R45 NEWS YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW (inc VAT)

noseweek207 Was Vytjie JANUARY taped by a spy? Stolen clips of secret interviews 2017

Anyone But Zuma ABZ is not the way to fix SA

Trashing Pretoria Millions wasted in wrecking City Hall

Drugs, death and double 00207 104042

dealers in Camps Bay 771025 9 GB NoseWeek MCC Ad_02.indd 1 2016/12/12 2:03 PM Your favourite magazine is now ISSUE 207 • JANUARY 2017 available on your iPad and PC Bouncing rates scam Page 30

4 Letters 6 Editorial 38 Smalls AVAILABLE FEATURES ON YOUR COLUMNS TABLET 34 Books 7 The forensic report Tshwane ANC shelved Exposed: corruption, incompetence – 35 Letter from and bad taste – in city hall refurbishment Umjindi Download your 36 Not Rocket 10 Bay of drugs, death and double dealers digital edition today SA’s priciest real estate is a magnet for foreign Science holidaymakers – and crooks, creeps and miscreants both single issues and 37 Last Word 18 This Kandy ain’t sweet subscriptions available Confectionary franchise leaves a bad taste PLUS never miss a copy – 21 Chronicle of a death foretold with back issues available to Wessel Ebersohn on political assassinations download and store 24 ABZ is not the way SA must tread softly to avoid repeating the mistakes DOWNLOAD YOUR DIGITAL of the Mbeki/Zuma presidential succession EDITION AT www.noseweek.co.za 27 Was Vytjie taped by a spy? Audio clips and recordings of Thuli Madonsela’s or % 021 686 0570 State of Capture interviews are washing up at media houses as ANC factions fight it out

NOSEWEEK January 2017 3 Letters Sanral trusts this puts the record straight

NOSEWEEK’S OCTOBER 2016 ARTICLE curves, not only reducing travel times, N3 route is R2-R4bn a year, and that “Environment department diverts but saving R6 billion over the analy- the new bypass route “will allow the Sanral bypass plan” has elicited a sis period for the road user and the N3 Toll Concession …to get a fresh 30- 2,600-word letter from Sanral “to set economy of South Africa! year extension on the business”. the record straight”. As a letter of that Sanral has on numerous occasions Not so. The current programme is length can clearly not be accommodat- stated that the estimated cost of the for the De Beer’s Pass works to be ed on a letters’ page, only some head- project is R5.2bn and not R10bn. [Has completed by 2022. The Concession line points have been extracted from it any major roads contract ever been contract makes no provision for any for publication here. The full text is on concluded at less than double the time extension and there is no plan Noseweek’s website. original cost estimate? – Ed.] to extend the concession beyond the The project is not a reroute but an original period. IN NOSE204 IT IS CLAIMED THAT SANRAL alternate road to relieve traffic on the Noseweek reported: “OUTA reckons has rushed to push through a plan existing route. that stretch of highway (will) cost an to reroute the N3 highway between Regarding the jobs and income Har- average 321% more than similar roads Johannesburg and Durban across De rismith stands to lose, a Regional Eco- worldwide.” Beer’s Pass, while having scant regard nomic Impact Assessment found the Noseweek also referred to the “con- for the environment. impacts are far below those calculated geniality” between Sanral, the tolling The Noseweek story is based on by the consultant to the Harrismith companies and the big construction hearsay and statements that are not Business Forum, Mike Schussler. companies (who fixed prices for the factual and lack credibility. Journalis- Schussler has not considered the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Pro- tic integrity has been sacrificed to be- specialist studies which outline the ject) as “by now the stuff of legend”. smirch the SA National Roads Agency economic benefits and impact of the It then went on to quote OUTA SOC Limited (Sanral) at all costs. De Beer’s Pass on nearby towns. describing the R760m that Sanral In fact the N3 project has a long his- The Noseweek report alleged that is claiming from seven construction tory and has undergone a very robust the DEA has said the highway will firms guilty of collusion, as “a pit- planning process as evidenced by a permanently destroy wetlands in an tance”, since, by OUTA’s reckoning, second, very comprehensive Envi- important Vaal River catchment area, the contractors had been overpaid by ronmental Impact Assessment (EIA) negatively affecting critical water sup- R10.8bn for the Gauteng project. undertaken by Sanral over a five-year plies to Gauteng. The facts: Sanral held a press period. The road already had environ- The DEA has made no such claim, conference in March 2016 where it mental authorisation from the Depart- but has requested clarification of a asked OUTA to produce evidence to ment of Environmental Affairs (DEA) number of issues. That Sanral has substantiate its claims. To date it has in 1999. Had Sanral been in a rush, it failed to address the impacts on wet- not done so. would have commenced construction lands is false. The EIA undertaken by Sanral believes that glaring errors on the basis of that authorisation. Sanral includes three wetland stud- in the OUTA report were designed to The planned new route is not ies and a Resource Economics study, deliberately mislead the public and merely 14km shorter. The De Beer’s which is a first for road EIAs in South create sensation. Pass will operate at highway speeds, Africa. [See editorial.] Koos Smit, Mpati Makoa, Ron Harmse unlike the existing Van Reenen Pass, The nose204 article also alleges that and Thabiso Malahleha and will have reduced gradients and “by some estimates” revenue from the Sanral, Pretoria

4 IRISH SA ASSOCIATION Win two return airtickets Binary options – buyer beware CT/JHB/DBN to DUBLIN & LONDON R 100 per ticket. Winner will be drawn on HERE IS A ICHARD RANSON ADVERT ON T “R B ” St. Patrick’s Day 17th March 2017. Facebook run along similar lines to the Deposit to be made into the bank a/c of the ISAA, Trevor Noah fake recommendation you Standard Bank a/c no 202843882. mention in your excellent exposé (in Please email proof of payment to: nose206) of the binary options trading [email protected] scams that are currently being punted all over the internet. +27 21 713 0154 Caveat emptor, indeed! www.ireland.co.za Mike Turner Randburg The Brothers Karamazov: Did God in- n NEVER FORGET: IF SOMETHING IS TOO vent man or did man invent God? GOOD to be true, it usually is! Also, why That debate is for another day, but I should anyone offer the key to instant am concerned about congregants who IF YOU RENT PROPERTY fortune, with much marketing effort, worship their “prophets” instead of KEEP THIS NUMBER when they could enjoy it all for them- God, and the apparent replacement of selves, alone with so little effort? Sure- the Christian faith’s Father, Son and I CAN HELP YOU WITH ly not a charitable venture! Holy Spirit devotional promise with Old Owl money, status and materialism wor- PROBLEM TENANTS Plettenberg Bay shipping. Many of these “prophets” I CAN ASSIST YOU WITH THE seem to be baby-faced, with no trace Prophets without beards of facial hair, making philosopher Ba- RENTAL HOUSING TRIBUNAL ruch Spinoza sound spot on when he IF YOU DON’T NEED ME NOW, REPORTS ON THE “PROPHET” WHO SPRAYS said: “There has never been a credible Doom insecticide on the faces of his prophet who didn’t grow a beard.” YOU WILL LATER congregants reminded me of the ques- Luyanda Marlon Kama tion in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel, Kwa-Dwesi, Port Elizabeth JOHN: 082 901 0824 Stent

NOSEWEEK January 2017 5 C Editorial Editor Martin Welz [email protected] Assistant Editor A highwayman’s view Jonathan Erasmus N THE LETTERS PAGE READERS WILL FIND also (uniquely) included a resource econom- Special Correspondent a brief summary of a much longer ics study – which presumably found that Jack Lundin letter received from the South Afri- the economic advantages of the highway Designer can National Roads Agency (San- outweighed the environmental disadvantag- Tony Pinchuck ral) objecting to the content and es of driving a highway through a pristine Consultant driftO of a report that appeared in nose204 wetland at the source of a major river. Len Ashton about its ongoing plans to redirect the N3 In case the public did not swallow that Sub-editor highway between Gauteng and Durban. one, Sanral goes on to point out that “It is Fiona Harrison It is intended that the highway will cross also well known that the Vaal River system the escarpment via the De Beer’s Pass, is under threat from the drought, unlaw- Contributors rather than its current, more laborious, Van ful irrigation practices and from different Len Ashton, Sue Barkly, Sibusiso Biyela, Reenen route. Among the many objections pollution sources, such as sewage from Wessel Ebersohn, Bheki Mashile, raised against the proposed De Beer’s Pass inadequate municipal waste water treat- Susan Puren, Harold Strachan, route is that the highway will permanently ment works, industrial effluents, acid mine Cartoon destroy wetlands in an important Vaal drainage and other activities taking place Dr Jack, Stacey Stent River catchment area, negatively affecting within the Vaal River System.” Accounts critical water supplies to Gauteng. By implication, Sanral considers that the Nicci van Doesburgh In response, Sanral says it did take ac- Vaal is in such a mess anyway, that it is not [email protected] count of the wetlands, but then raises two worth bothering about preserving the wet- Subscriptions important qualifiers: it wants us to note land that filters the river water at source. Maud Petersen that its environmental impact assessments If you can swallow that. [email protected] Advertising 021 686 0570 Department of Social Insecurity [email protected]

HE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY CPS because the tender was illegal, Sassa All material in this issue is copyright, and belongs to Chaucer Publications (Pty) Ltd, unless otherwise has been ominously silent about its now plans to contract CPS for another two indicated. No part of the material may be quoted, plans for distributing more than 17 years while it supposedly “phases in” a plan photocopied, reproduced or be stored by any million social grants once its con- it has yet to decide upon – and CPS can electronic system without prior written permission. tract with Cash Paymaster Services now charge just about anything it wants Disclaimer: While every reasonable effort is taken to ensure the accuracy and soundness of the contents of (CPS)T – the company that has performed for the extra two-or-more years. this publication, neither the authors nor the publisher that service for several years – terminates What the minister won’t tell Parliament, will bear any responsibility for the consequences of in less than three months’ time. the Chairman and CEO of Net 1, CPS’s any actions based on information contained. Printed and Published by Chaucer Publications (Pty) Ltd. More than a year ago the government holding company, Serge Belamant told his announced that the SA Social Security major shareholders in early November: Agency (Sassa) would no longer call for “More urgently, Sassa has asked us to pro- tenders to manage the system, and would pose a plan that would allow for all current manage it “in house”. From time to time Sassa cards to continue to operate for a it announced the appointment of “work further 24 months after April 1, 2017. streams” to research and design the system “This required us to update all cards with at a cost of millions. new MasterCard and Net 1 cryptographic SUBSCRIPTION RATES For months, Minister of Social Security key sets, and [new] expiry date. If these Print Bathabile Dlamini has refused to reveal updates are not performed by April 1, 2017, how the government planned to administer these cards would no longer be operational. SA only R410 the system itself and what it would cost. “Net 1 has designed a plan that would Neighbouring states (airmail) R600 When at a session of Parliament’s Select allow such updates to take place at Sassa Europe, Americas and Australasia R740 Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) , offices… Contingency plans have also been Internet edition put in place to ensure that grant distribu- 1 year R298 the DA’s Bridget Masango once more posed these questions, Dlamini slipped into Zulu, tion will not be affected after April 1, 2017. Combined the better to drive her answer home: Kuk- Net 1 continues to work with Sassa… Print+Internet (SA only) R510 hona abazama ukuthola amanzietsheni, “Any Sassa business continuity is wel- To subscribe angeke bawathole! You are trying to draw comed by Net 1 if under favourable terms By post: Send cheque with name, water from a stone – and you won’t get it! and conditions.” [Noseweek’s emphasis],” address and phone no. to: noseweek, Sassa did reveal that it would take them Belamant said. What those terms are, we PO Box 44538, Claremont 7735. two years or more to “phase in” their plans. have yet to be told. Via Internet (pay by credit card): And in the interim? There is only one pos- As Noseweek warned in August 2016: “If www.noseweek.co.za sible answer. these ‘survival’ grants are not paid, the na- Email [email protected] Despite the Constitutional Court having tional crisis would be on the scale of war.” Further information ordered Sassa to cancel its contract with The Editor Call (021) 686 0570; fax 021 686 0573 or email [email protected] oked t ey sm he c th ity y, h e a n l l

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Explosive report exposes corruption, incompetence – and bad taste – in refurbishment of capital’s municipal HQ. By Susan Puren

N EXPLOSIVE REPORT FINGERING ment and Spatial Planning in Tshwane. 80-year old organ is the biggest in the former Tshwane mayor Sputla “I think it is an absolute national dis- southern hemisphere – were damaged Ramokgopa’s Chief of Staff grace that something so dear to the city when the contractors dropped scaffold- for fraud and corruption was could be destroyed because of greed.” ing against them when they painted shelved a year ago by the city’s Pieter de Necker, who has since been the ceiling. And while work was done previousA municipal manager, Jason tasked to oversee the project, says on the roof, water also leaked into the Ngobeni. Ngobeni resigned when the he was totally shocked when he first organ chambers, damaging its mecha- DA took over the administration of the walked into the building. Antique fur- nism. This will cost another R18m to capital after the August local govern- niture was randomly left outside and repair because some of the components ment elections. exposed to the elements, handmade are no longer available and new ones The forensic report is one of several leadglass lampshades ripped from the need to be made. that have been retrieved from oblivion walls and 70% of the brass fittings were The forensic report does not beat by the DA administration. Compiled missing, presumed stolen. “There was about the bush, stating that the city’s by Fundudzi Forensic Services, the total disregard just for the awesome- ANC administration failed to keep tabs 247-page document recommended that ness of this building.” on the City Hall project and recklessly criminal charges be laid against Ernest A year later most of the priceless Rho- paid out money without even check- Shozi and other high-ranking former desian teak floors are still covered with ing whether the work had been done. officials, as well as the companies they modern laminated floorboard and high- It says some officials may have ille- appointed to refurbish the mayor’s of- gloss tiles. Some of the original murals gally benefited from the project, as the ficial residence and the Pretoria City have been painted over or covered with amounts paid to the contractors could Hall. The then ANC-controlled council what looks like glitter-infused wallpa- not be justified against the actual ser- ignored the recommendation. per, invoiced at R4,000/m2. vices rendered. In addition it recom- The City Hall project escalated from The City Hall has protection under mends that, apart from Ernest Shozi, R12 million to R138m in less than a Section 30 of the National Heritage Re- the Chief of Staff and self-appointed year and by the time the contractors sources Act (25 of 1999) but none of the project manager, Tswelopele Maabane, were kicked off the site last year, R90m heritage guidelines were followed and the former Executive Director of Sup- had already been paid out on the ill- approval for the renovations was never ply Chain Management should also be conceived project. Left behind is a mess obtained. criminally charged. of rubble, and walls covered in psyche- Since De Necker took over, the coun- The disastrous chain of fraud and cor- delic wallpaper and op-art tiles, “suit- cil spent R20m to fix the roof, repair ruption started in 2011 when Tshwane able only for a rent-by-the-hour hotel or 200 windows and get some of the toilets embarked on a process to identify suita- a dominatrix torture room”. working. A further R60m will be need- ble office space for the Executive Mayor. It was not an upgrade it was a down- ed to restore the interior to its former The forensic report says that the origi- grade, says Councillor Randall Wil- grandeur. nal plan was to accommodate him at liams, the MMC for Economic Develop- Many of the 6,000 organ pipes – the the metro’s new headquarters, once the

