Gavin Watson Bosasa Auction

Funeral service for late Bosasa boss Gavin Watson was held at the Feather Market Hall in Port Elizabeth. Photo: Raahil Sain / ANA

Gavin Watson: Three more suspicions raised by pathologist’s report

When a pathologist’s report raises more questions than answers, you know you’ve got a complex case on your hands. Gavin Watson’s death remains suspect.

Gavin Watson Bosasa Auction

Funeral service for late Bosasa boss Gavin Watson was held at the Feather Market Hall in Port Elizabeth. Photo: Raahil Sain / ANA

When one of the biggest bribery kingpins passes away just 24 hours before he gives information to a tax hearing, conspiracy theories will usually be on the cards. Gavin Watson’s death has been subject to intense speculation over the last 21 days, and we may not have heard the last of the rumour mill.

Just after 5:00 on Monday 26 August, the Toyota Corolla which Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson was driving to OR Tambo International Airport smashed into a concrete pillar, completely wrecking the car and killing the executive. The structure was supporting a bridge, and the impact saw debris spread across the highway.

Latest news on Gavin Watson’s cause of death

With Watson’s death, there are secrets he will take to the grave with him. Out of sheer human nature, South Africans are ultimately frustrated that this could close several avenues into a forensic analysis of their own, personal state capture. Conspiracies will circulate, but ultimately, the police are keen to pursue any inquiries through their ongoing culpable homicide investigation.

Over the weekend, the leading line from a private pathologist’s report stated that Watson “was dead before impact”. The investigation has had the opposite impact of what was intended: Instead of putting a few rumours to bed, this version of events only gives credence to some of the ludicrous theories doing the rounds.

Gavin Watson and the pathologist’s report:

Could the crash have been staged?

This idea has been very popular over the past few weeks. Whether one believes Watson was assassinated (like Jacob Zuma does) or that this was an attempt to fake his own death, a staged accident scene has dominated the public discourse. The suggestion that the CEO was dead before impact has only served to fuel these flames.

If the impact did not kill Gavin Watson, then what did?

Still waiting on toxicology reports

An attempt to poison the grift-accused executive has not been ruled out by the pathologist’s report. That’s because this recent batch of data is preliminary, and we are still waiting on the toxicology results. This has left the door open to suggestions that Watson was indeed “targeted in a hit”.

This is not a particularly uncommon thing in South Africa. That’s if you believe our politicians, anyway. Jacob Zuma, David Mabuza and Ace Magashule have all made audacious claims about poisonings they have survived, or ones which have allegedly claimed the lives of their colleagues.

Location, destination, and a meeting to mention

The Watson family weren’t exactly bowled over by the report, by the way. In a direct quote carried by The Citizen, those closest to big boss have immediately questioned the findings and what they fail to address

“It may have just been a heart attack that caused the accident, but that does not answer some pretty key questions, including how he would coincidentally have just had a heart attack at the one section of road not covered by cameras.”

Not only are they perplexed by the location of the crash, but the anonymous family member also said it was “troubling” how no-one has come forward as the person Gavin Watson was meant to be meeting. They were suspicious of his trip to OR Tambo, and with no-one able to corroborate this version of events, it has only stirred the conspiracy pot further.