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127MAY 2010 S ep s G p Blatter’ reat R Fifa s ipoff ™ Circu

IT scam: what the minister is hiding Nedbank’s designer jailbird Clock ticks for Joburg water SUBSCRIBE to noseweek and SAVE R81 on the retail price: see PAGE 32 noseweek online mAY2010 ISSUE127

Ladeeeez and Get access to the gentlemen – noseweek archive of meet the saints, sinners and 2010 Circus strongman page 8 rogues Buy noseweek’s online 4 Letters Bullets over Kimberley 6 Dear Reader Banking on nationalisation edition for only 11 Fear of Failure Profile of Bafana Bafana's Teko Modise R278 14 Notes & Updates Memories are made of this n Lucky to be alive

16 The heroes of Shaft 3 Miners are fighting to stem the poisoned Grootvlei waters – but will anyone go to jail for allowing this mess to develop? Wherever you want

20 Cover-up The squalid tender scandal the director-general of trade doesn’t it....whenever you want you to know about want it 22 Long wait for freedom Somebody wants Jimmy De Lange to stay in jail

23 Butcher in the house? The surgeon opened up the boy and removed his appendix before the parents had given their credit card numbers

24 The mysterious case of the disappearing maize Something doesn’t quite add up about that grain shipment from South Africa to Kenya

26 Nedbank’s Money Maze Account How investing $100 can lead to an identity crisis 28 The sealed box Did the lawyers, or did they not, know what lay inside? www. 30 The invisible walls The developers of a block of flats in an upmarket Cape Town suburb have produced two very different plans: one for the council noseweek.co.za and one to attract buyers

33 Nedbank’s designer jailbird Prison life isn’t treating fraudster André Croucamp too badly

35 Books Fifa and all its works

36 Country Life Brother Jules and the Juvenile Delinquents

37 Last Word Skitool

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Bullets over Kimberley Ward Forum and thereafter to your sources.) CapeNature has not even Thank goodness that Kim- by the subcouncil, which I If culling is eventually received an application from

berley (where bullets are chair. Conclusions as to the sanctioned let only vegetar- the City for culling permits. cheap and politicians are ex- causes of the problems and ians cast the first stones. We have stated in the media pensive – nose126) is to get a how best to deal with them Claude Ipser that we are not likely to is- new prison and a new luna- are therefore premature. No Councillor for Ward 105 sue permits to the City to tic asylum. Let us hope that “killing spree” is planned for Chairperson of Subcouncil 7, Koeberg. cull Egyptian geese since

some of the main players in later this month (April), or City of Cape Town they are not a problem from your story will have compul- at all. a biodiversity point of view. We had had sight of De Wet’s sory recourse to one or the What is clear is that the Dr Kas Hamman report; it was inter alia the other of these institutions in situation has been sorely Executive Director: Biodiversity, CapeNature misrepresented. The Before drift of it that prompted our the near future. “ Amber Land and After photos accom- story. Your parting line – “if The subheading which at- Rondebosch panying the article were culling is eventually sanc- tributed a scorched earth taken in different seasons tioned” – is the giveaway policy to CapeNature incor- Beyond the pale in different years and from line. The “after” picture was rectly reflected the content of Noseweek is a robust read, totally different positions. taken after the “before” pic- the story itself, which – cor- and rightly so. However, the The After photo gives the lie ture – and after the park had rectly – attributed it to the job done on two municipal to the laughable allegation enjoyed the city Parks De- city’s Parks Department. As officials involved with the that the grass has been dev- partment’s devastating at- regards the rest of the story, we did give you an opportu- nity to put your side before publishing, but you didn’t Kimberley: where bullets are cheap answer our call. – Ed. Bishops regrets (and politicians expensive) We have investigated very carefully the allegations of Sonstraal Dam in Durban- astated by over-cutting – the tentions. We are pleased you misbehaviour on the part of ville (nose 126) goes well be- spiky growth not favoured have noticed that all that Bishops Prep boys (nose126) yond the pale. by ducks and geese can be remains is the spiky growth that you reported to us a few Under severe pressure seen standing high above the not favoured by ducks – or days before publication. We from residents to improve ground. No one here believes humans. No doubt you wish did find that a few boys had “ only vegetarians were com- conditions at the dam, Altus the foul-mouthed, blood- indeed thrown objects over de Wet of the Parks Depart- thirsty and illogical threats petent to object to the mooted the adjoining wall and shout- ment has tabled a compre- attributed to as gentle and culling of ducks and geese. ed comments to residents of hensive report which has good a person as former offi- However, most sensible peo- the Edingight Complex. The been presented to the resi- cial Sybrand Burger. (“Good” ple understand the differ- matter has been very care- dents and which is still to be and “gentle” are, by contrast, ence between killing crea- fully dealt with both in an considered first by the local not terms one would apply tures because you need food, educational and disciplinary and killing creatures simply sense. The boys’ parents have because you deny their right been informed, and the boys Gus to breathe the same air and have written letters of apol- paddle the same pond that ogy and will have to perform you do. – Ed. community service. We certainly regret this CapeNature: the truth incident: poor behaviour of CapeNature would like to this nature that includes express its concern over blatant disrespect for adults the misleading article in is completely contrary to the nose126 about the duck sit- values the school seeks to uation at Sonstraal dam in instil in each of its boys and Durbanville. is never tolerated. You state that “CapeNa- Grant Nupen (principal) ture has resorted to chemi- Greg Brown (headmaster, cal warfare and scorched Prep School) earth tactics”. Not true. The Bishops, Rondebosch Sonstraal and Vygekraal Thank you for a prompt dams in Durbanville are un- and civilized response to the der the management of the problem. – Ed. City of Cape Town which has recently announced its No doubt plans to manage the water- Your unnamed correspond- “$%#%, not another serotonin suicide!” fowl in the dams. To date, ent (“More Municipal

4 noseweek Ma y 2010 Transnet and the River Club Madness”, Letters nose126) claims to have written to somebody who Transnet has written to noseweek object- as being about a sale which had actually does not exist, “the Honourable ing to various aspects of our report (in already taken place. Minister of Housing, Mr Mathews nose125) about Transnet’s dealings with an In his letter, Transnet spokesman John Phosa”; this is clearly a blatant lie allegedly politically well-connected com- Dludlu lists 15 points of contention relat- and casts doubt on the rest of the pany called Liesbeeck Leisure (Pty) Ltd. The ing to our article. These, he says “are some, story. report dealt in some detail with the leasing not all, the points we contest.” They make Dr Leteketa Makoro and possible sale of a Transnet property in for a long and tediously detailed argument Rivonia Cape Town known as The River Club. Our in print – even before we get to respond to You’d make a cruel school mistress. report suggested that, should Transnet them. In the circumstances we have decid- The letter was indeed written and be planning to sell the property (as part ed to publish the full list and our responses was in fact addressed to “The Hon- of its programme to dispose of “non-core” on our website, as part of our online edi- ourable Mr Mathews Phosa, ANC assets), matters have been set up so that tion. You will find it in “Letters”, to which Treasurer General”. It was received the lessee, Liesbeeck Leisure, (or anyone everyone has free access. Some of Tran- and signed for by his office on 11 to whom it might have assigned its rights), snet’s points we concede, many we don’t. July 2008. We have the signed copy. will be able to exercise a pre-emptive right We still maintain that the general drift of This was after our correspondent to buy it at a fraction of the property’s true our story holds. This simply serves as a cau- had written to the MEC for hous- value. Unfortunately the blurb beneath tionary notice: Transnet has placed many ing. (Both letters were to no avail.) the headline incorrectly flagged the story elements of our story in dispute. – Ed. We accidentally conflated the two in the process of editing a long, sad tale. There is no doubt about the truth of the story and the merit of the argument: the Johannesburg rates department stinks! – Ed. Bothas both “The Liquidator and the Taxman” (nose126) refers to “a firm [of at- torneys] called David Botha [that] issued invoices for R93,594...” The reference is absolutely not to me or my firm. Please clarify. David H Botha David Botha & Associates Sandton The firm we referred to is in fact the Johannesburg firm called David H Botha Du Plessis Kruger, and the David H Botha there referred to, we have since learned, was the late David Hercules Botha. We note that you are David Hum- phreys Botha and are happy to confirm that you are not the person referred to in our story. We regret any embarrassment our incomplete reference may inadvertently have caused you. – Ed.