NOSEWEEK January 2017 7 R1.2-billion complex was completed. proposal. Julia Munyai even prepared by a quantity surveyor appointed by Temporary accommodation would the appointment letter and provided it Ntshadi Consortium, itself. have been at Isivuno House in the to Maabane – once again, based on the So, clearly the contractors pock- Pretoria CBD but Shozi cancelled the specification document. eted the money and, apart from doing plans, raising security concerns. By Ntshadi Consortium’s proposed bud- as little as possible, they did as much then, R6m had already been spent on get for the project was R138,144,954 but damage as possible, says Management the refurbishment of the 22nd floor at was never approved. The report found Committee member Randall Williams. Isivuno House. that Shozi had merely signed acknowl- According to the report, confirmation Shozi then instructed De Necker, who edgement of the budget and confirmed was received that Maabane and Shozi is Ramokgopa’s former spokesperson, that an amount of R102,700,000 was were paid substantial backhanders by to evaluate the office space at the City allocated over three years. But that the service providers on the project. Hall. The feedback was positive. amount was also never approved. One of the subcontractors also gave In October 2012 the appointment of In fact, Shozi presented various budg- employment to Shozi’s wife, Nokuthula. a panel of contractors for the Metro’s ets to the then-CFO, Andile Dyakala, Another indicated that Shozi had asked Housing and Human Settlements de- who considered them to be inconsistent him to assess the security needs at his partment was approved. Chairing the and baseless. private residence after his company meeting was Lindiwe Kwele who was The budget included provision for a was appointed. the acting City Manager at the time. proper heritage study to be performed The assessment never took place but Less than a month later Kwele signed by the consortium but the CFO said the he accepted a favour from a company Ntshadi Consortium’s letter of appoint- renovation should not cost more than associated with the project to arrange ment to the panel. R70 million, as the CSIR had already flights and accommodation for him and The consortium, comprising four com- compiled a heritage study. Despite the his associates. panies: Bahlaphing, Mogage Mothusi CFO’s objections, Shozi bulldozed on. Shozi listed as one of his assets on Construction CC, Ntshadi Holdings CC, It is doubtful if a heritage assess- various loan applications a property to and TCT Civils and Construction CC, ment or a study of the building’s his- the value of R3.5m that is situated in was then asked for a proposal to restore tory was ever done by the consor- Ndwedwe Village in KZN. The property the City Hall and create office space for tium. De Necker says they had no was acquired in 2011 and the bond set- the mayor. The restoration was labelled experts involved in the process and had tled in 2014 but the report found that it an urgent turnkey project, allowing it bizarre ideas of what colours the walls was not registered in Shozi’s name. to bypass National Treasury’s tender should be painted. Shozi also paid off two short-term requirements. But less than two months after loans with Capitec and African Bank Ntshadi was formally appointed Ntshadi was appointed, the first in- in 2014. He processed various financial for the City Hall Project on 10 Octo- voice, billing the council for R4,980,614, transactions showing he had access to ber 2013 but the process was flawed was delivered, prepared by Julia Mun- cash from sources other than his sal- from the start. The report found that yai. It was issued in the name of Bahl- ary. This includes a payment of at least two of the companies in the consor- aphing and paid without question into R315,000 for transfer fees and a deposit tium, Bahlaphing and Mogage Moth- the company’s bank account, as Ntsha- on a property in Kosmosdal in Gauteng. usi Construction, did not submit their di Consortium was not registered as a At the same time R400,000 was invest- respective Construction Industry De- vendor on the Tshwane system. ed in Coalgistics and R201,493 with velopment Board (CIDB) grading as The forensic report says that, taking Allan Gray. It was also discovered that was required and therefore should have into account the complexity of the study Shozi holds various shareholdings and been disqualified. to be done and the time within which directorships, which were not declared Instead of the city, which was the the invoice was issued, it is improbable to his employer as required in terms of client, the consortium itself prepared that the services to which the invoice his employment contract. the specifications for the project. Had related had already been performed. The amounts paid to Shozi and the city performed the due diligence, R1.7m of the R4,980,614 was paid to Maabane easily exceed R1m. In re- it would have found that one of the sub- some of the consultants but each of the sponse to the report, new mayor Solly contractors, Silver Horns Consulting four member companies in the consor- Msimanga has recently laid charges and its two directors, Thabo Munyai tium received R100,000 “profit shar- against the two. The case has been and Julia Munyai, were under crimi- ing”, although the project had hardly handed over to the office for serious eco- nal investigation for inflating invoices started. nomic offences, within the Hawks. and failing to complete projects prior Bahlaphing could not account for More charges could follow, says coun- to 2010 when they were contracted by what happened to the balance of R2.3m cillor Randall Williams. Johannesburg City Parks. and failed to provide the investigators “There was total carelessness on the The Munyais had already provided with documentation as to how the mon- part of the previous administration. Shozi in August 2013 with the specifica- ey was utilised. They can’t claim ignorance because tions document for the project – before Subsequent invoices were similarly they commissioned the forensic inves- Ntshadi was appointed. Shozi in turn paid without being verified by Tshwane tigation. So the previous mayor should provided project manager Maabane officials and an amount of R33,875,244 take full responsibility, and I think he with the document, and the same docu- was transferred to Ntshadi Consortium should be sued in his personal capacity ment was again used to prepare the on the strength of the verification done for the damages caused.” n

8 Lindiwe Kwele, twice publicly decried by the DA for serious fnancial incompetence, is now up for appointment as Tshwane’s city manager

INDIWE KWELE, WHO WAS TSHWANE’S ously had its doubts about. The then acting city manager in 2012 ANC controlled municipality said when the controversial contract that was private information, not to for the renovation of the Preto- be disclosed, but Noseweek did a bit ria City Hall was signed, is once of scratching and found a few twists againL acting City Manager after Jason and turns that might explain the Ngobeni upped and ran when the DA secrecy. took control of the city in August 2016. Kwele’s profile on LinkedIn says Kwele is also believed to be the fa- she holds a Master of Business Ad- vourite candidate (Noseweek sources ministration from the University say she is the only one) for permanent of Wales, which she claims to have appointment to the position, despite obtained through the former Natal the DA – her new bosses – having ac- Technikon, now the Durban Univer- cused her as recently as 2014 of gross sity of Technology. The University of mismanagement. But then 2014 is a Wales “validated” many degrees at very long time ago in politics. more than 100 colleges in over 30 Two years ago Kwele, with the now- countries, making validation a big departed Ngobeni and former mayor money-spinner. In 2008 alone more Sputla Ramokgopa, presided over the than 20,000 students were registered city’s bungled Dinokeng Tribe One for validation courses, generating music festival that was cancelled – overseas earnings of over £2m. allegedly because Tshwane had not Lindiwe Kwele But the scheme came to a grinding met the infrastructure deadlines for halt after the BBC exposed a number the open air event. That mess cost the of controversies involving the univer- ratepayers a whopping R65 million. its budget by more than R1 billion, sity’s overseas affiliated colleges. The (R10m of it went to US singer Nicki raising concerns about its ability to University of Wales was eventually Minaj as a [non] appearance fee.) deliver essential services. closed in 2011 when the British Qual- Marietha Aucamp – at the time, the Despite an investigation by the Jo- ity Assurance Agency found that it opposition DA’s Chief Whip in coun- hannesburg council having found no had not run the necessary checks and cil, and now chief of staff for Mayor evidence of corruption, in 2012 the balances at the colleges whose cours- Solly Msimanga – was quoted in the municipality asked the Public Pro- es it validated. Pretoria News saying: “We hold mayor tector to investigate. It is not clear South African Qualifications Au- Ramokgopa and his friends – Ngobeni whether that happened but by then thority CEO Joe Samuels says the and Kwele – accountable for all losses Kwele and Ngobeni had already de- University of Wales (Prifysgol Cymru) incurred on account of the gross mis- parted from Johannesburg to Pretoria is listed on the local database of rec- management of the festival. The three to fill the two most senior positions in ognised institutions, but no local in- should not hold the positions they do.” the then ANC-run Tshwane Metro, stitution is listed as an affiliate of the The DA claimed the trio messed with Kwele as deputy city manager. university. up in Tshwane – as they had done in With this history of mismanage- A special sitting of the Tshwane Johannesburg where they organised ment of public funds in mind, the DA Council was convened to announce the 2008 and 2009 Miss World beauty opposition brought a PAIA applica- the appointment of the new city pageants that cost the city as much as tion, asking the (then-still-ANC-con- manager. Instead, Mayor Solly Msi- R120m to stage. trolled) Tshwane administration for manga asked for a 60-day extension As then-chief executive of the Jo- all documents that show compliance of Kwele’s appointment as acting city hannesburg Tourism Company (JTC), with the Municipal Finance Manage- manager. Kwele entered into a contract to host ment Act, the Municipal Systems Act He requested more time to nomi- the pageants but the cash-strapped and the city’s by-laws with regards nate the best possible candidate, say- Johannesburg Metro finally ended up to the Dinokeng Festival. The city re- ing that the council was “duty-bound having to foot the bill, as its tourism fused, claiming the information was to satisfy ourselves beyond a shadow company was insolvent. Credit rating sub-judice as court action and arbitra- of a doubt that all candidates, their agency, Moody’s had just downgraded tion were underway. CVs, interviews, and experience are Johannesburg’s long-term credit rat- The DA’s PAIA application also re- properly interrogated and consid- ing as a result of its deteriorating li- quested details of Kwele’s academic ered.” quidity position, forcing the city to cut qualifications, which the party obvi- Watch this space. – Susan Puren n

NOSEWEEK January 2017 9 Bay of drugs,xxxxxxx death and double dealers

Diego Guarte Dougherty Novella

South Africa’s priciest real estate, along Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard, is a magnet for celebrities and foreign holidaymakers – and all manner of crooks, creeps and miscreants

HE FLASH SUBURBS OF CAPE TOWN’S who have no doubt chosen to live there scion of Guatemala’s spectacularly Atlantic Seaboard – Camps Bay, for the sea views and delightful coffee wealthy Dougherty Novella cement Clifton and Bantry Bay – are shops. dynasty, wandering on Camps Bay regularly described as the most But just as often the headlines are beach, half-naked and in an appar- expensive real estate in South about the killers, money launderers, ently drug-crazed state. They politely Africa.T True or not, they certainly at- spies and sex fiends (by way of speak- insisted on having a look around his tract the sort of people about whom ing) who find it an agreeable hideout. nearby luxury hotel room, where, in there is invariably a story to tell. This is Noseweek and those are the addition to half a kilogram of pure co- Who hasn’t read news stories about ones this story is about – with the caine, they came upon evidence of the SA’s richest man, Pepkor magnate focus on one of the less well-known, horrific sexual assault and murder Christo Wiese, celebrity divorce attor- more recent arrivals (and departures). of his handicapped but conveniently ney Billy Gundelfinger, or internation- In 2015 the headlines announced wealthy American girlfriend, Gabriela al stars like Annie Lennox and Ruby that police had found Diego Guarte Kabrins Alban. He had come to South Wax? They are all respectable people Dougherty Novella, the disowned Africa to be treated at a local “alterna-

10 tive” rehab centre (see box). Dougherty Novella was refused bail – first by a magistrate, then by a judge – and his trial on murder and drug charges is due to start early this year. Only a month before the Kabrins Alban murder, German businessman Francis Schnetzler had finally man- aged to sell his Camps Bay mansion Enigma House and moved to the more discreet surrounds of a Span- ish island. Enigma House, bought as a love nest for Schnetzler and his “adult movie” actress wife Veronika Zemerova, was decorated with lash- ings of gilt and marble, the better to offset the nude paintings and murals of Veronika that adorned almost eve- ry wall. And just when one thought that Camps Bay was getting a little bor- ing, with Dougherty Novella behind Camps Bay bars and the Schnetzler family gone to other climes, Noseweek’s atten- tion was drawn to a young German Schultz may well have been intro- Camps Bay for years. He was even- businessman and his heavily tattooed duced to Camps Bay as a safe and tually arrested in Paris in July 2004 wife who had moved into the Lobster cosy hideout by one of those politi- and after a trial that lasted nearly six House, once a boutique hotel that cians: former German Defence Sec- years, was jailed for five years. belonged to the now notorious Louis retary Ludwig-Holger Pfahls, who for At Pfahls’s trial it was established Group (whose Christian founders, it a time was number one on that coun- that he and other senior German of- has been said, always kept the Sab- try’s most wanted list. Pfahls himself ficials had taken tens of millions of bath sacred – yet felt bound by only is rumoured to have hidden out in euros in bribes to approve the sale of eight of the ten commandments). a former East German refinery to Elf. It transpires that the Lobster Pfahls and his friend Dieter Holzer, House’s new occupants, Oliver and once head of Germany’s domestic in- Cathrin Schulz, in addition to facing telligence agency, were also linked to racketeering charges in the United alleged bribery by Saudi Arabia. Ger- States, may well hold the key to man prosecutors believe the Saudis Germany’s greatest unsolved white- “donated” millions to the then gov- collar crime. Several investigators erning Christian Democratic Party appear to be convinced, for all sorts of which Pfahls was a senior member. of reasons, that the Schulzes can help Most of the Saudi donations however them in their quest to discover what allegedly “went astray” finding their happened to the vast sums – equal way into private bank accounts be- to billions of rands – in bribe money longing to senior politicians. paid a decade-or-two ago to German Pfahls’s friend and co-accused, spy- officials and politicians by the French master Holzer got three-and-a-half oil giant Elf. years in jail for his part in the Elf Because of their close ties to the scandal. former head of Germany’s domestic Bringing the story closer to home, intelligence service – and through in 2011 the Mail & Guardian re- him to many influential German ported that Holzer had used Sandy politicians – the Schulz couple would Evans – a former Director General of be prime targets for closer scrutiny South Africa’s Department of Foreign by banks if President Jacob Zuma Affairs during the apartheid years ever gets around to signing into law – to help conceal the ownership of a the proposed new FICA regulations. palatial villa bought in France with These will compel banks to pay great- the bribe money paid by Elf. (The fact er attention to the accounts of “politi- Madonna on the rocks: that the French oil company was one cally exposed persons (PEPs)”. Veronika Zemerova of the apartheid regime’s most prolific

