Angelo Agrizzi's hospital gown falls off his shoulders, revealing his bare skin. Intravenous ports, monitors and bandages are clearly visible on his upper chest. He's pale and gaunt, having lost 29kg in a matter of two months.
He nearly died in mid-October, the Bosasa whistle-blower says, and he's determined to make the most of his survival.
“I'm not scared. I'm stronger than before. I've had a lot of time to think and a lot of time to remember,” he said on Friday.
He was speaking for the first time since he was hospitalised on October 15, just a day after bail was denied in the ongoing criminal case against him. He was transferred to the hospital from prison, and has since been moved to a private facility.
The former COO of Bosasa has just released his book Inside the Belly of the Beast, a memoir into the multibillion-rand corruption Bosasa saga and what really happened behind closed doors.
“The next book is going to be a killer. I'll expose absolutely everyone,” he said on Friday.
Agrizzi, 53, is in critical condition at a private hospital in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs after suffering a heart attack on October 21, a week after he was denied bail by the Palm Ridge magistrate’s court. He was receiving treatment at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital before he was transferred to the private facility.
He is facing charges of bribery and corruption in connection with R800,000 allegedly paid to top ANC politician Vincent Smith.
His lawyer, Daniel Witz, said the matter had been postponed until March 2021 and that he believed Agrizzi would be out of hospital before the new year.
“I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy,” Agrizzi said.
“I don't even know how much blood I've been given. I'm on dialysis, removing, cleaning and putting back 5,000ml of blood a day. I'm having tests done three times a day.
“When I crashed — and I crashed many times — they had to give me 50ml of adrenaline an hour. They gave it to me so many times the hospital even ran out of [adrenaline]. My oxygen was so low my hands were blue.
“I'm not the person I used to be.”
Agrizzi's voice wavered and his chin dimpled as his emotions overcame him. He was upset, but would not allow himself to cry.
“I get emotional because I don't think anyone deserves to be put through this type of treatment,” he said.
Despite battling a number of health problems — including hypertension, kidney failure and diabetes, — Agrizzi believes his heart attack was not down to his ill heath. He says it was an attempted hit.
Asked what he meant, he said the stress of the state capture inquiry could not be blamed for nearly killing him.
“I've had more stress than [state capture]. I've gone through the worst stress. The fact that I am still here is a miracle. I'm prepared for the worst and there is still so much for me to tell,” he said.
He believes doctors and medical documentation will be able to back up the hit theory because he said he went from walking and talking to having his heart stop several times in hospital.
Agrizzi said in that in hindsight he should have realised all would not be well.
After making lunch plans with his wife Debbie Agrizzi on Thursday October 14, he handed himself over at the Brackendowns police station and appeared at the Palm Ridge magistrate's court in Ekurhuleni with Smith.
He was on an oxygen tank at the time.
“I was on my way to court but I had to check in at the police station. I thought all was good but what I found was a contingent [of law enforcers] at the station. There were 15 blue-light vehicles and I was driven to court in a [Nyala]. Why did they have to go through all of this for me?
“I ended up being put in a cell in Diepkloof Prison. My oxygen was taken away and I was given a new tank. They also took away my insulin [a critical medication for diabetics]," he said.
He said he had a constant blood-glucose measure on him so he knew his blood-sugar level was around the 7.8 mark. This is considered a healthy level. Without insulin to control the blood sugar levels, a diabetic can go into a coma if their blood sugar levels are too high. The same can happen if the levels are too low.
I'm not leaving it here. There's a fire in my belly.
— Angelo Agrizzi
Agrizzi said he declined the four slices of brown bread given to him in prison and drank only from the tap.
“I woke up on a gurney. I knew where I was because I read 'Bara' on a notice board through the curtains. I was alone in a room with two beds. I was naked ... and had soiled myself.
“But I was able to get up and walk so I bathed myself and went to sleep. I woke up a day later at [the private hospital].
“I asked, 'Where's my wife, my family?' and I kept being told, 'Coming. Coming. Coming.'”
He became emotional again.
Witz said that while he was unconscious Agrizzi was tied to the bed by his leg, and three armed warders were standing guard inside the ICU ward.
As he spoke on Friday, one of the machines strapped to his chest began beeping — but, undramatically, a nurse found that the machine wire had come away from his body.
Agrizzi seemed unfazed by the event.
Meanwhile his publisher, Melinda Ferguson, said she was thrilled that Inside the Belly of the Beast had done so well.
Ferguson said the next book, which she would be busying herself with in December, would include the 10,000 words which were taken out of the original manuscript. She said Agrizzi was angry that the words had been removed.
Witz said the concern was that the book could prejudice an ongoing investigation but that Agrizzi had handed over all his information to the authorities. Witz said Agrizzi could not be sued for defamation when the new book was published because it was “in the interest of the public” and the “allegations were true”. He said nobody had challenged the current book.
Agrizzi said his record keeping was so detailed in his testimony to judge Raymond Zondo because he was an avid diary keeper.
He did not want to speak about former Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson because he had “closed that chapter” of his life. But he did not believe Watson's death was due to suicide.
Witz said the investigation into Watson's death was ongoing.
Though Agrizzi refused to say if he believed the state was behind his alleged hit, he kept repeating that the way the police behaved — by making a spectacle of him — left him with questions.
“I'm not leaving it here. There's a fire in my belly,” he said.