noseweek Ma y 2010 5 ReaderDearLettersDear Reader 021 686 0570 Dear Reader Editor Martin Welz Banking on nationalisation [email protected] Managing editor ationalisation of South Africa’s mines letter of his own: a persiflage – a gently riling Hans Muhlberg has been a hot topic of conversation sendup – of Marcus’s letter. “The minority of Production editor in government circles for some time shareholders who sit on the board of directors Tony Pinchuck now. Its most obvious supporters are ... do not appear to care about the national Gauteng bureau chief to be found among the ANC’s left interests of the Republic of South Africa,” the Jack Lundin wingN alliance partners. No surprise there. But “Office of the Shareholder Caretaker” declares [email protected] here’s the curious bit: behind the scenes many in his letter. “They call the vast majority of News editor “white” mine owners, especially of South Af- shareholders ‘nuts’ and ‘greedy’ ... will not Mark Thomas rica’s failing gold mines, are all for it, too. discuss reasonable requests and never return [email protected] Surprised? If you think about it, the reasons phone calls.” Censor-in-chief are obvious: all the big profits have long ago Then the sting: “Currently, the bank lists a Len Ashton been pocketed; and looming ever larger as staggering R324bn in assets – all achieved with Sub-editor each day passes is the prospect of having to the same shareholders’ capital.” And, finally, the Chas Unwin pay the billions it is likely to cost to fix, or at big question: “Who are the rightful owners?” Cartoons least contain, the ecological disaster the min- By Duerr’s reckoning, the private share- Myke Ashley-Cooper, Gus Ferguson, ers are leaving behind. Get the state to nation- holders of the Reserve Bank are the owners of Stacey Stent alise the mines, and the taxspayer will end up a big chunk of that fabulous fortune. Cover art paying that nasty bill. In an accompanying document, Duerr sets a Dr Jack Avowed capitalists are not likely to openly fresh cat amongst the pigeons: he argues that Contributors plead the cause of nationalisation. But they a foreigner such as himself – a German citi- Andrew Jennings, Bheki Mashile, have gleefully discovered an indirect means of zen – who has invested in SA Reserve Bank Birgit Schwarz, Harold Strachan, achieving that end: get BEE partners to buy shares, has rights by virtue of the Bilateral In- Adam Welz you out – with public funding. When they soon vestment Treaty entered into between South Subscriptions go bust, as they must do, the ANC government Africa and Germany in 1995 and ratified in Maud Petersen is easily pressured to bail them out – with 1998. Rights that the local Reserve Bank [email protected] more taxpayer money. Act denies him. He intends approaching the Advertising White mine bosses might risk jail for failing (World Bank-sponsored) International Centre Adrienne de Jongh to fulfil their environmental obligations, but for the Settlement of Investment Disputes to Accounts the bets are that this is unlikely to happen to resolve the matter. Nicci Joubert-van Doesburgh the ANC’s friends and relatives in the mining ICSID rules prescribe that prior to the pro- business. ceedings the claimant must have unsuccess- Copyright All material in this issue is copy- Now see our story on page 16. fully tried to resolve the matter directly. On 19 right, and belongs to Chaucer Publications (Pty) Ltd, unless otherwise ­indicated. No part March, Duerr informed Pravin Gordhan about of the material may be quoted, photocopied, till on the subject of nationalisation: his claim and of South Africa’s alleged breach reproduced or be stored by any electronic German ex-banker and investment of the “Treaty between ... Germany and the system without prior ­written permission. consultant Michael Duerr, who man- Republic of South Africa concerning the En- Disclaimer While every reasonable effort is taken to ensure the accuracy and sound- aged to sour Tito Mboweni’s last years couragement and Protection of Investments”. ness of the contents of this ­publication, as governor of the SA Reserve Bank, “Unknowingly”, he assumes. neither the authors nor the publisher will hasS now managed to provoke Mboweni’s suc- The treaty supercedes local law. Duerr lists bear any responsibility for the consequences cessor, Gill Marcus, into addressing a letter to almost a dozen contraventions, and informs of any actions based on information con- tained. Printed and Published by Chaucer all the bank’s shareholders. In it the “Office the minister of his intention to “enforce the ­Publications (Pty) Ltd. of the Governor” declares its absolute opposi- missing corporate governance”. tion to the demands of those shareholders who He has also written to German Chancellor appear to support Duerr’s campaign for the Angela Merkel, asking for her government’s nationalisation of the bank. (It is understood support. SUBSCRIPTION RATES that this faction, by now, holds between 10% As we went to press, there was talk that Print and 30% of all shareholder votes.) local shareholders with the required minimum In her letter Marcus raises the patriotic 10% of votes intend calling on the chairman of SA only R336 forefinger, accusing “a very small minority of the board to convene the first-ever extraordi- Neighbouring states ­(airmail) R446 irresponsible shareholders” of having caused nary general meeting of shareholders. On the Europe, Americas and Australasia R530 all sorts of troubles for the bank, “a national agenda, apart from the corporate governance Internet edition asset”. She praises the good and “responsible” and accompanying shareholder issues, the pro- 1 year R278 shareholders whose interests are not “profit posers are said to be tabling a resolution calling Combined making” and who support the notion that the for an independent audit of the bank’s assets Print+Internet (SA only) R468 Reserve Bank “is neither designed nor expect- and liabilities. It is here that Duerr expects the To subscribe ed to maximise profits”, and says they should most resistance. “But,” he says, “the issues will By post: Send cheque with name, “exercise their rights and duties” as a “signifi- be dealt with, one way or another. It’s not going address and ­phone no. to: noseweek, cant contribution to the diversity necessary to go away like the flu.” PO Box 44538, Claremont 7735. for the achievement of the very broad consen- So you see, nationalisation is fashionable Via Internet (pay by credit card): sus on which we operate”. talk in high capitalist circles too. www.noseweek.co.za A few days later, Duerr responded with a The Editor 4341_Penquin_RM For further information call (021) 686 0570; fax 021 686 0573 or Not for sale to persons under the age of 18. email [email protected] 6 noseweek Ma y 2010

4341_KWV_RM Noseweek.indd 1 8/13/09 3:21:40 PM 4341_Penquin_RM Not for sale to persons under the age of 18. noseweek Ma y 2010 7

4341_KWV_RM Noseweek.indd 1 8/13/09 3:21:40 PM Andrew Jennings analyses the 2010 World Cup ballyhoo SEPP BLATTER’S GREAT FIFA RIPOFF

hmigod – they’re disaster overwhelming the World Cup from the outside. The Almighty Blatter here, in the in South Africa was the responsibility banned me from his press conferences lobby, with of somebody, anybody – but seven years ago, so I have to work from their nasty not them. the posed photos of the tieless tousled questions,” That’s how it duo, FIFA’s delusional press release, panicked looked the uncritical reporting of the 20 FIFA’s gen- handpicked notebooks – and truths eral secretary. in the wider world. I had feared “the Confident Sepp Blatter took charge. elephants” would be ignored. They “Point“ themO to the boardroom, were. spread them around that huge The meeting with the press table so they can’t gang up on us. was scripted as a matey “media Take your tie off, look relaxed – and round-table”, implying rumple your hair, man.” it was tasteless to And so Herr Blatter and the equally pose the questions immaculate Jérôme Valcke ripped off that should be their ties, glued warm smiles on their asked about the faces and bamboozled 20 foreign re- problems FIFA porters into believing that the tickets have created for Picture: Avusa