NOSEWEEK January 2017 11 that legal papers be served on Schulz personally. His former business part- ners have simply not been able to pin him down to any address more specific than “somewhere in Myan- mar”. (These days his appearances in Camps Bay are rare and erratic.) In America, where they took refuge for a while, Schulz, his wife and his business partner Dan Ryan are facing both civil litigation and criminal in- vestigation. Next, the Schulzes moved Ludwig-Holger Pfahls after being sentenced to South Africa, where they set up a vast, highly suspect business empire that appears to exist only on paper – suppliers of embargoed oil might ex- or, rather, on the internet. plain the connection.) Schulz currently owns more than Evans signed papers to say he had 100 websites registered to addresses bought the property for a little under Investigators believe in Europe, the US and even one in 6 million francs but, in reality, Pfahls Medelin, Columbia. Most of the sites had retained ownership, with spy advertise his skills and ability as a friend Holzer paying the rates and Holzer, (the one-time financial genius – and invite people taxes on the property through a Bei- to contact him about investing in cell- rut-registered company. German domestic phone towers and other infrastructure Very little of the bribe money that projects. One of these websites, Affla- Pfahls and Holzer are alleged to have tus Capital Managers, offers “possi- swindled and embezzled – to the cost of intelligence boss) has ble” rates of return of 17% per year. the German taxpayer – has ever been That is very neatly in the same range recovered. Conservative estimates put of the 15-20% return that infamous the total amounts spent by Elf Aqui- a very good idea where US fraudster and a former stockbro- tane on bribery and corruption at over ker Bernie Madoff promised investors. R2 billion – at 1990’s exchange rates. the Pfahls bribe Like all his websites, Afflatus Capi- Wherever the looted cash is, by now tal Managers does not list any physi- it has likely generated an equal sum cal addresses or telephone numbers. again in interest. is hidden Instead customers are asked to com- Which brings us back to Camps municate by email. The website goes Bay’s most recent “politically exposed” on to say: “The investment vehicle is arrival from Germany. going to own and operate a mobile Because investigators believe Holz- explaining away should he deposit it phone tower portfolio across Africa er, (the one-time German domestic in a bank. and Middle East with focus on seven intelligence boss) has “a very good But when the bigwigs of Berlin At- idea” where the Pfahls’s bribe money lantic Capital realised who Holzer is hidden, they have been studiously was, they took fright and turned Holz- researching all his past friends and er away – only to discover that it’s not connections. Following their trail, always a good idea to upset the crimi- Noseweek has learned that Camps nally well-connected. According to re- Bay’s more recent arrival, Oliver ports, Schulz immediately warned his Schulz, had introduced ex-spymaster employers that turning Holzer away Holzer as a potential investor to his was “stupid, short-sighted… and to be (Schulz’s) former employers – a Ger- regretted”. He was about to make sure man investment operation called Ber- that they did regret it. lin Atlantic Capital. It was an intro- Muenster-born, former Berlin resi- duction they would come to regret. dent Schulz is not currently on any Schulz introduced Holzer as a list of wanted suspects. But he does family friend whose grandchildren have business operations on four con- attended the same school as the tinents and is facing allegations of Schulz kids. Fair enough. He went on fraud, racketeering and general dis- to explain to the Berlin Atlantic direc- honesty in three of them. tors that his “old family friend” was Civil litigation against him in Ger- seeking to invest a large amount of many has (temporarily) ground to a Dieter Holzer money that he would have difficulty halt because German law requires

12 owns 85% of the Communications In- Clockwise from above: The Lobster frastructure Group (CIG). House, Cathrin Schulz and Oliver According to the court papers, Dan Schulz Ryan, the alleged accomplice of the Schulzes, was CEO, shareholder and a director of CIG. Schulz himself served countries including Nigeria, South Af- as president of CIG – from April Fool’s rica, and Namibia.” Day 2010 until 6 December 2010 – Evidence that Schulz has ever actu- and also as CEO of holding company ally erected a cell phone tower seems BAC during the same period. as elusive as his home address. There It is further stated that on 18 No- is no indication that his companies vember 2010, barely six months after have ever operated in South Africa, their appointment, Schulz and Ryan Nigeria or Namibia. secretly formed a company called At one stage Oliver Schulz was seen Communications Infrastructure Asset frequently in the coffee shops of Tam- Management Group. Nothing if not boerskloef, Gardens and Camps Bay. cheeky, the pair appointed themselves But while he hasn’t been spotted for as co-managing directors and then some time, his family has moved into used the business address of CIG, at the Lobster House – a property once Five Concourse Parkway, Suite 3100, called the Lobster House Hotel and Atlanta, Georgia, USA as the busi- which, following liquidation (and/or ness address for their new “mirror” business rescue, by arrangement with ers to view the property. company. The use of the CIG business Investec) of the Louis Group, has been In the US, litigation that began in address, and the choice of a very simi- on the market for R20 million. 2010 is set to come alive again – with lar company name (Communications Schulz originally offered to buy the Berlin Atlantic Capital having rein- Infrastructure Asset Management property and was allowed to move in stated the case they suspended when Group, which is remarkably similar pending his obtaining a bond from a Schulz undertook to return all the to Communications Infrastructure foreign bank. (Who did the due dili- company assets he had looted. Group) was almost certainly not ac- gence checks, one wonders – and what He has not done so. cidental. As CIG’s lawyers point out, did they find that pleased them?) Berlin Atlantic is also seeking a any reasonable person seeing the Since moving in nearly a year ago, criminal trial on racketeering charges. same business address and a similar Schulz has made no move to pay the Papers filed in the District Court of name would presume the asset trans- purchase price; but has been allowed the Northern District of Georgia, At- fers that followed were simple inter- to stay on, paying only occupational lanta Division, reveal that Schulz, his company transfers within the BAC rent. The Lobster House is still tech- wife and his business partner Ryan group. nically for sale, but it is unlikely an- – as well as their various shell com- Then, being the sort of fellows who other buyer will be found, because the panies – are being sued by the Berlin work very quickly, only 12 days after new tenants don’t allow potential buy- Atlantic Capital Group (BAC) which registering their new company – and

NOSEWEEK January 2017 13 in their capacities as CEOs of CIG and The company agreed to withdraw Berlin Atlantic Capital respectively – their litigation, provided that Schulz the pair began to sign over real estate return everything and retract his ear- from BAC and CIG respectively to lier statements made to the US courts their newly created company and oth- in which he had denied ever having er shell companies they had created. Ryan, perhaps the stolen anything. As part of the set- They were effectively stealing Berlin tlement deal Schulz and his alleged Atlantic Capital’s assets. accomplices also signed back the real The plaintiffs go on to allege that cheekier of the two, estate they had transferred to them- the pair “used interstate wire and selves. But before all the cash could mail communications to represent to be returned, Schulz and family once lawyers in New York and Maryland also paid himself again took to the skies – this time that they had the authority to execute making for the bright lights of Cape these transactions and to direct these around US$100,000 Town. Their offer to return all the sto- lawyers to prepare the transfer docu- len BAC assets seems simply to have ments”. The use of “interstate wire been a ploy to buy time. and mail” makes their offences a pos- in ‘performance The real estate, and some other as- sible federal offence. Bring in the FBI! sets, were eventually recovered by Over and above the 30-odd proper- BAC – but when the Schulzes ab- ties that the pair transferred into the bonuses’ from CIG’s sconded a second time, they took a name of their new company, they pro- load of confidential company infor- ceeded to transfer US$4.8 million into bank accounts mation with them – in addition to a the business account of their newly not-insignificant amount of cash. BAC created company. Ryan, perhaps the immediately revived their litigation, cheekier of the two, also paid himself asking the courts to make findings around US$100,000 in “performance that Schulz, his wife Cathrin, and bonuses” from CIG’s bank accounts. partner Dan Ryan were all liable to When BAC and CIG became aware compensate BAC for their losses. of these transactions, Ryan and The court case brought by BAC also Schulz were asked to explain them- made criminal complaints against selves, whereupon Schulz is alleged to Ryan and Cathrin and Oliver Schulz have used a novel negotiating tool: he in terms of US racketeering laws. threatened that if his employers went Cathrin, the documents allege, “con- after him he would, in his capacity as spired in, conducted and/or participat- CEO of the holding company, file for ed directly or indirectly in the conduct bankruptcy on behalf of both BAC and of the alleged schemes to steal the CIG, causing immense damage to the assets of CIG and BAC through her company’s reputation. position as Schulz’s spouse and as the The ruse did not work and BAC im- owner or part-owner of shell entities mediately sacked the trio and then be- set up to further the scheme”. gan litigation against them. Subsequent German media reports Adding insult to injury, a check suggest Oliver was sacked from his of company credit card records con- previous job as CEO of a major Berlin- firmed that, not content with having based firm of funeral undertakers due embezzled millions from his employ- to some less-than-delicate behaviour. ers, Schulz had also used BAC’s credit Dan Ryan First off, he angered the sensibilities cards to book his escape flight to Ar- of many Germans by allegedly getting gentina. old age homes to hand over the corps- Court papers filed back in 2010 say: Schulz family, Dan Ryan and the vari- es of their recently dead to his ex- “On information and belief, Defend- ous shell companies that the trio had tremely expensive funeral home’s pri- ants Oliver and Cathrin Schulz have formed in order to steal the assets and vate mortuary without consulting the already fled, or are planning to flee capital of their employers. next-of-kin. As they say, possession is this jurisdiction, possibly destined Much to the surprise of everybody, nine-tenths of the law, and while his for Argentina, with their entire fam- Schulz and his family returned from funeral parlour may have charged ily… Defendants Oliver and Cathrin Argentina – and went back to his em- four-times as much as other establish- Schulz have airline tickets to Buenos ployers. As part of a settlement deal ments, the tactic of getting quick pos- Aires, Argentina, and are planning to he offered to return all the embezzled session of granny or granddad’s corpse leave the United States on Wednes- money, and even to return company invariably clinched the deal. day, December 15, 2010.” information which he had appropri- More alarmingly, the German media The plaintiffs asked the Geor- ated – including detailed lists of all also reported that Oliver Schulz was gia courts to freeze the assets of the BAC’s investors. plotting a takeover of the funeral par-

14 lour by a British investment company. His plan was to simply sell off the firm, using his signing powers as CEO, and A suitable case for treatment pocket a nice lump sum. BAC however could not have known of this damning HE COCAINE THAT WAS FOUND IN bit of history; embarrassed by the be- Diego Guarte Dougherty Novel- haviour of their past CEO, the funer- Tla’s hotel room – worth several al parlour simply sacked Schulz and million rand – was allegedly for his kept quiet rather than go after him in personal consumption. court. Dougherty had gone to Cape While he ran the funeral parlour, Town to undergo treatment for his the Schulz children attended the Ger- drug addiction. With his family rak- man International School in Berlin ing in around R5 billion a year from – which is also where the children of cement sales, he had decided to Dieter Holzer’s son, Nikolaus Holzer, treat his addictions with an obscure went to school. psychedelic substance called Taber- Here it is also worth noting that nanthe iboga – first recognised for Nikolaus is married to a Korean-born its medicinal properties by pygmy attorney by the name of Rosa Hong. tribes of Central Africa. The root’s There is solid proof in black and principal active compound is Ibo- white that the Holzer and the Schulz gaine or ibogaine hydrochloride. families were/are well acquainted. Iboga is outlawed or restricted in Corporate records show that Holzer Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Croatia, junior’s wife Hong advanced a con- France, Sweden, and Switzerland. siderable sum of money to Schulz in In the United States, iboga is clas- order for him to set up his global busi- sified by the Controlled Substances ness empire. Hong also has shared fi- Act on the list of schedule I drugs. nancial interests with Cathrin Schulz. There are iboga or ibogaine treat- After fleeing the US in late 2011, ment clinics in Mexico, Canada, the Schulz wasted little time in setting Netherlands, South Africa and New Simon Loxton up business in South Africa. In March Zealand, all operate in what is de- 2012, he registered a company called scribed as a “legal gray area”. ing that he is duly registered as a Sworn Asset Management South Af- Simon Loxton, the man who runs traditional healer with the neces- rica, with a business address of 5a Cape Town’s Iboga treatment facili- sary government departments – in Quarry Hill Drive, Tamboerskloof, an ty operates using a certificate show- Gabon. n upmarket residence close to the Ger- man International School. Schulz was the only director. Noseweek has found no evidence site by subscribers. Fortunately the that the company ever traded. By free-access Myanmar Infrastructure 2014 the company had been placed Ryan decided to focus Group website carries a complete ver- in provisional deregistration by the sion of the very flattering interview Companies and Intellectual Property for good reason: the Myanmar Infra- Commission (CIPC) for having failed on emerging markets structure Group website is owned by to submit annual financial returns. Oliver Schulz. But in August 2014 Thomas Raut- The TowerXchange interview makes man of the website TowerXchange – ones often to be for great entertainment if you know carried an interview with Dan Ryan the background. Rather than say – Oliver Schulz’s American right-hand found in places with he fled the US when litigation com- man. Like many internet websites menced, Ryan instead announces that TowerXchange probably gets most he decided to focus on “emerging mar- things right, but, just as probably, less than First World kets” – markets generally (and purely there isn’t a whole lot of fact-checking coincidentally) often to be found in done. The site describes itself as a “Me- places with less than First World law- dia platform for the tower industry” – law- enforcement enforcement capabilities, and with the tower industry being the people banking regulations that (until re- who set up and maintain the ubiqui- capabilities cently) allowed the Guptas to thrive. tous cell phone communications masts The interview reads: that blight the urban landscape. “TowerXchange: Please introduce The Rautman interview can only yourself Dan. How did you get into the be viewed on the TowerXchange web- tower business?

