Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson often told former president Jacob Zuma what to do and regularly had breakfast with his wives, the state capture inquiry heard on Thursday.
Former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi told deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo that Watson consistently visited Zuma.
"If I may just add, he had the type of relationship with the president… where he could tell the president what to do. It was frequent.
"He would visit the president quite regularly and I remember.... he told me what a mess [Nkandla] was in terms of the building and that it shouldn't have cost R250m (R246m)," said Agrizzi.
State Capture: Bosasa boss 'told Zuma what to do'
Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson often told former president Jacob Zuma what to do and regularly had breakfast with his wives, the state capture inquiry heard on Thursday.
Former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi told deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo that Watson consistently visited Zuma.
"If I may just add, he had the type of relationship with the president… where he could tell the president what to do. It was frequent.
"He would visit the president quite regularly and I remember.... he told me what a mess [Nkandla] was in terms of the building and that it shouldn't have cost R250m (R246m)," said Agrizzi.
The meetings with Zuma were as a result of former National Prosecuting Authority heavyweight Nomgcobo Jiba failing to quash a case looking into Bosasa's dodgy dealings.
Agrizzi alleged that at a meeting at former correctional services commissioner Linda Mti's house on May 8 2016, Watson practised a "role play" of what he was going to say to Zuma.
"He had already arranged a meeting with the president so it was going to happen. He was just telling Mr Richard (Linda) Mti what was going to happen [at the meeting]," Agrizzi further alleged.
In the recording that was played at the commission, Watson tells Zuma in the role play: "Mr President, we need to get to get this thing closed down… We need to get the right people in the right place. [Berning] Ntlemeza is the right guy at that place. Now we have to get the right person at the NPA…"
Ntlemeza is the former Hawks boss who left his office in 2017 after the Supreme Court of Appeal nullified his appointment as the head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).