8 noseweek Ma y 2010 Andrew Jennings analyses the 2010 World Cup ballyhoo

the upcoming tournament. In the end ROLL UP, Blatter got away with a bland press re- lease that he had “discussed with jour- nalists the latest on football’s showpiece event”. Blatter and Valcke would have been ROLL UP! even happier reading the next day’s pa- pers. More tickets to be dumped in the ill billions of Rands’ high and dry – including people who laps of poor Africans. Poor FIFA will worth of 2010 World Cup sta- upgraded their self-catering or B&B take a hit (they claim), but no mention Wdia be filled mainly by South accommodation to meet MATCH Hos- of yet another blow to the ever-swelling Africans? If so, it will make nonsense pitality’s requirements, in order to be budget – the burden of South African of those original promises (which it listed on the MATCH website. Many taxpayers. And that was about it. In- was deemed “unpatriotic” or “anti- of these in the Cape Town area have nocuous reports emailed back to office. African” to question) that decades now learned, to their horror, that all Invisible to the hacks in the FIFA of debt would be offset by the World deals and bookings have been can- boardroom – so never mentioned in their Cup attracting hordes of dollar- and celled. reports – were three massive monsters, euro-spending soccer fans and tour- Andre du Toit of Somerset West, their grey slab backs crushed against ists. who as late as March was assured of the ceiling, their waving trunks casting And if those bearers of our good 78% occupancy, last month received shadows over the happy gathering. Two of these elephants, the Mexican fortune aren’t coming, it has an awful an email from MATCH cancelling all brothers Jaime and Enrique Byrom, lot to do with MATCH Hospitality do- bookings, and recommending that have been given the exclusive rights to ing its best to temporarily turn South he do his own marketing. Noseweek sell World Cup tickets. You’d think that Africa into the most expensive travel contacted twenty other operators in with hundreds of thousands of tickets destination in the world. the Somerset West area alone – all unsold the hacks would have questions As Fifa’s “worldwide exclusive rights had received similar emails. about why the Brothers repeatedly get holder of the official hospitality pro- FIFA, as the likes of Andrew Jen- this business. gramme”, MATCH has set absurdly nings (see main story) have warned, The third partner in that jungle trio high prices for travel and bed and plays the game according to its own is a young fellow with an uncanny re- board. European soccer fans book- rules, and their game is about mak- semblance to FIFA’s president. That ing their trip through FIFA/MATCH ing money, money and more money. is not a coincidence. Philippe Blatter, accredited agents stand to pay up FIFA’s own profits are guaranteed the nephew, partners the two Brothers to ten times what they’d normally through sale of TV broadcast rights in MATCH, the company with a lock expect to fork out when visiting the ($623m); marketing rights ($277m); on the corporate hospitality business. country. hospitality rights ($41m); licensing They’ve 380,000 precious tickets to sell Other “scare factors” (left to your rights ($10). for top dollar. What a small world is the imagination) are obviously involved, So if you’re wondering why FIFA, business of FIFA. but the FIFA/MATCH hyper-inflation despite all its high-tech infrastruc- If that’s not troubling enough, pay a of costs has doubtlessly led to the ture, was “unable” to disclose exactly visit to the home of Philippe’s Infront present situation where ticket sales how many tickets were still avail- company, in the Swiss city of Zug. The are a fraction of those projected, and able on 15 April, when public ticket lofty glass and steel modern offices for- merly housed the ISL sports marketing which is having devastating conse- sales were launched, just think sales company. ISL had contracts similar to quences for the local small-scale hos- pitch: “Rush out and buy, or you’ll be the ones Philippe also enjoys, minting pitality industry. left out.” Or would FIFA have other money by selling half the World Cup On 11 January, selected overseas reasons for not disclosing the exact television rights to eager broadcasters. travel agents (plus one, unnamed, number of available tickets? One ex- What happened to ISL? They paid from Africa) attending a MATCH Hos- pert’s guess is that the number of un- $100m in bribes to FIFA and other pitality sales agents workshop in sold tickets (as at 15 April) is at least sports officials for similar television and Zurich (at FIFA headquarters) were one million. marketing rights, and collapsed in debt. handed a fat document detailing From Philippe Blatter’s window he sees every aspect of handling the needs – 100 metres away – the Zug office of and wants of travellers to the 2010 the magistrate investigating who got World Cup. those bribes. The man who paid them is The price of four star accommoda- a close friend of Uncle Sepp. tion, was set at $325-$800 (R2,376 FIFA’s handout later that day was – R5,849) per night’s stay. This is headed “The fans are our priority”, and accommodation that would normally that was the end of it. Game, extra time cost you R500 to R1000 per night. and MATCH to the tousled tieless. While Sun International and its like In the boardroom general secretary are not affected (Sun reports that its Valcke had mentioned that MATCH’s rooms are fully booked for the pe- high-priced corporate packages were riod), small operators have been left selling slowly. Shortly afterwards the

noseweek Ma y 2010 9 those magnificent men & THEIR FLYING MACHINES tional flag and the dread words “South Africa”. Days later the airline posted a new elcome to sunny South Africa, during the 2010 World Cup. ad, headlined “Not next year, not last “but kindly make all payments to As for the recent Kulula spat: Comair year, but somewhere in between”. The WZurich”. as the holding company for both British player had lost his balls and was bare- The recent excitement about the cost Airways and Kulula, avoided putting all its foot, the stadium was unidentifiable. of domestic flights over the World Cup eggs in one basket, by signing for MATCH Why Blatter’s anger? MATCH is period, and alleged price-fixing collusion seats on BA flights, and not on budget Ku- charging clients a stupendous $755 between SAA and British Airways/Comair lula. But as regular Kululans know, a Kulula for return flights across the country to hid the main issue: the overseas ticket often puts you on a BA flight. Co- games. Kulula, charging between $140 bullies behind the price mair’s refusal to sign both their airlines to and $196, had to be suppressed. inflation itself. It was FIFA/MATCH, must have been the irritant Another number being suppressed is MATCH Hospitality that prompted FIFA to send Kulula that le- how much Blatter trousers every year. that set a fixed price gal letter demanding the airline with- FIFA have just produced its annual of $755 (R5,520) for draw its ad announcing themselves as report and, as is their custom, refuse its accredited carriers, the “unofficial national carrier of you- to follow best international practice for all domestic flights know-what”. and reveal individual remuneration of those at the top of the organisation. They won’t disclose expenses and per grisly truth was re- “sponsor” of a national association and diems claimed by the 24-member exec- vealed to a South African buy tickets with a face value of nearly utive committee – but be sure they are parliamentary committee. MATCH, $80,000. huge, and often unjustified. The only whose prices suggest they didn’t notice The smart guys jumped in, got their figure worth knowing is that after only when the lights went out at Lehman tickets, chucked away Honduras v eight years on the ruling body mem- Bros bank, have been significantly Chile at Mbombela stadium, and any bers get a pension. Last year $12m abandoned by the corporate world. similar games, and packaged the bet- was put aside for this. Jaime, Enrique and Blatter junior ter tickets with flights and rooms. A week ago Blatter revealed how he have sold 148,000 hospitality tickets (Nelspruit’s Mbombela stadium cost intends to prevent bribery in the con- but have a massive 194,000 left on the roughly R1bn, and will stage four for- tests to host the World Cup in 2018 or shelf. Overall, how many tickets are gettable round one games over 11 days 2022. His brilliant idea has amused unsold and will likely have to be given – and then itself be forgotten.) the brigade of reporters, consultants, away? No figure can be believed be- Soon hotels may be paying visitors strategists, launderers, spooks, ex- cause there’s sacks of them stuck with to take rooms. A German travel agent spooks, criminals and charlatans who the Elephants’ agents and listed as says the Bros and Blatter Jnr and their discuss little else but which of the two “sold” – but aren’t. The truth is: prob- MATCH company are quietly offering dozen voters will pocket bribes, who ably in excess of 800,000. The most four-star hotels for one-star prices. “It’s will pay them and the routes the mon- devastating number reflects that, of a huge dump,” they told me. This agent ey will take. The president’s answer? the 660,000 allocated to diehard fans and their rivals are themselves now His ethics committee will send a strict of the 32 finalists, only 185,000 have big in the dumping business, jettison- letter to the bidders. been snapped up. ing thousands of reserved hotel nights If anybody defies him they risk... not It’s hard to see all the marquees in and hundreds of flights. very much. FIFA’s toothless ethics en- those magnificent “Hospitality Villag- This hasn’t stopped FIFA’s expen- forcers, who have no ability to monitor es” alongside the stadiums, illustrated sive lawyers chasing South Africans bidders, no police and no investigative in the MATCH brochure, ever being with a sense of humour. The Kulula powers are the guarantee of fat city built. Legions of suppliers, chefs and no-frills airline produced an a d and offshore bank accounts. waitresses will be sent away because claiming to be “The Unof- But even as the crisis of un- Blatter’s cronies thought they could ficial National sold tickets and unbooked bleed the fans during a global econom- Carrier of the facilities deepened, Blatter ic recession. You-Know- had more important things When the Bros set up their 2010 What”. to do, as he manoeuvers to FIFA-approved ticket business, travel W h a m ! defeat the challenge to his agents paid $30,000 to enter the ring In roared presidency expected next and guarantee to pay more for a range FIFA’s year from Asian football of games. The result: a daily stream thought po- leaders. Blatter turned of emails spinning around the planet lice, scream- up in Saudi Arabia – sent by agents trying to unload un- ing that whose “generosity” wanted tickets on each other. sponsors were in football politics Now the Bros, desperate to empty being ambushed is legendary – an- their warehouses of inventory, have and threatening vast nouncing: “I know created their own parallel black mar- financial penalties for il- very well that the ket. Anyone – you, me, the bloke lustrating the ad with soc- best way to win Arab over there in the corner of the bar – cer balls, a player, a Cape support for my candidature could cough up $30,000, become a Town stadium, the na- is to come to Saudi Arabia.”