NOSEWEEK January 2017 15 “Dan Ryan, CEO, Square1 Infra- to any of the Directors or Controlling The interview goes on: structure: I’m a real estate infra- Shareholders of the Company.” “TowerXchange: Tell us about your structure attorney by training and Only a month after the joint venture business in South Africa. education. I have focused my career was announced, the Centre for Public “Dan Ryan, CEO, Square1 Infra- on infrastructure development as a Integrity labelled the Seychelles “a ha- structure: Our South African opera- developer and attorney since I entered ven for dirty money,” and described it tion has its roots in the co-location law school in 1992. as one of the world’s hotspots for mon- management business. We trade as “With the 1996 Telecom Act I en- ey laundering. Square1 Infrastructure Ltd in South tered the booming US wireless indus- Being (very) minor shareholders in Africa, where we were formerly known try, working initially for a network de- the joint venture company makes it as SWORN South Africa Asset Man- ployment firm which my partner and rather odd that Oliver Schulz himself agement. I later acquired through an MBO. At controls the Myanmar Infrastructure “We manage rooftops, risers and our peak, we were rolling out 1,000 Group website using a German reg- ground for landlords while also pro- sites a year across the Eastern sea- istered website www.mig-infrastruc- viding audit services. We were fortu- board. I became aware of the low bar- ture.de. What makes it even stranger, nate enough to secure [the services of] riers to a service business and decided is that Singapore Myanmar Investco – Brian Hosking from JHI, the largest to enter into asset ownership, and sub- the majority partner in the joint ven- property management company in sequently started a small tower com- ture company – registered their own South Africa. Brian has done a great pany in the US. website www.mig-infrastructure.com job securing several hundred roof- “With tower owners increasingly in March 2014. top locations, primarily Class A office disposing of assets through brokered The website set up by the German space in key areas of South Africa’s auctions, it has become increasingly majority partners appears to be dor- major cities, and we’re marketing difficult to acquire a portfolio of any mant, so anyone seeking to contact the those rooftop sites now.” size in the US in competition with the company would do so via the website Noseweek spent weeks calling publicly listed towercos, so I started controlled by Schulz. around those who might know a thing focusing on emerging markets.” But that is mostly speculation. or two about telecommunications tow- In light of their American adven- Where things get serious is when ers – and nobody, not a soul, had ever tures it’s also interesting to note that Schulz and Ryan start twisting the heard of Sworn Asset Managers. Nor, Ryan and Schulz have come to use the truth and making false claims about for that matter, had the company ever name Myanmar Infrastructure Group their business track record. registered with the South African – a title remarkably similar to the Revenue Services or the Department Myanmar Investment Commission of Labour. (MIC), which is the government body A phone call to Brian Hosking land- that oversees foreign investments – ed some interesting news: “Yes, I met and the Myanmar Investment Group, with Dan Ryan and Oliver, but the a private hedge fund registered in the company that Schulz formed in South Cayman Islands. Only a month after Africa never traded. Not only was I According to the company website, never a director of the company, it MIG is 97% owned by Singapore My- never traded. anmar Investco Limited, with the re- the joint venture “As far as I know, the only thing maining 3% owned by Ryan and Schulz that happened was that the company through a company called Golden In- was announced, the was registered at CIPRO [now CIPC]. frastructure Group. The partnership Nothing else. They certainly don’t between Golden Infrastructure Group have bank accounts.” and Singapore Myanmar Investco was Centre for Public Shown the TowerXchange interview, formally signed in May 2014. Hosking appeared visibly shaken and How much do the shareholders of shocked. “That has to be changed. I Singapore Myanmar Investco know Integrity labelled the don’t know how to get hold of Schulz about their minority business part- and Ryan, but that has to be taken ner? Seychelles a haven for down.” In the circular put out to the Sin- Hosking then spent weeks trying gapore Stock Exchange by Singapore to have the claims removed from the Myanmar Investco, readers are only dirty money company website without success. told that: “GIG is a company incorpo- Repeated emails to Schulz by rated in Seychelles and provides ser- Noseweek have been ignored. vices relating to the overall manage- If you have a few million to invest ment of resources, processes, skills in a cell phone company that exists and expertise to facilitate the execu- only on paper, give us a call. We won’t tion of the building of communication pass you on to Schulz, but we do have towers in Myanmar. The controlling one or two suggestions where else you shareholders of GIG are not related could send your cash. n

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Your Rules Break Them Noseweek advert DEC16.indd 1 2016/12/12 7:43 AM This Kandy ain’t sweet

Confectionary franchise leaves bad taste. By Jack Lundin

RESIDENT NELSON MANDELA’S ported that SAPS crime detectives in name is being invoked to lure Cape Town were investigating com- investors into producing a sug- plaints from 340 of Pieter van der ar sweet known as the Madiba Watt’s dissatisfied Kandyland fran- Lolly. This revelation comes as chise licensees. Back then Noseweek PravinP Gordhan prepares to launch his confirmed 85 of those complaints controversial sugar tax on soft drinks and were checking out 115 more who in the April budget, aimed at reducing claimed to have lost between R60,000 the nation’s sugar intake to combat the and R450,000 apiece. soaring incidence of diabetes and obe- sity among the young. Each Madiba Lolly contains 17.5g (4.4 teaspoons) of sugar. The recom- mended maximum daily sugar intake is 15g, though South Africa’s children – 20% of whom are now obese or over- weight – frequently pack in as much as 50-100g (12.5-25 teaspoons). A can of Coca-Cola, for example, contains 35g (8.75tsp) of the sweet poison. Pieter van der Watt’s ARDT200 Trading CC (trading as Kandyland) and his Candy Factory Franchise shamelessly exploit the name of the world’s best-loved icon. “I’m sharing my formula of success with a few se- lected individuals and you can help meet the enormous demand for my Rainbow Lolly, known to all children as the Madiba Lolly!” goes the fran- chise maverick’s spiel on his website. For just R490,000, a Kandyland sat- ellite factory could knock out 41,600 Still going strong: Pieter Madiba Lollies a day and yield a van der Watt (above) and monthly income of R252,720. “We re- as he was depicted on the quire a factory in each region to supply cover of Noseweek exactly the demand and it is my great pleas- ten years ago ure to inform you that we are ready to up and roll…” It’s all déjà vu and tediously famil- iar. Back in January 2007 nose87 re-

18 Two of the complainants had sepa- rately bought Kandyland Factory franchises – then priced at R450,000 – in Durban and Johannesburg and re- ceived assurances from Van der Watt that his licensed distributors would buy their sweets. However, once their factories were up and running they discovered that most of the distributor franchise holders were trying to pull out of their contracts. Both investors were stuck with mounting stocks they could not sell. In June, Van der Watt’s internet sales pitch attracted an enthusiastic response from two investors in Boks- burg: Hilton van Deventer and Johann Venter, long-time friends who were looking for “something that would give us an income” to bolster their planned early retirements from international construction. Van Deventer and Venter were una- ware of Kandyland’s bleak history. They made contact with Pieter van der Watt, who told them that the price of a factory franchise was no longer R490,000. “He kept bumping the price up, but even at R750,000 it still looked good on the figures he gave us, still a reasonable return on investment,” The Van Deventer and Venter sweet factory says Van Deventer, an old Middle East hand of 59, whose career closer to home included executive director of to make each sugar-coated Madiba of them languish unsold in the Boks- construction at the R6 billion Legend Lolly. The idea was that they were burg factory unit, now closed, with its Golf and Safari Resort in Limpopo. then bagged and sold to wholesalers 18 workers jobless and the landlord “We should have been more awake, at 54 cents apiece, on which Van der threatening legal action for unpaid but it just sounded so good,” says his Watt would collect royalties of 7.5%. rent. investment partner Johann Venter, Retail stores would sell the lollies to This story echoed events described 58. Married with grown-up children, young consumers at 64-80 cents. 10 years ago in nose87: “Pieter van Venter worked with Van Deventer as In its five weeks of operational life der Watt told us we’d get our product project manager at the Legend resort Candy Mojo produced 378,000 Madi- moved into the market quickly,” says and the two globe-trotted for years on ba Lollies. Today more than 340,000 Van Deventer. major construction projects in Iraq, “He said there was huge demand. Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Kandyland would purchase one third Venter and Van Deventer handed In its five weeks of of production and there was an exist- over R700,000 of the franchise fee, ing wholesale/retail network in place holding back R50,000 until claimed for purchasing and distribution of the outstanding equipment was delivered. operational life Candy products. But that never materialised. Their newly-formed Candy Mojo com- He took 20,000 lollies, which he never pany took a one-year lease on a 350m2 Mojo produced 378,000 paid for. He just said that sales and unit at Turf Industrial Park in Boks- marketing was our responsibility.” burg for R20,000/month, hired 18 Madiba Lollies. More In vain they appealed to Van der workers (at R10.50/hour apiece) and Watt for a list of Kandyland’s whole- in August began production of 16 dif- than 340,000 of them salers and branches. ferent flavours of the Madiba Lolly. “Due to lack of support by Pieter van The process involved boiling 6.25kg of der Watt in moving the product, Can- sugar and 3kg of glucose in water to languish unsold in the dy Mojo had no option but to shut the roll out 520 lollies every seven-and-a- factory, due to the lack of sales which half minutes. Boksburg factory unit impacted cash flow and the ability to The pair say it cost around 30 cents operate the franchise,” says Van De-

NOSEWEEK January 2017 19 venter in an affidavit. Pieter van der Watt replies: “The “He said he had so many wholesal- information given to you by Johann ers on his books we wouldn’t even Venter is not correct. What they fail to keep up with production,” says Jo- Now aware of the torrid mention is that they refused to supply hann Venter. “But we had to do cold us with any of the orders we placed, selling. One guy took a bit on consign- nor have they taken the offers we sent ment, the others said ‘No, they knew tale, Venter and Van them from a wholesaler who was go- the product’ and that ‘it wasn’t a good ing to clear the lines. one’. It was too expensive. We had to Deventer confronted “They are pretending to be victim- close the factory.” ised, yet it is they who approached In nose87 our “Sweet Sorrow” cover Van der Watt. The Candy me as they wanted to open a factory. story and its accompanying profile I told them that we do not have the titled “The baby-faced Candy Man,” Man assured them it need for a second factory. They con- revealed how Pieter van der Watt once vinced me that they have all the con- claimed to be a top anti-fraud police tacts and that Hilton’s son was in the detective (he wasn’t). In the 1990s was a ‘false article, a industry and knew all the wholesal- he registered a company that adver- ers; that they did their investigation tised “designer” clothes and offered smear campaign that and research; and that they were very franchises for them. This attracted confident that they could sell all the a 1999 exposé in the Sunday Times: had no merit’ products. dozens of disgruntled franchise hold- “They were to supply me with stock, ers said they had been sent inferior, but apart from the first stock we re- bottom-of-the range garments instead ceived they never supplied any of our of a promised exclusive Tibaldi range house complex in Rietvalleirand, Pre- orders. The reason why we never paid by Stanza. Van der Watt accused the toria, while down in Cape Town, his for the initial stock is that it was to media of interfering with his income son Stanley manages the Candy Fac- be deducted off the R63,000 they still source. tory in Saxenburg Park 1, Blackheath. owe us.” By now, aware of this torrid tale, Our written questions to the Van der Watt did indeed place a sec- Venter and Van Deventer confronted 51-year-old Candy Man include: “Do ond order – for 150,000 lollies. But the Pieter van der Watt with the nose87 you consider that all this sugar and Candy Mojo partners believed this was revelations. The Candy Man assured glucose in your lollies is good for chil- merely a ruse to obtain the claimed them it was a “false article, a smear dren’s health?”; “How many factory outstanding R63,000. They told Van campaign that had no merit” and that franchises have you sold?”; “Messrs der Watt in October: “Until such time “the person behind it was proven to be Venter and Van Deventer say you as all the outstanding equipment is a vindictive liar and we were exoler- didn’t fulfil your promise to take one delivered to us and the invoice for the ated (sic)”. third of production initially and have 20,000 lollies already taken is paid for, These days Pieter van der Watt runs your distribution network help with we unfortunately will not agree to de- his Kandyland operation from a town- sales. Please comment.” liver your order.” As for the claimed R63,000, the partners say that Pieter van der Watt owes them R68,400, for the outstand- ing factory equipment and additional factory opening costs. l Kandyland’s Pieter van der Watt may be in hot water for punting his sugar-soaked product as having been “nicknamed by all children as The Madiba Lolly”. Heather Henriques, intellectual property and govern- ance manager at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, comments: “As custodi- ans of Mr Mandela’s names, sobri- quets and image, the Nelson Mandela Foundation does not license out these registered trademarks for commercial purposes. The Nelson Mandela Foun- dation does exercise its legal preroga- tive against transgressors and, having had this case brought to our attention, “I, too, hate being a greedy bastard, we will now seek to address the mat- but we have a responsibility to our shareholders ter appropriately.” n

20 Chronicle of a death foretold Political assassinations (Part 2) By Wessel Ebersohn

HERE ARE CURIOUS ASPECTS TO ALL THE POLITICAL assassinations recounted in the first part of this story in nose206, but none have as many peculiar features as the murder of Moss Phakoe, who was shot and killed in the driveway of his home in RustenburgT Noord in March 2009. The general election campaign of that year was in progress and Phakoe had spent much of the day putting up ANC posters. The afternoon was hot, as Rustenburg afternoons often are, and he would have been tired and sweaty. It seems likely that he did not notice the killers making their way down his driveway or, if he did, thought nothing of it. What is certain is that he had not moved from his seat behind the steer- ing wheel by the time the first shot was fired. When his family found him, Moss’s body was leaning, lifeless, against the steering wheel. He had wounds in his head and chest. “It all started with service-delivery protests,” recalls his lifelong friend and fellow unionist Solly Phetoe. During the election campaign almost every municipal- ity in North West suffered service delivery protests. So serious were the disruptions that the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the late Sicelo Shiceka, had established a task team to in- vestigate the reasons. Many people were interviewed, among them, Phakoe, who was a councillor in Rusten- burg municipality at the time. “Moss had a premonition of approaching death,” says Phetoe. “He had compiled a dossier on the corruption in Rustenburg municipality which was affecting ser- vice delivery negatively. He presented it to the minis- ter in person. ‘I’m giving you this report,’ he said. ‘It’s my last copy. This is my life. I may be killed for this’.” It was not just talk. Phakoe had received a list of the names of party members, including his own, under an ANC letterhead. It was titled “hit list/anarchists”. He handed the minister his report on a Wednesday. Three days later, on Saturday, he was murdered.

