State Capture: Editor testifies on Bosasa threats
An editor-in-chief has told the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that he'd been the target of threats for investigating and reporting on the company formerly known as BOSASA.
"I managed to conclude my investigation at the time when the department spent a lot of money on advertising claiming that they are fighting corruption in the department. We could prove the contrary. I then proceeded to publish evidence from the transcript emails that I had received," News24's Adriaan Basson said.
Basson says he first received threats while working for the Mail & Guardian.
He says he received calls on his personal phone day and night.
"The message of these calls were always a person claiming that they are a Bosasa employee and then saying to me that I am threatening their jobs - and that I must stop my writing and reportage on Bosasa. Some of the callers, I remember quite vividly, accused me of racism - that I was only doing these articles because I'm white and I'm racist," Basson said.
Basson says he received call from an unidentified caller in 2009 - who he later searched on Google and identified as the late Benedicta Dube, who worked in PR.
Angelo Agrizzi previously testified that she and others were allegedly paid by BOSASA to discredit reporters.