10 noseweek Ma y 2010 Picture: Avusa Birgit Schwarz profiles Bafana Bafana’s Teko Modise FEAR OF FAILURE

eko Modise, Bafana Bafa- role model for the country’s youth. na’s wiry 27-year-old Unlike so many stars who suddenly midfielder, would never shoot to fame and wealth, Modise have risen from outcast does not figure in headlines about street kid to being the paternity suits or sexual harass- face of South African soc- ment, and he hasn’t drunkenly cer had it not been for crashed a sports car into a school the tenacity and keen wall, or been spotted hanging out eye of football old-timer Steve Mn- with the drug crowd. Instead, he guni.T Having spotted Modise chas- does things like having himself pub- ing the ball on the dusty grounds lically tested for HIV, and urging his of the township, when the quick- fans to do the same. footed, aspiring youngster had just When he talks about football and turned twelve, Mnguni stayed at his how the sport gave his life direction protégé’s side until he had secured a and a future, the gleam in his eyes professional contract for him leaves no doubt: playing soccer is The young player’s rise to fame more than a job. “Everything in my was steep, and seemingly unstop- life,” he says, “happened because of pable: From obscure player for football. Football is my life.” third-rate clubs to midfield maes- All the more important, then, to tro for one of the country’s oldest stay on top of his game – but he’s professional soccer teams, Orlando been struggling for form since last Pirates, to occasional captain of the year’s Confederations Cup. This national squad, and ambassador of hasn’t escaped his coach and his the “Player Escort Programme“ for fans, and as his goal rate drops, he the 2010 FIFA World Cup. is tormented by a growing fear of Within three years of his debut failure. Those who don’t perform for Bafana Bafana, the diminu- are headed for the bench, out of the tive, slightly-built Modise has be- limelight. Fans turn their backs and come a key player for the national managers look elsewhere. Nothing team and, until a recent downturn, scares “The General” more than the scored many a goal for the nation. idea of being relegated to the life of Twice, he received the Premier Soc- a nobody, something he once knew cer League’s Footballer of the Year all too well. award, and last year his contempo- Like Diego Maradona and Zin- raries voted him Players’ Player of edine Zidane, Modise grew up in an the Season. environment that was, as he puts it, The fans love him for his ability “no good for any kid”. Like them, his to outplay and outrun bigger, more story is of meteoric rise from slum powerfully built opponents, with the boy to celebrated player. Unlike speed and suppleness of a panther. those older soccer legends, however, They adore it when he takes com- when Modise attracts attention it is mand of the action with the fearless always, and only, due to slick moves confidence of the leader of a street on the field, and not off. Bafana Bafana’s Teko Modise gang. It’s earned him his nickname Because “he could move with the of “The General”. ball like no other”, says Steve Mn- His sponsors appreciate him as a guni, the boy from Meadowlands,

noseweek Ma y 2010 11 Picture: Avusa

Teko Modise is fouled by Spain’s Raul Albiol at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein during last year’s Confederations Cup

Soweto, achieved what kids in pov- had moved from one place to another, day when, in June 2008, a whole sta- erty-stricken townships and ghettos all over Diepkloof and Orlando East, dium celebrated, with a standing ova- around the world dream of: he escaped in Soweto. He never had a real home tion, his outstanding performance and the given fate of destitution, unem- in those days, only a temporary roof contribution to South Africa’s 4:1 vic- ployment, drugs and alcohol. over his head provided by small-time tory over Equatorial Guinea. “You will never be anybody” was soccer entrepreneurs, in exchange for Homeless township boys don’t find something the homeless boy heard all plying his quick-footed skills on their their way to the top too often: and with too often. The phrase haunts him still. teams. South Africa’s Football Association When, finally, at age seventeen, he got For a bed in a backyard shack and still lacking a systematic approach to his chance because Mnguni saw in a plate of pap, Modise played for ob- fostering talent at grassroots level, the him what others didn’t, Modise bawled scure township clubs, fantasising all discovery of disadvantaged youngsters with relief. At last he needn’t worry the while about his moment in the with unique ability and skills is left to where his next meal would come from: limelight, when, to the approving roar chance – or to men like Mnguni. Since it was time to prove the world wrong of his fans, he would tower over op- the 51-year-old former Orlando Pirates and strike out in the direction of his ponents and teammates alike, with forward resigned from professional dream – to become “The best footballer cunning moves and unstoppable kicks. soccer, he has travelled the country’s in South Africa”. Instead of practising multiplication ta- impoverished urban settlements and Modise was barely eight years old bles he rehearsed signing autographs; rural neighbourhoods, on the lookout when he and his mother were chased inspired by sports magazines he prac- for new talent. In the undernourished, away by the family – for reasons he has tised giving interviews; on the fields promising youngsters that he finds never learned. At first the outcast boy of his imagination he was already a and nurtures, is ignited a hunger for was lodged with acquaintances and superstar. success and the dream of kicking their friends. He soon realised he was on Had it not been for Steve “Stimela” way out of misery. It fuels an ambition his own, and that only his soccer skills Mnguni, Modise’s fantasies would to outshine each other on the dusty would help him survive and, maybe, have remained just that. The talented soccer fields of the townships. become somebody. By age fifteen, he midfielder would never have seen the By the time someone came knock-

12 noseweek Ma y 2010 ing on the door of Modise’s Diepkloof from his eyes reveals, more than words wants to give it all up. He slips on his shack, one ice-cold winter morning could, that, having fought his way to headphones and turns up the hip-hop, nine years ago, to tell him “there is a the top, the former nobody fears being not to hear what the world might be guy who wants to see you”, the boy had crushed by his origins. saying. His success not only increased almost lost hope. He almost did not go. Since professional soccer is about his expectations of himself, it has also After twenty minutes on the pitch, making money, not saving souls, nei- created a warm interest among his the slight, nifty outcast had shown ther his manager nor his coach have relatives in the balance of his bank ac- so much magic with the ball that he an ear for his agonised self-doubts, or count. A player like Modise is likely to was signed up for then PSL team Ria the paralysing fear he feels of a plunge be earning around R100,000 a month, Stars. back into oblivion. Even his former plus bonuses of various kinds – though From that day on, says Modise, he mentor, the man who led him from 25% goes to his manager. has hardly looked back; but when he does, it’s in anger. The one thing the man with silky skills has not been able to forgive or forget is that no one in his Nobody in his family believed in him family believed in him. So when things don’t go his way, when his passes don’t reach deep enough into the opponents’ penalty area, when, pink boots or not, the wasteland, shows little sympathy, “Relatives look at me as this jackpot,” he doesn’t find a way past an opponent, having groomed many new players of Modise says, resentfully. “All they ever the fear returns that, after all, those similar talent. “I have two boys now, want to talk about is money.” Yes – the who doubted his ability were right. excellent players – better than Teko,” people who for so many years wanted For months now, Modise has been says Mnguni. “But this time – I sell nothing to do with him. So he keeps struggling to keep his form, and the them overseas. There is nothing they his phone turned off and his thoughts fear of failure returns to haunt him, can learn here.” focused on escaping – a contract in Eu- again and again. “It kills me,” he con- Sometimes, says Modise, when he rope would be his biggest dream come fesses. “Old memories come back.” As feels he can’t get anything right, and true. It might liberate him from the thoughts of the past flood in, the anxi- the mediocrity of South African soccer haunting fear that the past might one ety that suddenly snatches the gleam frustrates him like nothing else, he day catch up with him.