NOSEWEEK January 2017 Minister Shiceka spoke at the fu- neral and relayed Phakoe’s fears to the mourners. At about the same time, Premier Edna Molewa’s cars were fired on while she was travelling on the N4 to Rustenburg. In that in- cident, the would-be assassins aimed badly and no one was wounded. Years of investigations and court appearances commenced. The first team appointed to investigate Moss’s and two others were arrested. In due murder told Phetoe at the funeral course, Wolmarans and Matshaba that they were 90% ready to make were found guilty in the high court an arrest. That soon shrank to zero. and the others released. Wolmarans The investigating team never located was sentenced to 20 years for instigat- the list, never arrested anyone and, ing the murder, and Matshaba to life according to them, never got close to for executing it. They eventually took finding the killers. the case to the Supreme Court of Ap- Phetoe, Phakoe’s family, and other peal where they were released on bail heard on the radio that Wolmarans friends in the union suspected that the of R100,000. and his bodyguard had been acquitted investigating team had been bribed or “While all this was going on I was on the basis of serious weaknesses in intimidated or both. “Moss could not being treated like a traitor,” says Phe- the state’s case. “On that day the ANC have been killed by a ghost,” he says. toe. “My family, too, was treated very branches in Rustenburg threw par- So they took to the streets, demand- badly. I heard that people were being ties. Were they celebrating the killing ing a new investigation, and got it. In sent to assassinate me. I was followed, of Moss Phakoe? I wondered. Since the new team was investigating officer my family was continually harassed, then, Wolmarans has been treated like Lieutenant-Colonel Tsietsi Mano, who and my life threatened on the phone a hero in the North West.” had achieved a degree of fame by ar- many times. Cosatu gave me two bod- Wolmarans and Matshaba had been resting Eugène Terre’Blanche’s kill- yguards who stayed with me for two found guilty largely because of the ers. years. Their presence may be the rea- testimony of an inmate named Emma- Before long the new team – like the son I am still alive today.” nuel Masoka who shared a cell with original one – announced they were Then the day came when Phetoe Wolmarans. Masoka claimed Wolma- making a breakthrough. During the rans had confessed to him. At the ap- investigation Solly Phetoe took Mano peal, he recanted his testimony, saying to Moss’s mother. “But I am not going the police had bribed him with money to arrest someone to satisfy you and and the promise of early parole. The the mother,” he said after the meeting. judges found that his testimony at the Again – like the first time – no one original trial could not be corroborat- was arrested. Then the case took a Friends in the ed and that the state witnesses were surreal turn when Mano himself was not credible. arrested and suspended for assaulting union suspected Still not satisfied, in October 2013 an unrelated suspect. Not long after Phetoe and other unionists led a that, he died. Minister Shiceka, too, march to the municipality demanding was disgraced for breaching the min- that the two reports: the one that Phakoe had isterial ethics code and he, too, died in compiled and the Special Investigat- 2012. ing Unit (SIU) report on the case. The Phetoe, supported by Cosatu and investigating memorandum was accepted by former friends, demanded – and was granted premier Thandi Modise and deputy – a third investigating team. This time team had minister of local government Yunis the authorities seemed to be serious. Carrim. A promise was made that The new team was made up of offic- these reports would be made avail- ers from North West, Free State, East- been bribed or able, but they never were. ern Cape and Northern Cape. Appar- Phetoe is angry and disappointed. ently, the thinking was that this team, “I don’t know who killed Moss, but I drawn largely from other provinces, intimidated, know he is still free. I don’t know if would not be so easily influenced by Wolmarans is guilty, but I know Moss pressures emanating from corrupt or both believed his report implicated him and leaders in the North West. many of his friends in corruption. And Soon, there was a break in the case. I feel that the police and the National Mayor of Rustenburg Matthew Wolma- Prosecuting Authority have not done rans, his bodyguard Enoch Matshaba, their jobs properly.”

22 OLITICAL KILLINGS ARE NOT NEW night so many years before – often to South Africa. The cur- when the perpetrators were drunk, rent wave of assassinations and with the landscape and vegeta- continues a tradition that tion changing over the years – re- reached a peak in the 1980s mains are not easy to find, even by whenP activists died in police deten- those who buried the bodies. tion, were killed while being arrest- Some bodies simply cannot be re- ed, and were abducted off the streets. covered. Some had been burned, one Activists themselves killed members was even blown up with dynamite. of opposing groups. The ashes of three Eastern Cape The job faced by the Missing Per- activists had been thrown into the Matshaba, the bodyguard, has since sons Task Team, a division of the Na- Fish River after their bodies were been given the job of guarding the tional Prosecuting Authority, is for- burned. In a number of cases, the Mayor of Rustenburg and Wolmarans midable. In the three years of their killers themselves have since died. is a Provincial Executive of the ANC. existence the remains of 102 people A small group of activists from “Justice has not been done,” says have been uncovered. Madeleine Piet Retief was given a pauper’s Phetoe. “Under apartheid there were Fullard, head of the Task Team, es- burial in wet soil where the flow of police hit squads. They were very cru- timates that they are searching for water had eroded their remains. el, but now we are being killed by our another 500, but knows that most Families, parents especially, need comrades. I will not sleep until I find will never be found. She hopes to closure. Awful though the truth may out who killed Moss. When my mother find at least 100 more. be, it is far better than not knowing died in 2011, she said, ‘Solly, take care Fullard, by profession a historian, at all. What seemed to be a good lead of yourself. These people are going to worked as a researcher for the Truth for a missing activist named Sizwe kill you too’.” and Reconciliation Commission be- Kondile who disappeared from Ma- The Moss Phakoe case is unusually tween 1996 and 1998. It was the seru in 1981, turned out to be use- curious for a number of reasons: TRC that, after hearing testimony less because fires had swept the l The first two investigating teams relating to abductions and disap- area, radically altering the land- fell apart, seemingly either out of fear pearances, decided the government scape. Nothing was recovered, but or because they were bribed. should try to trace those who went his parents were relieved to find the l According to the findings of the missing during apartheid’s closing site. They took home his spirit and Supreme Court of Appeal, evidence years. Their work commenced in held a memorial service. given to the third team must have early 2005 and by March that year Kondile was being mentored by been perjured, but no one has ever the remains of the first ten people Chris Hani and his comrades were been charged with perjury. If a deal had been exhumed. Vusi Pikoli, Ngoako Ramatlhodi and was made that, if he recanted he would The trail is rarely easy to follow. It Tito Mboweni. Yet, today, few know not be charged with perjury, then the is a detective story with clues that his name or remember his story. question of who was paying the deal- are 30 years old. Even if a killer “Our work is not always easy,” maker arises. confessed at the TRC, finding the says Fullard, “but I can see that we l The hit list was never part of the victim’s remains could be difficult. are having an impact on the lives of evidence, but Solly Phetoe will testify Burials that had taken place late at people and I’m grateful for that.” n to having seen it, with Moss Phakoe’s name at the top and his (Phetoe’s) name next. l The question has to be asked: why l Where is Moss Phakoe’s report to- are about having access to the public was it that those Phetoe considered to day? purse. And this makes rational sense be comrades treated him and his fam- l Where is the Special Investigating to the killers, but only because of ily so badly, when all they were doing Unit report that was promised by the the high levels of corruption at local was trying to uncover the truth. deputy minister of local government? government level. Only because it l As for Wolmarans, if he is truly l Does either report hold clues that is possible to manipulate the public guiltless, he has suffered terribly. But may identify those responsible for purse to an extreme degree is it worth- Moss Phakoe believed that his report Phakoe’s death? while to kill someone for access to it. provided evidence that Wolmarans So far, the killer and his princi- Remove the corruption and the reason had reason to want him silenced. pals are still free. Political killings for the killings will disappear. n

NOSEWEEK January 2017 23 ABZ is not The Way

SA must tread softly to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Mbeki/Zuma presidential succession. By Sue Barkly

HE BIGGEST MISTAKE SOUTH AFRICA Institute for Strategic Reflection, has party which has 60% of the vote. Com- can make now is to adopt an become a familiar voice as an analyst pare this with a few years ago when it ABZ – “Anyone But Z uma” – at- – particularly in the broadcast media. was a really arrogant party…. which titude to the ANC succession de- The institute prides itself on taking a would not tolerate dissent, which la- bate. If we do that, we will make “long-term view on the strategic chal- belled people. theT same mistake the ANC made when lenges facing South Africa”. “Now that this thing is collapsing they got rid of former president Thabo Mathekga, says fellow commentator on them, they are actually tapping Mbeki, says Ralph Mathekga, politi- Justice Malala, is fast becoming one of outside the ANC. Could you ever have cal analyst and author of the recently South Africa’s most respected political imagined this party actually using the published book When Zuma Goes. analysts, “because, he is obsessed with phrase ‘motion of no confidence’ inter- “With Mbeki, there was the feel- the future”. nally? There is a real shift towards ing we should have ABM – “Anything Previously a policy researcher for compromise… they are trying to bring But Mbeki”. But that kind of think- thenow-defunct Institute for Democ- in a conversation at a higher level and ing does not provide the opportunity racy in South Africa (Idasa) and a that is so good for the country. to actually evaluate the next leader,” senior policy analyst for the Treas- “What we are seeing is a real open- Mathekga said in an interview with ury, Mathekga brings a compelling ing up of the space, an acknowledge- Noseweek. perspective, sometimes tinged with ment that knowledge does not only “We can’t just focus on getting out of a gentle humour, on South African reside in the ANC,” said Mathekga. the crisis of the current leader, with- politics. “My fear is that, if the ANC coheres out asking searching questions about The title of the book, When Zuma now, the first thing they might want to the next one. Goes, prompted News24 editor and do is close up this space. They are not “Look at how Cosatu and the SACP author of Zuma Exposed, Adriaan used to accepting criticism, so if they are supporting Cyril Ramaphosa as Basson, to cut right to the chase at cohere, they might want to close that the next leader… when I ask them to a recent launch of the book in Cape space. elaborate on why, it is more like they Town. “South Africans must ensure this just want somebody who is not prone “So, can you give us the date, time debate is controlled not by the ANC to scandals,” said Mathekga. and Zuma’s successor’s name,” asked but by civil society and critical think- “We should not just get a leader be- Basson. To which Mathekga replied: “I ers.” cause he or she is not scandalous, just am sorry… I actually overheard some- In fact, says Mathekga, his fear is because he is not Zuma. The bar is set one close to Thabo Mbeki say he fears that the country’s quest for stability so low that if we go with ABZ, we’ll JZ might seek a third term in the ANC might end up with the hasty instal- not be pulled out of our socio-economic and can actually win it...” lation of a benign dictator – “someone crisis. Mathekga, a man who “loves a cri- who is less corrupt than the current “Today, more than ever, we need sis”, believes it is only then that real president but doesn’t provide that someone creative, someone who will opportunities for realignment can open space. focus on getting rid of the 30% unem- come about. “When Julius Malema becomes the ployment, who will make decisions “The ANC is, as we all know, in cri- moral basis of leadership in society with passion and who will plead for sis… and this is the first time I have … then I am worried about how peo- support of those decisions in the pub- seen the organisation so democratic. ple reflect on this crisis. Dictatorship lic domain.” We have never seen them so open to emerges after a socio-economic crisis Mathekga, who is the head of Po- ideas. I have never seen such a level in society where people find them- litical Economy for the Mapungubwe of tolerance among members of the selves displaced. Benign dictators like

24 (Rwandan leader) Paul Kagame are stand what will happen when Zuma what I fear most. They are intolerant, goes, it is important to start from the they want to control the public narra- point of view that he is a product of tive and, in essence they don’t ensure South African society. One way or the survival of democracy. But the another, South Africa has to account democratic commitment is of as much for how Zuma emerged from within value as delivery of services. the ANC and from within our society. “Our nation should not tolerate any This exercise is a necessary step in kind of benign dictator.” attempting to understand what will Mathekga has, in recent times, said happen when Zuma goes. The problem South Africa can in fact say a big might not be Zuma himself. The prob- thank you to Zuma, for “getting us to this crisis earlier than many other Af- rican countries did. “It usually takes about 30 years for a founding party or liberation move- ment to start falling out. In Kenya, it took about 50 years. By the time the ruling party lost power in 2012, they had forgotten that government offices are not party offices. In South Africa we have got there quickly. We have already reached a healthy sense of doubt about the intentions of lead- ership. We have an interesting prec- edent around the powers of the Public Protector. We have achieved so much in a short space of time – and these de- velopments have come about through conflict, much of which was orches- trated by Jacob Zuma.” In the book, Mathekga aims to avoid lem might be the common sense of the simplifying Jacob Zuma. “I want to un- nation that trusted him to lead. The derstand the logic of his methods and question is, can the nation be trusted how that logic is reflected in the ANC not to repeat the same mistake?” Ralph Mathekga and in society. There’s a sense that the Mathekga believes the key to how ANC would prefer to move away from Zuma made it to the ANC presiden- the Zuma years, to write off its losses cy and then became president of the following his axing as deputy presi- and completely extricate itself from country lies in understanding the leg- dent, one would have been forgiven for the man. But this will not explain how acy of Mbeki and in the ongoing evo- thinking that this was the beginning, the party produced Zuma and what lution of the ANC as a political party. not the end of the Zuma problem. his impact has been on the party.” “If we look closely at Mbeki’s admin- “Many South Africans believed this Mathekga also takes pains to stress istration style, particularly the way was the end of Zuma’s political career, that if Zuma did not exist, the popu- in which the state started to relate but his personal troubles distracted lace would have invented him. “The to citizens and political parties, it be- everyone’s attention from the political fact that he took the space doesn’t comes clear that a gap was created be- circumstances that reigned within the mean he invented it. He is the one tween the party and the institutions ANC and the country at that time. who saw the space and took it. People of government and this gap conveni- “My argument was that the ANC saw Mbeki as inaccessible. Zuma was ently accommodated the emerging was shifting towards a populist di- a man of the people, who was accessi- Jacob Zuma cult. Zuma was packaged rection and the country, at the time, ble. I also believe that South Africans as an alternative to Mbeki; however was willing to embrace such a shift… were finding it difficult to relate to the a closer look suggests that Zuma ac- this was in my view a moment when institutions of democracy. We had de- tually represents a particular way in the party was searching for a political mocracy from 1994… but some people which citizens are trying to relate to figurehead with whom people could had genuine concerns that the system the people in power. And it is the an- identify, someone who represented a was unresponsive.” tithesis of Mbeki’s approach. The idea leadership style different from that of “Perhaps Zuma is a necessary stage of Zuma as an alternative was created the autocratic Mbeki. in the development of our country. He in an attempt to normalise the frosty “This populist wave was not trig- represents a particular stage in the de- relationship between citizens and the gered or created by Jacob Zuma but velopment of the system. Whether one formal institutions of government.” he would ride the wave to secure the is right or wrong, in trying to under- In 2006, during Zuma’s legal woes, presidency…. and would later aban-

