By opposing bail the National Prosecution Authority treated me unfairly, claims Angelo Agrizzi in new book

Survign The Beast: The ugly truths about state capture and why they tried to kill me by Angelo Agrizzi is in bookstores throughout the country from today.

By Angelo Agrizzi

 “We need to tell each other our stories. We need to show that everyone–our neighbours, our families, our community leaders – everyone we know is touched by corruption.” – Jennifer Lawrence, actress

After I’d been home for a few weeks, I really began to process what had happened to me. As my health slowly improved, albeit I was still hooked up to oxygen machines (and will probably be so for the rest of my life), my anger intensified. I was monumentally pissed off. How could they have done this to me? I had tried to be of assistance ever since I decided to finally leave Bosasa and become a whistleblower.

I had unearthed so much corruption, these goons probably had no frigging idea about even a tenth of it. I had turned down R50 million in hush money from the Watsons. I had jeopardised the safety of my family. I had nearly lost my life … and all for what? I kept asking myself: What was the agenda of the NPA in denying me bail? What were they trying to prove when they decided that I was a flight risk? Had they been instructed by someone? Who were they trying to impress at my expense?

The State knew what all the facts were. Was Advocate ShamilaBatohi, who took over as National Director of Public Prosecutions at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on the 1st of February 2019, trying to make a name for herself by showing a tougher stance? Initially, when she took office, there was hope that finally a new era had dawned and that the NPA and Hawks would begin to do what taxpayers paid them to do – arrest the criminals associated with corruption.

The agency had been in a torrid downward spiral under previous NPA bosses, Menzi Simelane, NomgcoboJiba and Shaun Abrahams. All three had been criticised for being heavily biased towards former President Jacob Zuma and had allowed him to do as he pleased, despite him facing widespread allegations of corruption.

In an article published in the publication GroundUp, looking at the two-year legacy of Batohi, Paul Hoffman, a director of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa, said: “…. under Batohi the NPA was still full of ‘saboteurs’ deployed to protect those involved in grand corruption”, and that allowing this situation to continue was “a craven response” to the massive damage that these “saboteurs” had wreaked. I had often wondered how it was possible that in the two years since Batohi had been appointed, and by the time of my appearance at Palm Ridge Magistrates’ Court, there had not been a single prosecution, under her watch, of a “big fish” associated with corruption in the realms of politics, business and crime.

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The only conclusion I could come up with, as I sat trying to figure out how I’d landed up in this medically compromised state, was that there had either been instruction from “above” to deny me bail or, quite simply, that the NPA was as useless as their previous record of incompetency.

Either way, my anger at the injustice grew daily. I was not going to allow an incompetent NPA the opportunity to crucify me simply because I was an easy target. As I sat in my new abode, watching the world outside from behind bulletproof glass windows, having to learn to walk like a child on my own again, strapped to machines now installed all over the apartment; day by day, my resolve to fight back was fuelled.

It slowly dawned on me that I had been somewhat naïve when I first decided to blow the whistle on Bosasa corruption. I had stupidly trusted the wheels of justice in this country and wholeheartedly believed that my testimony would make a difference and contribute to South Africa’s future, that corruption would be exposed and that those involved would be punished. I must have been blind not to have seen that I would become the person that those deep in the belly of the Beast would try to snuff out.

.This is an extract from  Surviving The Beast: The ugly truths about state capture and why they tried to kill me, by Angelo Agrizzi. The book is published by Truth be Told Publishing and is available in bookstores and online from October 1, 2021 and retails at R290.

.Agrizzzi is currently facing charges related to the time when he was Chief Operations Officer of Bosasa –Editor.