noseweek Ma y 2010 13 Notes & Updates Memories are made of this ax guru Costa Divaris has come back of proceedings”, then left them of R12,000 in settlement, because at noseweek panting and snorting. “reeling with shock... with jellied her circumstances have changed TThe nose125 report about legal knees ... their case in tatters”. and she now has a full-time job. proceedings between Divaris and ex Then things “went berserk, Divaris’s legal team, she says, partner Karen Ovis must have jerked with Ovis bawling away in did not give the required no- a couple of strings. the corridors of the Rand- tice of their intention to The March edition of Divaris’ news- burg courts for half an argue for the striking out letter Tax Shock Horror carried a piece hour... while the adults of material from her af- tastefully headed “Those arseholes present tapped their fidavit, and didn’t even at noseweek & the Domestic Violence feet impatiently”. specify what should be Act”. In it he bellows moodily about his Finally, knowing struck out. “great victory” at the Randburg mag- they would be Moreover, she says, Di- istrate’s court, when the matter of his “slaughtered”, varis himself made the challenge to a court order awarded to Ovis’s legal offer to settle – despite Ovis was heard on 18 March. team withdrew his previous insistence According to the tax maestro, when their applica- that he wanted his day his legal team applied to strike out tion for a final in court. As for the “bawl- much of Ovis’s replying affidavit, she order. And quite ing”, Ovis says she was was driven to agree that the interim right too, says upset because Divaris’s order she’d obtained be set aside. Di- Divaris, because the Domestic Violence lawyer verbally attacked her, causing varis’s lawyers also make the defence Act “does not authorise the court to en- her to temporarily leave the court and of lis pendens, pointing out that Ovis force the collection of a debt”. be comforted by her daughter Olenka. was unlawfully seeking the same relief This isn’t how Karen Ovis recalls it. Whose word can be trusted? No in two different proceedings. She insists that she willingly agreed noseweek arseholes were present in As Divaris tells it, his counsel “elec- to the withdrawal of the interim order court, so we can’t verify who might be trified the other side right at the start she’d obtained, accepting final payment giving the accurate version of this new

Stent 14 noseweek Fe b r u a r y 2010 Doc Watch episode in an obviously painful squab- ble. (Divaris notes that it was “a day marked by the absence of any repre- Lucky to sentative of that industrious organ”.) But we nose to read affadavits and reach our own arsehole conclusions. be alive Divaris claims he owes Ovis nothing and this matter will be decided by the High Court; he denies they ever lived together as man and wife; he denies there was a pooling of assets (it was t’s back to mom in rural Lesotho for machine. a commercial arrangement whereby young mother Puleng (“Poppy”) Poppy was discharged the following Ovis lent him the money interest-free, IKomane after her grim experience day, to shock her employer with her ac- in return for rent-free accommodation); giving birth to a baby at Johannesburg count of what happened. The baby re- he denies that he is aggressive or ever General Hospital. Poppy’s still in shock, mained in the hospital for about four intimidated Ovis. claiming that the delivery nurse tossed more days, fighting for her life, before In reply, Ovis claims that Divaris her newborn baby girl into a rubbish Sufiya was summoned to come and signed FICA documentation confirming bin. fetch her. “She was a tiny little bun- her as co-owner of his house. She says Accusations of rudeness and arro- dle and weighed only 1.5kg,” says Su- she suffered serious physical symp- gance on the part of nurses and medi- fiya. “But after a few days she started toms from years of stress, occasioned cal staff at Joburg Gen, now renamed putting on weight and was feeding by Divaris. (She once had to move into the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg well.” a hotel after Divaris humiliated her in Academic Hospital, are regularly made. Dr Morris Sack, the Care Cross doc- a restaurant, by screaming “I will talk But tossing Poppy’s baby girl into a tor who saw Poppy at his Emmarentia to you however I want, whenever I rubbish bin takes the once-model hos- surgery on 28 October, looked up his want, whichever way I want. Fuck you pital to new depths. notes. He then confirmed the date and and fuck off”.) It happened, claims 29-year-old Pop- said: “She was complaining of a back Ovis attaches a report from a social py, last October 28. Poppy had been pain and lower abdominal pain. I ex- worker, which reports her “post trau- working as a domestic in Joburg’s amined her and said: ‘Hey, you’re preg- matic stress... exacerbated by the con- Greenside for nearly a year when she nant – and you’re going to have your tinual feeling of fear for her safety”. complained of a sore back. Her em- baby!’ Ovis rubbishes Divaris’s denial that ployer, Sufiya Najjaar, took her to Care “She was in labour; she had just they lived as man and wife, attach- Cross GP Dr Morris Sack in Emmaren- started.” ing an affidavit from her mother, Anne tia, who told Poppy she was pregnant Did he pick up the baby’s heartbeat? Brussouw, who apparently lived with and in labour. “This was a huge shock,” “I haven’t got a record of that here,” the couple for a few months in 2005. says Sufiya. “Poppy didn’t know she said Dr Sack. But he would, presum- Mrs Brussouw says there were only was pregnant!” ably have recorded any indication that two bedrooms, “one of which was mine, She drove Poppy to Joburg Gen, the unborn child was dead. and the other, which had one double where there they found the usual long Told of Sufiya Najjaar’s account of bed, was occupied by my daughter and queues and waited for hours to see a the rubbish bin saga at Joburg Gen, Costa Divaris. I can confirm that they doctor. “I cannot tell you how rude and the GP echoes a general sentiment: definitely cohabited... On numerous uncaring the nurses were,” says Sufiya. “I’m absolutely shocked.” visits since 2005, I can confirm that “Poor Poppy had to stand for ages be- Sufiya Najjaar has two children of they were living as husband and wife... fore they gave her a chair.” her own and the family has now re- On not a single occasion while I was Poppy, in labour and considerable located to Cape Town. “Poppy was go- living with them did Costa buy any pain, was finally admitted to a mater- ing to come to Cape Town with us, but food or household items... He never nity ward. Sufiya then left and what the trauma of her treatment at Joburg cooked, or made tea or coffee for him- followed is based on her subsequent Gen was too much for her,” says Sufi- self or anyone else, and never helped in close questioning of Poppy. The domes- ya. “She’s taken her baby back to her the preparation of meals... when he got tic recounted how her pleas for help to mother in Lesotho.” home from the office he sat down and go to the toilet were ignored and she We asked Barney Selebano, chief ex- didn’t move, until he was told the food soiled her bed. “A nurse screamed and ecutive at Johannesburg General/Char- was ready”. swore at her and beat her across the lotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic She ends her affidavit thus: “I was head,” reports Sufiya. Hospital, to comment on Poppy’s claim with Karen and Olenka when I saw A doctor who examined Poppy was un- that her newborn baby was tossed into Costa and a young woman walking able to find the baby’s heartbeat. “Your a rubbish bin. There was no response hand-in-hand in Rivonia. It was obvi- baby will be born dead,” he told her by the time noseweek went to press. ous that they were an item. She was brusquely. Two hours later Poppy gave n Joburg Gen, in Joburg’s Parktown, about 25 and he is about 65 – which birth. “A nurse just tossed the premature has 1088 beds and, according to its proves the old adage ‘there’s no fool baby into a rubbish bin,” says Sufiya. website, has a professional and sup- like an old fool’.” By a miracle, a passing nurse glanced port staff of over 4000. It is the main Are these observations on his life into the rubbish bin and saw the baby teaching hospital for the University of perhaps the matter Divaris wanted girl’s nose twitching. The infant was Witwatersrand’s Faculty of Health Sci- struck from Ovis’ affidavit? retrieved and placed on a breathing ences.