NOSEWEEK January 2017 25 don the populist ticket once he became cy and avoid another session of Zuma. “There are different sets of populism president, surrounding himself with a We know the man himself must go, as emerging in South Africa. We always few trusted friends.” he is elderly and tired. But the ques- focus on the crass, street populism “If indeed the ANC were allowed to tion is, will he be in a position to con- that gives us the likes of Zuma. But conveniently turn the page on Zuma,” tinue to influence the ANC even when there’s another populism, private-sec- writes Mathekga, “the nation would he has physically gone from power? tor populism. This is the populism that be left to ask whether another Zuma “We need to start cutting the ten- believes if someone has got money and might eventually emerge within the tacles of his influences in the ANC has made it in business, suddenly that ANC”. and society. The best way to do it is to person is good to be a leader. “It is only through a searching anal- push for a different narrative. Think- “We are not critically evaluating ysis of how Zuma emerged within the ing beyond Zuma must be about a how they have made it. If you read the ANC in particular and in South Af- deeper narrative than what I see. It mainstream media, there are very few rica in general that we can come to a must be about how to cut his influence publications – and Noseweek is one full understanding of what might lie gradually. It might take five years or of those few – who will say to people, ahead.” two elections to cut his influence on ‘Hey wait, that deal stinks,’ and who Far from rushing to an ABZ solu- the party. But this different narrative will outline why. There is no criti- tion, the best way for this whole cur- must be put on the table. The assess- cal evaluation of the business sector. rent crisis to play out, says Mathekga, ment must be done that we have to do That’s why this populism is emerging is for communities to continue to put a great deal more work to finally get in the business sector. the ANC under pressure. “The ANC rid of the Zuma value system.” “I interact a lot with the business is still electorally dominant. We must The main message of When Zuma sector. My advice is that this won’t continue the conversation about what Goes, says Mathekga is a call for in- help. For example, I have people say- we want from the ANC. We don’t have trospection by all South Africans. ing to me, ‘Ramaphosa will be great’. to rush to change the electoral system. “We all share history as South Af- I say, ‘How?’ Some say, ‘because he is Let’s exhaust what the current sys- ricans across racial lines. We are all a billionaire… so no chance of corrup- tem offers. Also I think South Africans responsible for the leadership we pro- tion’. I say, ‘Who says?’ must stop complaining on the side- duce. “I am interested in a leader who lines. They must join the parties and “As much as people say they’re not can take business to task and take a participate, not only in the electoral responsible for Zuma, the reality is, moral position, who can say what they processes but strengthening internal they live in the space that created think of nuclear and spending state democracy in the party and in other him. I say let’s all take responsibility. resources. parties.” Then maybe we can turn a corner.” “I fear purely business people. I also Mathekga dedicates a whole chapter So, what kind of leader will the fear people with no business experi- of the book to Jacob Zuma and culture, South African populace invent next? ence. I am expecting a hybrid leader.” in which he relates how he, JZ, regard- Zuma’s survival, says Mathekga is ed corruption as a Western offence. rooted in the fact that any dissatisfac- “Zuma is smart. He realises that, tion with him can be managed as long under apartheid, people’s culture was as he stays in control of the ANC NEC, denied in the common space, and now Zuma is smart. the real decision-makers in the party. we have opened the space. Yet democ- Mathekga does not believe racy has its own principles and its in- Ramaphosa will succeed Zuma. stitutions do not actually yield to some He realises that, “If he does, it will be at Zuma’s gift. of those cultural views. Like the sys- Zuma is likely to continue till 2019 tem doesn’t understand the culture of under apartheid, as president. But it’s a good thing. As “receiving gifts”. South Africans, we need to own up and “In that chapter, I wanted to show ride the crisis to the end so that we there are genuine concerns about how people’s culture don’t get a false solution.” democracy confronts culture, but this Asked about his own road ahead, is coming from a man with a sinister Mathekga said his next project is a motive who is driving his own agenda. was denied in the novel about politics. “But my view is that, as much as he “I know a lot about politics. There misused culture, we need to debate common space, and are certain things I want to say, but how culture confronts the institutions am uncomfortable saying them in of democracy. non-fiction. Asked whether South Africa can now we have opened “I still have a long story to tell on start looking beyond Zuma – since nu- South African politics. So my best merous analysts say he is at his weak- shot at it would be to do a novel. I re- est point yet – Mathekga said, “We the space ally want to talk more about the post- must look beyond him but we must apartheid value system, like who we be realistic about how we look beyond are as a nation, the racial issue, how him. We have to disentangle his lega- we deal with it.” n

26 Vytjie Mentor

Was Vytjie taped by a spy? Audio clips and ‘stolen’ recordings of Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture interviews are washing up at media houses as party factions fre salvoes in PR war. By Jonathan Erasmus and Desiree Erasmus

UDIO CLIPS LEAKED TO NOSEWEEK member had additional audio mate- from whom the clips were received, of former Public Protector rial, a second clip of a different section but reiterated that they were key to Thuli Madonsela interviewing of the interview was quickly supplied. proving that Madonsela and Mentor former ANC MP and caucus According to the ANC member, the were part of “white monopoly capital” chair Vytjie Mentor, months recordings were distributed amongst interests – including ANC Chief Whip beforeA the release of Madonsela’s State Zuma’s inner circle, apparently via a Jackson Mthembu and Secretary Gen- of Capture report, suggest there may confidential ANC WhatsApp group. eral Gwede Mantashe – who, the per- have been a spy in the Protector’s The ANC member urged Noseweek son alleged, were “working with for- office. to focus on the contents of the inter- eign forces to topple the president and Noseweek was sent the clips in late view, evidently unaware or indifferent the ANC”. November from an ANC member with to the fact that the probable presence It is not clear whether other record- close ties to President Jacob Zuma. of a spy or informant during a privi- ings were made, as the ANC member Noseweek has verified the recordings. leged investigation was a crime. soon clammed up. When Noseweek asked if the ANC The ANC member refused to divulge Nevertheless, in December, the new

NOSEWEEK January 2017 27 Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwe- “Adv Mkhwebane is concerned that The two clips cover almost the last bane said she had opened a case at these alleged leakages of evidence hour of a four-hour discussion held on Brooklyn Police Station in Pretoria, could compromise the trust the public 22 July at the Public Protector’s office “requesting an investigation into has in her office. It is this concern that in Cape Town. The first runs for 36 the alleged leaks to establish if they led to her opening a case. minutes and the second, for 19 min- amount to a breach of Section 7(2) of “In order to maintain the credibility utes. The latter clip records the meet- the Public Protector Act”. of the Public Protector, South Africa, ing almost to the end. At the start of The investigation would include the and for the people to trust the institu- the second audio clip a female voice audio that Madonsela had given to tion, we need to safeguard whatever can be heard whispering to someone, television station eNCA after her term evidence such people, including whis- ‘I didn’t record that’, indicating that ended to prove that the president had tle-blowers, give to us,” she said. more than two people in the room lied when he said he wasn’t given an The Sunday Times also reported were privy to the recording. opportunity to respond to allegations that Mentor had approached the Pub- There are also periods where the of so-called state capture. lic Protector with concerns about the recording is muffled, as if an object is The investigation into the leaks leaks. Mentor and Mkhwebane both placed over the recording device. The came to light after Mkhwebane said denied this. vibrating tone of another cell phone that the Sunday Times had errone- close-by can also be heard. Both re- ously reported that she had opened a cordings start and end prematurely. case against Thuli Madonsela for leak- Noseweek was told that all phones ing the audio of her interview with the were turned off during the meeting. president to eNCA. “It is not true that Mentor’s no-nonsense manner when Advocate Mkhwebane laid charges Adv Mkhwebane interviewed by the Public Protec- against her predecessor,” the press re- tor makes for interesting, sometimes lease stated. “The decision to open a is concerned that amusing, listening when, for instance, case was informed by complaints from she says she “unfriended” ANC Sec- the Presidency and the Office of the leakages of evidence retary General Gwede Mantashe and Speaker of the National Assembly. his deputy, Jessie Duarte on Facebook. “In addition to these, Adv Mkhwe- “Gwede was once my friend. Jessie bane received a media enquiry from could compromise Duarte was once my friend. I blocked Noseweek magazine, in which the pub- them. They would take issue with the lication claimed to be in possession of the public’s trust in things I said, but if I knew, I could a recording of her predecessor’s meet- stand my ground. I write what I want ing with Ms Mentor, also relating to her office leading to write, because I deliberately chose the ‘State Capture’ investigation. social media as an arena and an ave- “In the past few weeks, there was her to open a case for nue of exposing wrong-doing,” Mentor another newspaper article based on is recorded telling Madonsela. what purported to be a recording of She also said that Des van Rooyen, another meeting between Adv Mkh- investigation current Minister of Cooperative Gov- webane’s predecessor and Economic ernance and Traditional Affairs, who Freedom Fighters leader, Mr Julius was appointed Minister of Finance in Malema. This meeting, too, related to December 2015 for three days after the ‘State Capture’ matter. Nhlanhla Nene’s controversial sack- ing, “had no clue of anything”. Most of what Mentor told Madon- sela was not noted in the latter’s State of Capture report, but much has been reported in the media before and af- ter the interview. Mentor claims that most of what she knows is from “open source” – mainly from the investiga- tive news site of amaBhungane. The State of Capture report docu- ments Mentor’s claim that she was offered the post of Minister of Public Enterprises in 2010 at the Guptas’ Saxonwold compound while Zuma was allegedly in the adjoining room. Mentor says she refused the offer. Mentor is heard saying in the clip: “The president surprised me because, he turned the whole situation on me. Like, he said I must not worry and the Public Protector’s office. he said I must calm down, like. He Protector spokesman Oupa Segalwe did not enter it, he turned me into a ‘ I became convinced said it was for the lead investigator mad angry person, he said ‘calm down to ensure the safety of any recording- ntombazana’, like ‘it’s okay’.” that something very, from an interview. He added, “there She also informs the Protector that was never a requirement for phones to current public enterprise minister be switched off”. Lynne Brown appointed Eskom board very wrong was going Apart from Madonsela and Mentor, members who are close to the Guptas. also present were the lead investiga- “There is one main name, Salim Essa, on, but also, the tor, another investigator and the chief he is a big fish with the Guptas.” of staff. Asked why she only went public incremental nature Mentor said people were “in and with the information recently, Mentor out” of the office during her interview. tells Madonsela: “Firstly, from 2013, I of brazen corruption Segalwe said the external transcrib- had to deal with my removal as Chair, ing service would also have had ac- which was unceremonious, which I cess to the recording but would have was not even told about, so I did not and looting that is signed a confidentiality agreement. want to be seen to be hitting back be- Madonsela’s “State of Capture” cause of my removal. continuing by the report recommended that Zuma es- “So I decided to allow everything to tablish a commission of inquiry led subside. But in the meantime I started executive’ a judge nominated by Chief Justice reading and researching – that was Mogoeng Mogoeng. my first reason, that you don’t just – Vytjie Mentor In December, Zuma approached the get removed and then you say, by the North Gauteng High Court asking for way, people will say ‘why were you qui- Madonsela’s recommendations to be et?’ But also, I got injured and after set aside. He said in his affidavit: “The months in hospital, I recuperated at and once I served as public enterpris- remedial action of the Public Protector home for a long, long, long, long, time. es chair, and, I resisted doing those violates Section 3 of the Ethics Act by “My priority was to recuperate, but things with and for the President and clothing a judicial commission of in- I had an intention that once I become still I don’t hate him. I hate what he quiry with the necessary jurisdiction armed with further information... once does but I don’t hate him as a person.” to investigate and report on the mem- the opportunity presents itself and I Mentor can be heard signalling to bers of cabinet. The remedial action have more ammunition because I was graphics and images to clarify her ver- under review by a judicial commission busy researching, I would go public… sion of “state capture”. of inquiry will not have the powers “After my research, I became con- Besides Madonsela and Mentor, a that a Public Protector has under the vinced something very, very wrong woman described as the lead inves- Public Protector’s Act. A commission was going on, but also the incremental tigator, other investigators and some of inquiry submits its report to the nature of brazen corruption and loot- senior management were present at President for this consideration and ing that is continuing by the executive the recorded interview session. possible action. This clearly shows the and connected people and the Guptas Mentor can be heard telling Madon- remedial action to be irregular and is cause for concern that prompted me, sela that she worries about who the unlawful.” but I decided after the Waterkloof inci- new Public Protector might be. “We Zuma said that the issue under in- dent that I am going to go public.” don’t know what kind of animal will vestigation was complex and may go Zuma denied knowing Mentor when be appointed,” she says. beyond the 30 days in which it needed she first made public allegations of Madonsela replied: “With or without to be reported on, making the reme- state capture. She told the Public Pro- me, [the team] will not let go. We are dial action “illegal and unlawful”. tector the President’s denial was a “se- trying to conclude this investigation He said there was no basis in law rious joke”, and blamed one of his un- before I step down. We are not trying; that a commission of enquiry had to derlings for peddling the apparent lie. we are aiming to conclude this investi- be presided over by a judge selected “That’s a serious joke. In fact I still gation,” Madonsela told Mentor. by the chief justice. According to the defend the President. I still say he When contacted by Noseweek, Men- Constitution, the chief justice doesn’t cannot have said that. It’s not possi- tor said she was “not surprised”, at the have this power, he said. ble. I think probably somebody that leak, which was “an obvious attempt “The decision to make the remedial was over-zealous could have issued to discredit the report and have it re- action, that is, to outsource it [to a that statement on behalf of the Presi- viewed” by a court. commission of inquiry] was irrational dent,” she said. She told Noseweek that she request- since the only conceivable deduction Mentor also gave insight into al- ed that a meal offered to her during to be made was that the Public Protec- leged sexual advances Zuma made to the interview be given as a “take- tor’s term of office was coming to an her. “The President had wanted me away” as she feared being poisoned. end and she was unwilling for the of- to do certain things with him and for Madonsela was contacted by fice to continue with the investigation him once I served as chair of caucus Noseweek and referred all comment to outside her control.” n

