LISTEN: 'ANC members intimidated me for my anti-Bosasa stance'

Bloem, who was appointed as the chairperson of the committee under the ANC in 2004, testified at the state capture commission on Friday.

He said  the correctional services, under its former commissioners, Linda Mti and Khulekani Sithole was in financial disarray. 

He corroborated the testimony of the company’s former Chief Financial Officer (COO) Angelo Agrizzi, stating that the department spent over R1 billion on taxpayers money on unlawful tenders with Bosasa. 

"Chair, they were all floated, there was nothing that was done according to the books. It was a free for all, that was what was happening in that department."

He claims committee member Winnie Ngwenya, who Agrizzi testified was paid a monthly R20 000 bribe by Bosasa, visited him in his office to arrange a meeting between him and the company's executives and when he declined, she told him he was playing with his luck as there was a lot of money involved. 

Bloem said the catering contract, which cost the department R250 million a year for over 20 years, was a money laundering scheme. 

He alleges the committee conducted several oversight visits at seven of the big prisons were the program was rolled out and prisoners were still doing their own catering and not Bosasa as the contract stipulated. 

Bloem said after numerous grievances were sent to then justice minister Ngconde Balfour, he instead told the committee to not interfere with the work of the department. 

He said the committee’s decision to reject the department’s budget one year left  some members of ANC caucus disgruntled. 

"I never ever backed down on what I believed in. The ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe would call me and say to me: ‘You must know that you are a deployee of the ANC, you are not your own boss, you are going to follow party lines, or we are going to remove you from that position’."

According to Bloem, the then speaker of the national assembly at the time, Max Sisulu, was aware of the situation but failed to act. 

An emotional Bloem pleaded with the commission to investigate the death of former correctional  services commissioner, Vernie Peterson, who died during his tenure as the director-general at the Department of Sports and Recreation. 

Peterson replaced Linda Mti and has been described as a corruption buster. He worked at correctional services for a year before he was moved to the sports and recreation and replaced by Tom Moyane. 

"Vernie Peterson was very vocal and against this thing of what is happening and all of a sudden he died a mysterious death. I must say it to the commission that correctional services is a very dangerous department when you are targetted, you are targetted and you must be very careful." 

The commission’s chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, told evidence leader Paul Pretorius that investigators will need to do something urgently to ascertain whether the catering contract is still ongoing.