noseweek Ma y 2010 15 Polluted water flowing into the Blesbokspruit

The heroes of Shaft 3

id-April 2010: staff of Shaft 3 at the Grootvlei gold mine outside Springs are joking about walking off the job. Most of the 30-odd work- Miners fight to stem the poisoned ersM have not been paid since January. For weeks now, senior management Grootvlei waters – but will anyone go to haven’t given them a straight answer about money or equipment – or even jail for allowing this mess to develop? about whether or not the mine should still be operating. The equipment is old and keeps fail- Shaft 3’s men have not joined the dolomitic formations that are a fea- ing. Things are getting unsafe under- strike embarked on by the majority of ture of the Witwatersrand (“Ridge of ground. Pipe explosions in the main Grootvlei’s 2,000-odd workers to pro- clear waters”) – the giant underground shaft have ripped 200kg chunks of test their unpaid salaries – though rock sponges that were once filled rock out of the walls – mercifully while some have had cars and houses repos- with streams and caverns, constantly no-one was around. sessed since their pay stopped coming topped up by seeping rainwaters. Anger threatens to overwhelm the through. But the springs stopped flowing normally calm demeanour of one of Why are they still on the job? Be- from the 1880s onward, when mining them. “I’m not going to just abandon cause on the operations of Shaft 3 came to the area. As miners bored and the shaft suddenly without thinking, depends the future of the whole East blasted through the water-filled do- unless it gets too much and I strip my Rand – Brakpan, Nigel, Springs, the lomites, their shafts constantly filled moer”, he says, echoing the feelings of surrounding farms and remaining with water, and mining companies his workmates. mines, the Marievale wetland and its began installing pumping stations The directors of Aurora Empower- world-famous birdlife, the whole sorry underground to suck the rock aqui- ment Systems, which operates Groot- lot. The crew of Shaft 3 know it: theirs fers dry, pumping the water into riv- vlei, have told many lies at press con- is the last pumpshaft still in operation ers on the surface, and depriving the ferences. These meetings are held at on the Far East Rand. natural springs of their underground a safe distance from the mine, as the source. As the mines went deeper they directors’ shiny new Mercedes-Benzs prings, east of Johannesburg, got pumped from deeper down. By 1955 and high-end SUVs, some purchased its name from the many springs 24 mines had shafts deep into the Far in February, are no longer welcome in of pure, abundant water that East Rand Basin (impermeable rock the main office parking lot, where an- European settlers found in the formations deep under Brakpan and gry, hungry workers regularly gather area. Good for farming. The Springs form a giant “basin which to protest. waterS welled up from the massive isolates the underground waters in 16 16 noseweek Ma y 2010 it from other “basins” underlying the tain desirable chemical reactions. Af- rest of the Witwatersrand). ter mixing in an aeration tank, a floc- The number of mines – and under- culant is added to induce the metals ground pumping stations – on the and metal salts to settle as a reddish East Rand has dropped steadily since sludge in large clarifying tanks. the ’50s. Today, only one station is still The water, now clear, but still slight- running in all of the Far East Rand ly contaminated, is then channelled Basin, 775 metres down Grootvlei’s into the reed-choked Blesbokspruit, Shaft 3. just upstream of the world-reknowned If Shaft 3’s pumps stop, the water Marievale Bird Sanctuary, listed under level in the basin will rise at an av- the Ramsar convention as a globally erage rate of 90cm a day, through the important wetland. The Blesbokspruit mine shafts and underground water- ultimately flows into the economically courses, into the now-dry dolomitic vital Vaal River. aquifers. Just over two years after Grootvlei mine’s Water Use Licence that, huge volumes of water will be- stipulates that the mine must re- gin flowing from old springs and mine duce iron concentration in the AMD shaft openings all over the East Rand. it pumps to 1 part per million (ppm) (The first “decant point” is predicted to before discharging it. (It’s normally be beneath an old taxi rank in Nigel.) 200ppm or higher when it exits the Besides the fact that it will signal shaft.) Aurora Empowerment Sys- the end of mining in the area, the “re- tem’s directors can be jailed in terms watering” of the Far East Rand Basin of the Water Act, according to Water will bring catastrophe: this time it Affairs officials, should they allow con- won’t be pure “white” water gushing taminated water to enter a river. It of Shaft from boreholes and springs, it’ll be would be interesting to see action tak- 3 toxic Acid Mine Drainage (the dreaded en on that one: Noseweek has estab- AMD) – with devastating consequenc- lished from various sources that Shaft es for anyone or any operation that 3’s water treatment systems were not depends on clean water, across the cleaning the water for a week in Janu- densely populated East Rand or any- ary, two weeks in February, for all but where downstream from there. seven days of March and from 1 to 20 April (when this story went to press). n August last year nose118 reported Contaminated water has been pass- that AMD is threatening the West ing though the treatment plant with- Rand, where high concentrations out having lime and flocculant added, of uranium are contaminating and, in the latter part of this period, aquifers and toxic water is begin- without being aerated. At an average ningI to seep to the surface near Rand- rate of over 100 megalitres per day, al- fontein. The AMD forming in the Far ready over 5,000 megalitres of heavily East Rand Basin is less radioactive, contaminated water have been drawn but there’s more of it. Shaft 3’s massive from Shaft 3 and diverted into one of This space is a snip at underground pumps push up about the country’s most important wetlands 80 to 90 megalitres a day during the – almost 2000 Olympic swimming O N LY dry winter, but have been stretched pools since the beginning of the year. to 108 megalitres a day to cope with Each day now another 100 megalitres the massive water ingress during leaves the shaft, day after day. the extraordinarily rainy summer of Why has this happened? The elec- 2009/2010. (A megalitre is a million tricity to run Shaft 3’s mega-pumps R1800... litres, roughly a third of the volume costs about R3.5m per month, the (Plus VAT) of an Olympic swimming pool.) The lime another R1.5m. With salaries main contaminants in the AMD that and extras, it costs a total of R5.5m Why not try Grootvlei pumps are manganese and per month to run Shaft 3 and its wa- iron compounds, which give a muddy ter treatment works. Since the AMD it for size? reddish colour. pumped at Shaft 3 flows in from all By the early 1990s, government, over the Far East Rand Basin, govern- Karoo Business made aware of the environmental ment subsidises Shaft 3’s operations [email protected] threat, had forced Grootvlei to build by R3m to R5m per month (different a treatment plant to remove the iron, sources report different amounts). But and some other toxic metals, from the Aurora spokesperson Thulane Ngu- 021 686 0570 water being pumped from the mine. bane claims that for some time now Oxygen and lime are added to the the subsidy has not been forthcoming AMD as it exits the top of the shaft, to from the state. make it less acidic and speed up cer- Officials in the Department of

noseweek Ma y 2010 17 Striking workers at Grootvlei Mine

Minerals and Energy say they have extremely late. Senior officials from they’ve not released. (Maybe the lab been holding on to it because Aurora Minerals and Energy have visited the isn’t operational either? – Ed.) In has given them three different account non-operational treatment plant, tut- mid-April the mine was served with a numbers – they’re not sure which one tutted, and disappeared without tak- “Section 53” directive, which will force to use. Nor do they know where the ing any discernible action. them to explain to Water Affairs why money is actually going. The Blue Scorpions, South Africa’s they have not been treating the wa- What is the government doing about water police, have taken two water ter; although a step forward, it doesn’t this pollution disaster? Very little; samples, the full results of which force the mine to actually start treat- ing the stuff again. And Minister of Water and Environ- mental Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica – ex minister of Minerals and Energy – told ID MP Lance Greyling that she’d never heard of Grootvlei mine, did not know where it was and had no knowl- edge of its role in water pollution man- agement. Aurora’s chief strategist for merg- ers and acqusitions, Fazel Bhana, has claimed that the treatment plant was out of action “for only two days in April”. And that, he further claimed, was only because striking miners blocked the entrance to Shaft 3, pre- vented a lime truck from entering. Bhana is notorious among journal- ists and union officials for the stream of easily exposed untruths that stream from his keyboard and lips. Noseweek has monitored the situation at the mine for weeks and can confirm that striking miners have not come within a kilometre of the gates of the treat- ment plant. It’s hard not to conclude that the rea- son Aurora’s directors have escaped serious repercussions, while presiding over one of the country’s more serious water pollution and labour crises, is their political connections: the chair