NOSEWEEK January 2017 29 Ups and downs of bouncing rates At last – major clean-up looms in Joburg administration. By Jonathan Erasmus

N ELABORATE PROPERTY RATES is unclear whether she worked alone values”. Inter alia it was rumoured scam operating out of the City but the culture of corruption within that Maclare forged the signature of Johannesburg’s rates de- the city makes this unlikely. of the deputy director of valuations partment has allowed the rich The forensic report provides con- Louis Taderera, to push through her and connected not only to avoid firmation of similar charges made by dodgy deals. havingA to pay municipal rates on their amateur valuer Dr Robert McLar- Valuations unit head Sihle More, ac- high-value properties, but even to milk en in Noseweek in August last year cording to the city, commissioned the the system for cash refunds to which (nose202). He said the city appears to initial investigation and passed on the they are not entitled. These frauds pander to its wealthy, connected rate- findings in the report to her superiors effectively leave the owners of lower- payers, rewarding them with lower in the city. The city said rumours that value properties to carry the city’s tax rates where a system of patronage, More was involved were false. burden. nods and winks seems to have become By October 2015, SM Xulu’s findings The discovery could finally result in the previous ANC administration’s were handed to the valuation unit. a major clean-up in the city’s admin- preferred manner of doing business. The report concluded that former can- istration. Properties listed in Noseweek’s ear- didate valuer Maclare, now operating Besides allegedly rigging property lier report included those of the Op- her own valuation service, tampered valuations and rates assessments, the penheimers, the Guptas and Tokyo with property values. Maclare used frauds are alleged to have extended Sexwale. The latest report includes the city’s resources, its database and to manipulating bills, illegally trans- the names of several more prominent city time apparently to run her own ferring properties and an “insider business people. (de)valuation business on the side, system” whereby ratepayers were al- The report, titled “Allegations of called KwaZimbali Pty Ltd. legedly required to pay staff – from fraud within the Property Valuation Those responsible for oversight, it low-level messengers to managers – Services Unit”, undertaken by SM found, failed in their task and should “costs” to accelerate a “billing correc- Xulu Consulting, was hidden from face “corrective action”. tion” that would make a rates debt “go public scrutiny by the city’s valua- The city says the report was acted away” or, better still, generate a gener- tion department until November 2016 upon. Noseweek has ascertained that ous refund to the ratepayer. when it was leaked to TV programme none of the allegations against staff The gritty facts are detailed in a 52- Carte Blanche and made available to has yet been pursued but that most of page forensic report that shows how a Noseweek. the owners of the 22 properties have sample of 22 high-value Johannesburg Carte Blanche reported that only had their rates adjusted, piecemeal, properties (together worth R885.26 once they brought the report to the at- within the past year – back to pre-Ma- million) were revalued downwards by tention of the city’s new mayor Her- clare’s changes. an average of 58% of their real value man Mashaba were criminal charges None of the owners, the report by means of forged signatures and laid at the Johannesburg Central Po- states, had lodged an objection on fake documents. All were handled by lice Station. these 22 properties. Instead Maclare one city valuer, Mbali Maclare. She The forensic report was commis- created her own objection letters. She has since resigned. sioned in May 2014, apparently after then used a legally filed objection from Maclare managed to shave rumours were heard of officials solicit- another property and owner entirely, R499.78m off the formal valuation fig- ing bribes from customers in exchange changing the details to suit her cli- ures, causing the loss of R35.6m to the for “unauthorised and possible fraud- ent. A second method included sim- city’s coffers over a four-year period. It ulent adjustments of the properties ply making the whole thing up from

30 Association for Peaceful Reunification of China, proprietor of the Chinese language newspaper African Times, and was pivotal in the launch of the Chinese Community Police Forum (CPF), based in Cyrildene, Johannes- burg. Xinzhu, who has mining, export and import interests, also has access to the country’s political leadership and in 2014 openly campaigned for the ANC in the national elections. He has also campaigned against the Da- lai Lama visiting South Africa. When Xinzhu was called by Noseweek, he said he didn’t know about the investigative magazine and hung-up without answering any ques- tions. He simply muttered “no, no, no”. He was SMSed questions but did not respond. One of his partners, Baojin Chen, became involved in March 2015 when he bought a property in Bedfordview for R30m. He has since developed the plot, known as Infinité, into a 10-sto- rey, 200-unit sectional title apartment building with prices ranging from R890,000 to R4.4m for the penthouse suites. The company Chen used to build the property is called Fatasy (not Fantasy) Properties. His assis- Dodgy valuer Mbali Maclare tant Annie Lan took down Noseweek’s query but failed to revert to us. The Moola family, owners of CCE scratch. In both instances she would my rates to be reduced. They gave me Holdings which imports a variety of manually load the fake “approved” ob- a set of things to do which I did and Chinese cars into South Africa such jection letters onto the city’s comput- they reduced the rate. When I saw as the China Motor Corporation vehi- er system – using a back door in the the new rate I thought ‘Lekka man!’ A cles, also had the value of their Lin- system, which was left open in 2008 year later they came back to me and den property reduced by Maclare from when a new computerised billing sys- said they didn’t know my property R9.4m to R4m. The property is owned tem was introduced. had more than one dwelling. I am now by several Moola relatives and family It is still unclear how the property having to pay back about R400,000 associates. One of the owners, Rehana owners were linked to Maclare or in unpaid rates. I was not asked for a Akoon, said she is “not too sure why” each other. All those Noseweek spoke bribe. If I was, I would have blown the they featured in the city’s report be- to denied ever having been contacted whistle. Anyway I am not getting any cause as far as she knew, the rates by city officials. They also all denied benefit,” said Kazi. had never been reduced. She said she knowing Maclare – or anyone pur- In June 2011 Kazi was arrested by would have someone phone Noseweek. porting to be a consultant or city offi- eThekwini Metro enforcement officers No one did. cial who could help them out for a fee. for running an “inner city slum”. He At one stage the family was plan- Some claimed to have no knowledge was charged and then paid an admis- ning to construct a US$1 billion man- of any changes of valuation on their sion of guilt fine of R5,000. Noseweek ufacturing plant to produce CMC ve- properties. has since learnt from a Durban city of- hicles in Harrismith. The project was KZN businessman Ahmed Kazi, a ficial that he has “cleaned up his act”. eventually called off. self-confessed slumlord, had the rate- ACY Property Development owns In 2012 family patriarch Yacoob able value of his Marshalltown prop- the China Cash and Carry on 64 Re- Moola, 80, took his three sons, Imran, erty reduced from R25.8m to a paltry naissance Drive in Crown City, Ma- Mohamed and Nazeer, to court as they R800,000 by Maclare. clare reduced the value from R46.9m had apparently tried to unseat him as “I knew we were getting charged to R12m. Its directors include well- the sole owner of CCE Motors Hold- a low rate. But I never enlisted the known Chinese/South African busi- ings. The matter dragged in the fam- help of anyone. I went to the valua- nessmen Li Xinzhu and Baojin Chen. ily lawyer, accountant and a nephew. tion department myself and asked for Xinzhu is the chairman of All Africa Moola Snr eventually stepped aside,

NOSEWEEK January 2017 31 according to company records. This took about 12 months. I was ing Machines swears he will never Essco Foods CC owns a R39.1m happy thinking my objection had been “exaggerate the functionality of our property in Industria. Maclare’s mag- accepted. But then 12 months later it products in order to achieve sales”. ic had this property’s value reduced shot up again. I was told I owed the DeQuian, a Chinese national, is also a to R20m. Essco Foods belongs to city back-pay in rates of R1m. I then member of the African Chinese Chari- Mohamed Essack, owner of African learnt that my original objection had ty Foundation, the South Africa-China Star Grain and Milling. Essack’s state- never been dealt with at all. The city Cooperation Forum and a member of of-the-art milling facility was commis- wanted to cut my electricity on the the SA-China People’s Friendship As- sioned in January 2016 and received property. I have had to work out a pay- sociation (SACPFA). He is a promoter a large grant from the Department of ment plan of R36,000 a month over of SA-China bilateral exchanges in Trade and Industry. He was described and above the other monthly costs, economics, trade and culture. in 2016 by law firm Norton Rose Ful- just to keep the lights on. I don’t know Sharon Xu, speaking for DeQuian, bright as the “leading commercial why this happened. No one tried to so- said they were aware of the property black miller in South Africa”, a posi- licit a bribe or purported to be a ‘ser- having been revalued to R900,000 but tion, the firm noted, that Essack in- vice provider’ able to bring down my that this had been done under a “pre- tends to maintain. valuation. Maybe someone thought vious manager”. But Essack feels he is being dragged they could act first then ask but I nev- “I am not sure of the details but this unfairly into the alleged rates scandal. er received any such call,” said Essack. property is not worth R3m,” she said. “I bought this property about three A downtown property selling sewing Xu said they had never been con- years ago for R30m. It was valued at machines had its value reduced from tacted by anyone in the city to help R39.1m. I immediately objected to the R3.01m to R900,000. The owner of the with the valuation. rating. After much to-and-fro my prop- shop and property is Bian deQuian Bloemfontein property developer erty valuation was reduced to R20m. whose company website for Asia Sew- Nic Georgiou (nose187) was the owner of the Bruma Lifestyle Centre until late 2014. The property’s value was reduced from R34m to R17m. Maclare did the paperwork. Georgiou is known for his failed Highveld Syndication property schemes (his company, PickVest, col- lapsed in 2010/11). He is currently fac- ing multiple lawsuits from some of the 18,000 investors – mainly pensioners – who lost out in the deal. Georgiou, who lives on Signal Hill in the Free State capital, Bloemfontein, told Noseweek he had once owned the property but no longer. “Maybe the new owners run it differently which has devalued the property,” he said. He asked for questions to be SMSed to him but did not respond further. A man linked to one of the biggest transactions in South African history, the purchase of SABMiller by Anheus- er-Busch InBev, as well as two of his associates, also made the list of prop- erty devaluations handled by Maclare. The two properties are in Hillbrow and Yeoville. The former was devalued from R16.8m to R7.5m and the latter, from R6.6m to R1.8m. The owners are dealmaker Fradreck Shoko and Charles Adu Boahen and Cameroonian entrepreneur Acha Leke. Leke is only involved in the Hill- brow property. Shoko said this was the first he had heard about any rates issue when Noseweek contacted him. “I didn’t even know if our property was deval-

32 park and waterway. When Noseweek brought this to the city’s attention, the excavation was stopped within 24 hours of our questions being sent to them. The biggest company to find its way into this operation was the JSE- listed Rebosis Property Fund. They had four properties with a combined value of R384.5m, reduced to just R116m. This included a Braamfon- tein property reduced from R152m to R64m, another from R20.6m to R3m, one from R79m to R19m and fi- nally a Marshallstown property from R132.1m to R30m. In a statement released via a SENS announcement shortly after the Carte Blanche broadcast, the compa- ny said they utilise “consultants with good credentials” who are required to Chinese-South African “sign an indemnity whereby they un- business leader Li Xinzhu dertake and warrant not to bribe nor solicit undue favour from any council officials”. ued and then revalued. Our managing Rebosis said that in 2013 that, fol- agents who handle the property have lowing “significant and unrealistic not informed us about any changes,” increases in property valuations from said Shoko. the City of Johannesburg”, the fund He said he would ask the managing had appointed Hirsuflo Trading as an agents to phone Noseweek but no call independent valuations consultant. was received. Rebosis said they would be taking One of the biggest discounts was this matter up “with the Mayor of Jo- for Dunrose Investments 224 (Pty) hannesburg”. They also said they “re- Ltd – the owners of Oriental City on served their rights” after the coverage 15 Ninth Avenue in Rivonia. The com- they were given on Carte Blanche. pany owns five Oriental City plazas in The city has since enlisted the help Gauteng. of former Gauteng Hawks boss Shad- Dunrose directors Feng Yin and rack Sibiya to head the city’s Internal Changhua “Jonathan” Qin bought Investigations Unit, with his top pri- the site for R115m in 2012. The city ority being the investigation into the valued the property at R202m – until report’s findings. Maclare reduced it to R140m. “Mr Sibiya and the SAPS are work- Simon Ho, Dunrose’s general man- ing closely together on this matter to ager for the past two-and-a-half years, gather further evidence and ensure said that at no point was he personally that a solid case is built before further contacted by anyone at the city to have criminal charges are laid and impli- their property valuation reduced. He cated individuals are arrested. said the reduction took place before he “The initial audit covered a very started working at Dunrose. small portion of properties in the city “We were surprised when our valu- and their investigation is being ex- ation shot back up to R202m without tended further. The public will be up- any notice. We are currently appealing dated on developments in due course to the city to have it revalued again, and we expect arrests to be made in as we are of the opinion that the prop- 2017,” mayoral spokesman Tony Tav- erty is only worth R120m,” said Ho. erna-Turisan told Noseweek. The company raised the ire of Bru- Maclare could not be reached by ma Lake residents in 2012 (nose158) Noseweek, but interviewed on Carte when they began excavating to build Blanche, she denied any impropriety another R400m mall. The topsoil and said she knew nothing about the was then being dumped at a nearby alleged valuation irregularities. n

