Gavin Watson funeral: ANC flags draped across podium, party stalwarts sing praise songs

Hundreds of mourners filed into Port Elizabeth’s Feather Market Centre on Tuesday morning to pay their final respects to Bosasa boss Gavin Watson, with ANC supporters breaking out into song.

Streets in the centre of Port Elizabeth were blocked off ahead of the 71-year-old's funeral.

Watson, who controlled African Global Operations (AGO), formerly known as Bosasa, died when his car crashed at high speed into a bridge pillar last week Monday within the OR Tambo International airport precinct.

The exact cause of the accident is unknown with a team of specialised police accident investigators probing the cause.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at the Feather Market Centre, with ANC flags draped across the podium and party stalwarts and supporters breaking out in praise songs.

Photographs of the businessman adorned the centre.

Watson and AGO were embroiled in controversy earlier this year when his former right-hand man and confidant, Angelo Agrizzi, along with other former executives, blew the whistle at the state capture commission of inquiry on a litany of bribery operations the company allegedly used to secure R12bn worth of government contracts.

Watson died a day before he was to testify before a SA Revenue Services inquiry into his tax affairs. The inquiry resulted from the information that became public after Agrizzi’s testimony before the state capture commission.

Watson, who was an ANC funder, has been hailed a hero of the political party.