18 noseweek Ma y 2010 of the Aurora board is 26-year-old Pamodzi owes the Bayerische Hypo K I N G S Zondwa Gaddafi Mandela, Nelson’s und Vereins Bank AG (HVB), with an ESTATE AGENTS less-talented grandson, and eldest son almost immediate payment of R15m, MARKET LEADERS IN of Zindzi. the balance of R190m to follow on PARKTOWN NORTH Khulubuse Zuma, President Zuma’s transfer of ownership and licenses. PARKHURST nephew (who styles himself as “son” According to well-placed sources, to the Big Man – he was regularly Aurora has paid only just short of CRAIGHALL PARK present at Zuma’s rape trial, to give R10m for Pamodzi’s East Rand as- support) is an executive director. The sets. They’ve failed to submit monthly The only place you will find president’s wheeler-dealer lawyer, progress reports, failed to pay HVB, us in NOSEWEEK is right here Michael Hulley, is listed as non-exec- failed to pay workers for months, ANDREW 083 655 0366 utive director. failed to pay Eskom, Rand Water, GREGOR 082 829 6969 Along with his father and co-Aurora SARS, Protea Coin Security, Fraser advisor, Solly Bhana, Fazel Bhana is Alexander (who maintain the mine’s alleged to have been involved in seri- waste dumps), Equity (the hostel ca- ous financial crime over the last dec- terer) and a host of smaller suppliers ade, including massive tax evasion for everything from pumps to vehi- The 1 Watt PC and insider trading on the JSE. Khulu cles. The state of the mine’s hostels is Zuma told the media he asked the worse than during the apartheid era – The GREENEST computing on earth Bhanas to come on board because of raw waste water runs past rooms that their experience. each house eight men, with shattered Rounding out the core team is Bash- windows and leaking roofs. General eer Moosa, a financial manager who miners are paid a mere R1,350 per Save began arriving at the mine in February month. in a brand new Mercedes worth almost Miners told noseweek that two of 90% on R2m, just as the company announced it their colleagues died underground this electricity had no money to pay workers. year (a shift boss and his “picannin”) after they were overcome by mine gas. urora Empowerment Systems took Their gas-sensing equipment failed Cut down on expensive PCs for your over the running of Grootvlei due to lack of maintenance. business and start saving on energy, mine in October 2009 in terms Millions deducted from workers’ maintenance and theft costs. of a deal with the liquidators salaries for unemployment insur- Over half a million users in South Africa. of Pamodzi Gold East Rand. ance and provident funds has not been paid over. An amount of R7.5m AuroraA persuaded the liquidators to Visit www.ncs.co.za or call 011-465-7952 allow them to begin operating the for gold processed in the Grootvlei mine immediately, rather than leav- plant for Copper Eagle 108 CC has ing it in “care and maintenance” (i.e. disappeared, and mineworkers of all mothballed, with only basic functions ranks tell noseweek that truckloads of running) so that it could generate rev- ore brought up from Grootvlei shafts All products come with a 3 year swap out warranty enue instead of being a liability to the are not processed on site but quietly liquidators. Full ownership and all driven on to other plants on the East relevant licences were meant to be Rand, presumably so the gold does not transferred to them between January reflect on Grootvlei’s books. PASSWORD 1: and April this year. Tens of millions seem to have been Of the five joint provisional liquida- paid to the Bhana family for various tors of Pamodzi Gold East Rand, En- services including “consulting fees”, Y2CvRuWio2369X ver Motala (see noses113,115&126), but Aurora is strongly resisting a fo- took the lead in promoting Aurora’s rensic audit. bid over others, primarily on the basis Directors, advisors and mine man- PASSWORD 2: of their “good names”, the R390m they agers all clearly mistrust each other. were offering for Pamodzi East Rand Workers have been on strike for a and their promise to retain all work- month. Many have left to seek work ers and assume the environmental li- elsewhere. abilities of the mine. Much of Aurora’s Will anyone go to jail for this mess? capital was to come from Malaysia. (It Will the sacrifices made by the men at didn’t. When the Malaysians learned Shaft 3 prove worthwhile? Is Ms Son- something about their new partners’ jica capable of taking prompt action? business practices, they wisely decided Don’t hold your breath. If you think to hang on to their cash. – Ed.) the crowd running the Grootvlei mine Aurora was to compile monthly re- are bad, remember this: it’s their un- ports to the liquidators, detailing the cles and aunties who are running the amount of gold mined and sold, as government. Same taste in flash cars, well as all financial flows. They were same distaste for audits and book- keeping. also to start paying back the R205m THE UNFORGETTABLE PASSWORD

noseweek Ma y 2010 19 COVER-UPValor The squalid tender scandal the director-general of trade doesn’t want you to know about

n an explosive new twist to the Rob Davies decided it was imperative concerning payment for SSG’s work. Cipro/Valor IT tender scandal that the right or wrong of the ECM The original contract stipulated a (noses114,115,117), noseweek can tender award to Valor IT be established period of three to six months, with a reveal how a top official in the once and for all. The minister ordered a payment of R1m per month. When Department of Trade & Industry forensic report. Ntuli sent the contract back, the pay- hasI killed a high-level investigation or- This was to be conducted by Spe- ment had been reduced to R1m for the dered by Minister Rob Davies into the cialised Services Group (SSG), a body entire stipulated period. R153m award. of private, somewhat controversial, SSG had already contracted a team Although Minister Davies and, to a sleuths, headed by Warren Goldblatt. of nine professionals, including an ad- certain extent, his director-general at In its previous life SSG was Associated vocate, forensic accountants and ex Trade & Industry, Tshediso Matona, Intelligence Networks, or AIN, whose Scorpion investigators, to do the audit were determined to establish the truth activities in the Brett Kebble saga and – and at an average fee of R50,000 per behind the controversial ECM (Enter- its evidence-gathering techniques on month apiece, their wages alone came prise Content Management) tender behalf of SA Eagle make it no stranger to R450,000 per month. After a couple 398, deputy director-general Zodwa to readers of noseweek. of months SSG would be running the Ntuli appears to be winning the battle Minister Davies gave SSG a clear probe at a loss. to keep the squalid affair under wraps. mandate: a significant part of its terms However, by the time Ntuli had jug- The big question is: why the cover- of reference was to probe the Valor IT gled the contract, the SSG sleuths had up? Did something go on in this tender tender award. A secondary target was already uncovered enough to realise award that could prove deeply embar- to investigate the growing problem that noseweek’s Valor IT revelations rassing to government (i.e. the ruling within Cipro of cloned companies and (which were rubbished by Cipro chief party)? How come a deputy director- identity theft. (More than 140,000 com- executive Keith Sendwe, whose denials general feels free to countermand the panies have supposedly been cloned, the media then dutifully reported) were orders of her minister? Is someone at a resulting in rampant VAT fraud and in fact substantially correct. There was higher level pulling strings? providing “cover” companies for organ- something very wrong with how ten- Last April noseweek broke the story ised crime networks). der 398 had been handed on a plate to of the 2008 ECM tender award to un- SSG drafted a business plan and Valor IT. known Valor IT (nose114). The tender, terms of reference based on the minis- For a start, the investigators asked to upgrade the information technology ter’s mandate. The investigators were themselves how tiny unknown Valor system used by the DTI’s Companies instructed to report to the “project IT managed to get onto the approved and Intellectual Property Registration manager”: deputy director-general vendors list at Sita, the State Informa- Office (Cipro) had been quietly award- Zodwa Ntuli. tion Technology Agency? Sita’s head of ed to Valor IT, despite a near 50% lower And Ntuli sent the minister’s con- procurement at the time was Fantas bid of R60m by JSE-listed Faritec. tract back to SSG. The job, she decreed, Mobu. Mobu, who describes himself in But it is through events connected was to focus almost exclusively on com- his blog as “very political”, was in 2006 to a parallel investigation that the re- pany cloning. The probe ordered into revealed by Beeld and Die Burger as bellious and devious hand of deputy Valor IT and the R153m ECM tender one of several high profile individuals director-general Zodwa Ntuli is now award was to all intents and purposes with ANC links who were shareholders displayed. eliminated from the inquiry. in Sondolo IT, which had been awarded Last year Trade & Industry minister Ntuli also dropped a bombshell prison tenders worth almost R500m by