NOSEWEEK January 2017 33 Books LEN ASHTON

Choices. Foreign affairs

T WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST the lively Anne has enraged her ambitious of times… Two formidable women re- DEFIANCE: THE LIFE AND Mama, who believed that the daughter of cord vividly contrasting new lives and CHOICES OF an impecunious Scottish peer owed it to her relationships in foreign lands. One Scot LADY ANNE BARNARD family to marry well (i.e. profitably). But went to Cape Town in the 18th Century, By Stephen Taylor Anne scarpered to London instead and be- oneI South African went to London, oh, may- (Faber) came something of a social sensation: in no be a year ago. time she was matey with the future George It wouldn’t do to read the biography and IV, and various leading figures of the day autobiography in tandem, but there is a cer- proposed holy matrimony. The advances of tain hectic charm in switching occasionally a rich banker, and of powerful politician for cultural shock value. Both blondes led Henry Dundas, were politely declined, in fa- eventful lives, in very different social cat- vour of a doomed passion for William Wind- egories. Anne, previously known to South ham, also a politician, who had commitment African history teachers as a “merely” gra- problems unfortunately, so nothing came of cious and observant hostess, is now revealed that. But her loss was Africa’s gain. as a fascinating and courageous woman. Six At the age of 42 she startled English so- volumes of her diaries, which languished in ciety by marrying a poor man who was 12 family archives because she required that years her junior. Andrew Barnard was ap- they should never be published, now reveal pointed secretary to the governor of the a remarkable adventurous character who new British colony of the Cape. As read- seized joy in Africa. ers of previously published fragments of Sam Scarborough is of another species. A her diaries will know, they lived contented successful business executive, in search of and active lives in Cape Town, with many the romantic ideal, she records, in painful explorations of the hinterland. One of the detail, her furious disillusionment with the most charming memorials of Anne is the man who persuaded her to leave her South Vineyard Hotel gallery in Cape Town, which African homeland for a difficult new life in is given over to a display of framed diary London. Her diary lists in angry detail the quotations and illustrations. Parts of the be- personal transgressions of the hard-drink- loved original house in which the Barnards ing, often generous, but flawed man who lived is the heart of the hotel, with its mag- promised so much. And failed. TRAPPED: A STRONG nificent mountain views and lush gardens. Sam’s dream is destroyed by the realities WOMAN’S TRIUMPH Hospitable Anne clearly relished her new of contemporary London life. And those of OVER ABUSE life at the Cape, and never regretted the the man who tempted her to join him there. By Sam Scarborough move or the marriage. Sam and her young daughter discovered (Human and Rossouw) Poor Sam clearly suffered mightily for her that sharing the life of a divorced father of foreign affair. On the other hand, it would two, put heavy urban pressure on both fam- be interesting to hear the man’s version of ilies. The man is unequal to the situation. events. n Weepy with misery, Sam decides to take her revenge: every single transgression commit- ted by him is recorded in a diary listing the weeping, the spats, the sneak checks on tel- ephone calls, and e-mail, the rows over bois- terous pub friends. The facts are the facts, but meticulous listing of peccadilloes does not bespeak divine forgiveness. Suffice it to say that few of us could survive such mi- croscopic observation. What was that about familiarity and contempt? Lady Anne Barnard Meanwhile, back in the 18th Century,

34 Letter from Umjindi BHEKI MASHILE

Hot stuff. Where there’s smoke...

AM CONVINCED THAT WE IN MZANSI South African citizen of Swazi herit- mittee (BRC) is targeting in its land should adopt the slogan “Keep age, and I got my farm through work- restitution claim already in progress. hope alive” – with thanks to the ing my black butt off by establish- Mpumalanga lies in eastern South USA’s Jesse Jackson who coined ing an agri/agro-processing business Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and the phrase for his presidential which impressed the lads at what bordering Swaziland and Mozam- Icampaign in 19-ahh-something. was then Land Affairs. bique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Af- In one of my recent columns I ex- Mr Binns asks what claim to land rica’s land area. pressed my two-cents’ worth in sup- Swazis have in the RSA. Well, actually, Swaziland has, for years, been advo- port of the legalisation of marijuana Swaziland has one giant unresolved cating for parts of Mpumalanga and for medicinal purposes – along with land claim against South Africa, dat- KZN as being historically part of that its hemp equivalent for the plant’s ing back to the kingdom’s independ- country. The Swazis’ claims extend to vast range of commercial and indus- ence from Britain in 1968. a non-contiguous portion of northern trial uses. The Swaziland Times reported in Mpumalanga, including a section of A good number of people with whom 2014 that Zulu King Goodwill Zwel- Kruger National Park. I discussed the piece were adamant ithini had signalled his intention to Zwelithini is more recently claiming that our lawmakers would not pass claim the same land that Swaziland the same territory – a vast tract of ur- such a law, reasoning that “our peo- has been claiming since way back. ban and rural Mpumalanga land that ple” have a one-sided view of marijua- According to Wikipedia’s list of fell under the control of the Zulus at na, seeing it as an intoxicating herb world territorial disputes, the area the time of colonial dispossession. smoked by juvenile delinquents, tsot- being claimed by Swaziland covers The claim will be filed under the sis and Rastas. the former Bantustan of KaNgwane, Land Rights Amendment Bill of 1913. However, our lawmakers have a which now forms the northern parts City Press has reported – also in duty to look beyond stereotypes and of Jozini and uMhlabuyalingana local 2014 – that Zwelithini’s claim/coun- traditional beliefs and instead to con- municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, and ter-claim was being planned and co- sider the benefits from an informed the southern part of Nkomazi, the ordinated by the Ingonyama Trust. point of view. After all, the legalisation south-eastern part of Umjindini, and It reported: “…Zwelithini and the of marijuana – particularly for medic- the far-eastern part of Albert Luthuli province’s house of traditional leaders inal purposes – has become an inter- local municipalities in Mpumalanga. representing KZN’s chiefs, met for a national trend. Moreover, the naysay- Swaziland placed the matter on the workshop on the land claim process, ers in Parliament need to understand agenda of the UN General Assembly which has been reopened for another why one of their distinguished mem- in the 1970s. I should know, my father five years with the enactment of the bers, the late IFP MP Mario Oriani- was part of the Swazi General Assem- new land restitution law, the Land Ambrosini, presented such a bill to bly delegation. Rights Amendment Bill” . the house. Had they applied their The UN rejected the Swazi claim, Judge Jerome Ngwenya, Chairman minds to the reasons for his passion- citing local political complications at- of the Ingonyama Trust, said; “There ate plea, they would surely have to tributed to apartheid and the libera- will be cases where others claim the pass the bill. For crying out loud, they tion movement. Furthermore, the UN same land as us, for example, where a would be silly not to do so. And if they cited fear of a domino effect in that it chief was placed in charge of a certain don’t, we will end up importing mar- could spark a barrage of other disput- area by the king. The chief’s family ijuana-based medicines. So, hey! Let ed land and colonial-era border shifts may also submit a land claim…, but us cultivate the stuff ourselves; hemp, in Africa. we are working with our traditional too, which has a multitude of commer- Now Zwelithini and KZN tradi- leaders to compile one claim for the cial uses. tional leaders are planning to lodge land taken from the Zulu nation.” the largest land claim for rights to the [Note, there is no mention made of jjj entire Zulu Kingdom, including Dur- who the Zulus took the land from way ban, as well as parts of the Eastern back then. – Ed] One Nosey reader recently questioned Cape, Mpumalanga and Free State. Do your homework Mr Binns. Per- why, as a Swazi, I have been allocat- These South African traditionalists haps I should change your name to Mr ed a farm in this-here Mzansi. Well are also claiming Mpumalanga prov- Bean because your uninformed com- Mr Binns, I happen to be a bona fide ince – which the Border Rural Com- ment made me laugh. n

NOSEWEEK January 2017 35 Not rocket science SIBUSISO BIYELA

Science and religion. A pragmatic approach

ITH THE INCREASING occurrence of stories about men of God taking selfies in heaven, selling AIDS-curing holy water, andW ridding people’s faces of cock- roaches (with Doom!), it begs the ques- tion as to why people still subscribe to religion in South Africa. I understand that there is much more to Christian- ity and religion than these shiny-suit clad charismatic preachers, but I still wonder why so many people flock to them and still take religion seriously in this day and age. As an atheist, I am inclined to dis- miss all of religion as utter rubbish, and instead propose that science is all we need to be happy and feel ful- filled. I realise that science makes me in fact we must realise that it is hu- it all figured out for us. happy because I am a nerd, so say mans who did these things, and that So, why does it seem that these, our the kids today on the web, through the religion they chose to create re- greatest, yet intangible, creations are their mobile computer machines. But flects our humanness. The way I see said to clash? Well, I propose that after a little reading, and living with it, everything we might come to hate this is because the universe, incon- normal Christian humans, it seems I about religion, is what we hate about ceivably large and uncaring, is in- have been wrong about these Jesus ourselves as humans. compatible with humanity’s universe people and their faithfulness. We do not blame astronomy for the within. Religion shows that people With the risk of sounding philo- asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, want to be important, we see our- sophical – ewe! – I believe that sci- nor do we blame biology for the black selves as being necessary, but the ence and religion are both human death – these are sciences we use universe suggests otherwise; we are constructs that have been the corner- to understand and mitigate these not important, and our existence is stones of human progress and cul- events. It is the same for religion as an accident (mistake?) of nature that ture for the past few thousand years. well, it is ugly and beautiful; as com- will eventually clear itself out when Science being the younger of the two, plex as the humans who birthed it. all life ends. some would argue that it has had a Being aware of the universe both We feel that the universe is ours, greater impact on humanity and is without and within, we seek patterns we own it and instead of being a part slated to replace religion as we move and order to make sense of it all in of it, we feel we are the reason it ex- closer to a Star-Trek future. both these universes. We not only as- ists; we are the ones that make it I have realised that there are many, sume that this order exists but we worthwhile. many parallels between how science need it to exist if we are to have any The universe, through science, describes the universe without – comfort living in it. says otherwise. We are but biological from quarks to quasars – and how re- Science assumed order in the uni- machines driven by impulses of re- ligion describes the universe within verse from its beginnings in history, production on an insignificant speck the murky depths of consciousness as did religion when it organised the gracefully falling into an unremark- and feeling. ancients into the communities that able star in the unfathomable vast- History shows how ugly religion started agriculture and so set our ness of the observable universe. has been, its role in many wars and path to civilisation. The universe is out to kill us all, the many apartheids that we have In science, we assumed an order and we can either embrace this real- seen and continue to see. It is con- to the way nature works, and in ity and wait for our imminent death, venient to blame the entity that is religion, we saw ourselves as or we can ignore it by drinking mock religion for all these atrocities, when being at the mercy of gods who have blood. n

36 Last Word HAROLD STRACHAN

Show what. Her roots were showing

ULD ACQUAINTANCE! SAID I TO plants which destroy our green herit- Clarice Gurbles, and all the age! She swallows the biscuit almost best in 2017. I recognised you whole and coughs a cloud of crumbs instantly, you haven’t changed all about. I wipe the table with a pa- a bit in forty years. Which was per serviette and things fall silent aA lie of course. What about a nice cup of once again. Humm humm titumm, I tea, then, hey? said I. Here at the Bo- hum. tanic Tea Garden? After a bit I say Nice plastic fur- We find a corner table ’mongst the niture, hey, it doesn’t rust or rot out exuberant foliage. The botanic gar- of doors and see how easily we could dens were a Durbs municipal adven- wipe it down with a paper serviette. ture some 160 years ago, with bits of A good safe subject for calm conver- Borneo, pieces of Patagonia, of north, sation, that. Plastic is made from the south, east and west, it’s all here: great fossil remains of ancient trees, says majestic trees, small ferns, everything Clarice, the past was also part of Na- imaginable. At the tea place, hade- ture and one should show respect for das poke about with their weird long all species past and present. Like the beaks, monkeys make off with small avo tree? say I. cakes and saamies from the outdoor Why are you so quarrelsome? says tables of German tourists who become she, I respect all species in their own encharmed and take iPad pics of it all. habitats and the avocado I respect in Clarice is up from Cape Town. Nice Mexico. Bloody hell, say I, it sounds subtropical atmosphere here, I ob- a bit like old times, dunnit? Avoca- serve, to get conversation going. A sort dos are all right but they must know of small KZN wilderness, isn’t it? Bad their place. Bantoe op sy plek, ’ksê. move; Clarice slightly lifts her right There must be some safe topic upper lip to expose the canine tooth on somewhere, in Heaven’s name. Aha! that side and glances about her with up the embarrassing hole in the con- So are you going to visit Zululand? say deep disdain. Well they’d better get rid versation, and when I’m on about bis- I. Well no, she replies, Buthelezi tried of that Umbrella Tree for a start, says cuit #6 aha! it occurs to me something to introduce Cosatu to his Zulu peo- she, it’s not only exotic and invasive, about our childhood would be just the ple but in their natural wisdom they it is listed unlawful. Argument looms, thing. wouldn’t even touch it. Are you sure? but I never did know when to hold my I think I’ll stick some matches in say I, it’s the first I’ve ever heard of tongue. an avo pip, say I, and put it on a glass it, I mean it’s not the Great Mango’s Jaaaah, I suppose so, say I, though of water as we used to do as kids, re- usual shpiel, is it? I’m a bit exotic and unlawful myself, member. Wasn’t it fun? Another long- Well it stands to reason, says she; me auld faether was transplanted ish pause follows. What for? she says. our farmers are growing exotic rub- from Dundee Scotland, you know, and Well it’s educational for my great- bish and filling the soil with toxins I have a criminal record. grandchildren to see new roots dan- and that’s why our rivers are all dirty You are just being obstructive for gling down in the water and a little brown. You must have fresh clean the sake of argument, she says, falls shoot grow up top with a little leaf streams for soaking Cosatu to leach silent and purposefully chomps sor- or two. And then? says she. Well how all the deadly prussic acid out, see, so rowful health biscuits neither bird great for the laaities to see a little it’s fine for those places where the for- nor monkey would bother to steal. No- newborn thing so full of expectation of ests are pristine and the streams all body’s going to violate the Integrity of life become a full-on strong and happy sparkly, but just think of the Thukela Nature while she’s around. adult; I think I’ll plant it in the space River, how filthy. I nosh on a few biscuits myself, not behind our clothes lines. That’s cassava you’re talking about for pleasure but to justify the silence, AAAUUUGH!! cries Clarice, and f’chrissakes, say I. Manioc. It comes it’s rude to talk with your mouth full, bloody nigh breaks her dentures on from South America. see? Um-te-tum, I hum. I cast about the last biscuit. I don’t understand Well there you are, says Clarice, it for something innocent to say, to knit you, all you love is invasive foreign just goes to show. n

NOSEWEEK January 2017 37 Smalls ads must be booked and paid for online. Book at: SMALLS www.noseweek.co.za

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NOSEWEEK January 2017 39