that no one is above the law and that the country’s democratic institutions remain resolute in the fight against corruption,” said Mnukwa.

Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator, Mathew Parks, said the conviction set an important precedent, especially because Smith was a parliamentary committee chairperson in a powerful position.

He added, “Whilst applauding this moment, government must provide the NPA with the resources it requires to win the war against State Capture and corruption, in particular, filling prosecutorial and other critical vacancies.” DM