20 noseweek Ma y 2010 the Department of Correctional Serv- agement and corruption. ation members,” he says. “All external ices. The four are: Cipro chief executive evaluation members were appointed Mobu left Sita in 2008 to become head Keith Sendwe; his chief information by Twum-Darko himself.” of procurement at Airports Company officer, Ghanaian-born Michael Twum- The evaluation team members did South Africa. When SSG investigators Darko; Valor IT chief executive Josias not understand the concepts and con- questioned Sita staff about Mobu’s role Molele; and Mantra Consulting boss tent of the required ECM solution “and in putting Valor IT on the approved Abe Mbulawa. therefore could and did not evaluate vendors list, there was much mirth at SSG says the Valor IT tender award the various tenders correctly”. mention of the man known to one and must be cancelled and there should be Pienaar stated that he refused to all as “Mister Five Percent”. a complete revision of an ECM solution verify the disqualification of the lowest Chief operations officer Melanie Ber- for Cipro. priced vendor (Faritec), insisting there nard-Fryer, who had been suspended The few affidavits SSG managed to was no reason for disqualification. His for refusing to sign the ECM business take from Cipro sources before they protest was “discarded”. case in 2008, gave the SSG investiga- were pulled off the job have been passed His affidavit continues: “I was under tors a list of some 30 individuals at to the police, who are supposedly inves- the impression that Cipro would com- Cipro who might assist with whistle- tigating. For example, Peet Pienaar, an pile a shortlist of the three vendors to blowing. Interviews began, and eight independent consultant, was contract- schedule a presentation and site visit. or nine affidavits taken – some with ed by Cipro as enterprise architect and The vendor Valor IT CC was, however, devastating content. tasked to compile a business case and appointed without the above proposed Then, without warning or explana- request Sita to get quotes from vendors presentations and site visits. tion, deputy director-general Zodwa for tender 398. “We were only able to scrutinise Val- Ntuli terminated SSG’s mandate. The Pienaar stated in his affidavit that, or’s proposal/solution after they were entire investigation was to cease with as enterprise architect, he should have formally appointed. From scratch it immediate effect. been part of the tender evaluation pan- was clear that their proposal was not The background to that extraordi- el. However, he was excluded. “There based on a complete solution but con- nary edict? Some weeks ago a video was no panel to scrutinise the evalu- sisted only of various products from conference was set up to discuss the different manufacturers, with major SSG audit. Minister Rob Davies and here were some intriguing side is- overlaps in functionality. I presented SSG investigators were in Cape Town; sues to the Valor IT tender award this information to Twum-Darko. He DTI director-general Tshediso Matona discarded this and told me I must stop – which noseweek’s latest revela- and deputy director-general Zodwa T being petty and work with them. Ntuli were huddled together in Preto- tions (see main story) go a long way to “The technology architect, Alfred ria. By all accounts it was a heated ex- explaining. Nose114 told how: Melanie Smith, found that major portions of the change: Ntuli insisting the audit must Bernard-Fryer, Cipro’s chief operations content provided by Valor were copied concentrate on company cloning; Min- officer, had been suspended for refusing from other websites and were pre- ister Davies retorting that SSG’s man- to sign the ECM business case in 2008; sented in such as way as if these were date must revert to his original brief that external individuals had been con- the frameworks and processes of Valor. – get to the bottom of the ECM tender troversially wheeled in to evaluate the This was reported to Twum-Darko’s of- to Valor IT. tender bids; and perhaps most intrigu- fice manager. Again he was also told to At first it seemed that Minister Dav- ing of all, that Cipro chief information stop being petty. ies had won the day. Cipro acting chief officer Michael Twum-Darko had alleg- “The very first work session between executive Lungile Dukwana circulated edly claimed that in return for Valor IT Cipro and Valor again confirmed that all staff on 3 March, requesting that winning the contract, 5% of the tender the proposed Valor solution did not ful- they assist the investigators with in- price (R7.65m) should be delivered to fil the requirement of a composite solu- formation into possible fraud and cor- the coffers of the African National Con- tion and that Valor was not even sure ruption at Cipro. Then Michael Twum- gress. which product was to be used for which Darko was abruptly put on “special The following month nose115 told functionality. I again reported this to leave”. And two days later SSG’s man- how a large chunk of Valor IT’s website Twum-Darko.” date was cancelled. had been stolen word for word from the After expressing his misgivings, Pi- Although it has not received a single website of technology solutions and enaar was excluded from Valor’s design workshops and, shortly after, his con- cent for its months of work, SSG felt services group GijimaAst. And in April obliged to submit its final, final report tract with Cipro was terminated. this year, nose126 revealed the exist- (Zodwa Ntuli had routinely rejected all n At the time of writing, Cipro chief previous offerings). And the latest tome ence of two affidavits filed with the po- executive Keith Sendwe was still on has infuriated Ntuli, since the investi- lice’s commercial branch alleging that extended sick leave. Chief informa- gators have gone out of their way to ful- Valor IT boss Josias Molele had made a tion officer Michael Twum-Darko was fil Minister Davies’ original mandate to secret payoff to a senior civil servant he still on special leave and chief opera- a T – in the process giving the finger to had managed to have installed as one tions officer Melanie Bernard-Fryer Ntuli’s directive to sweep the Valor IT of the bid evaluators. had resigned. And Zodwa Ntuli, deputy probe under the carpet. Our April issue also revealed the in- director-general at the Department of SSG’s report names four individu- conclusive contents of the auditor-gen- Trade & Industry, had her knickers in als, with a list of recommended charges eral’s long-delayed report into the ECM a twist, wondering how she could pos- against them, including gross negli- tender award. This report has yet to be sibly bury SSG’s final, final, final, final gence, criminal negligence, misman- laid before parliament. forensic audit.

noseweek Ma y 2010 21 n 11 January, Jimmy De Lange, whose story featured in nose92, should have walked through the gates of Leeuwkop Prison, a free man after 14 long years. He’sO still behind bars. The question is: why has Leeuwkop Prison security head Bonn Müller made it his mission to keep Jimmy incarcer- ated? And why has the Department of Correctional Services supported Muller’s apparently unregulational at- tempts to block Jimmy’s release, which was ordered last September by the Correctional Supervision and Parole Board (nose120). As told in nose92, Jimmy was sent to jail for the 1996 killing of 19-year- old Meloney Kriel, in Braamfontein, Joburg. Noseweek’s investigation ex- posed the role played by then Captain Hansie Prinsloo and partner Henry Beukes, of the Pretoria Murder and Robbery Squad, who apparently in- timidated witnesses into changing their statements to secure De Lange’s conviction. (Noses61&82 had fingered Prinsloo for producing witnesses to bolster a charge of arson, later proved false, brought against a fire-insurance Long wait claimant.) Over the years Jimmy made numer- ous requests to the Leeuwkop parole board, but was not given a hearing. Nose106 then revealed that Prinsloo, as investigating officer on the case, for freedom had filed a report to the Department of Correctional Services, in which he de- scribed Jimmy as “a pathological liar and manipulative drug dealer, who spent his leisure time taking drugs”. sions can only be referred to the review Leeuwkop Correctional Facility, dated Apparently, though no evidence was board by myself, the Commissioner of 2 September 2009.” The court also or- led in court to support Prinsloo’s claim, Correctional Services, or the Minister dered the Department to pay the cost his report convinced the parole board and her deputy... I never referred the of De Lange’s application. that Jimmy should stay in jail. matter to that board.” However, less than 24 hours before When Jimmy finally got an audi- Hearing that the referral had, in the hour of release, the Department ence, the board took less than a day fact, been made by Bonn Müller, Mr appealed against that court order, and to grant his release. But Jimmy then Mashiya assured noseweek that he Jimmy is still in jail (again, as it were). discovered that he would not be al- would have the matter investigated. Noseweek has been unable to discover, lowed to go home on weekends – usu- We’ll never know what that investiga- so far, who exactly is behind the appli- ally granted by right to all prisoners tion might have turned up: a few weeks cation. But a little bird has been heard, awaiting parole release. When he chal- later Mashiya was suspended. Nose- whispering in the bushes: it transpires lenged this in court, it turned out that week then contacted Deputy Minister that Bonn Müller may well be an old Leeuwkop security head Bonn Müller for Correctional Services Hlengiwe connection of the man who helped had opposed Jimmy’s weekend parole. Mkhize, to be told once again that the send Jimmy to jail in the first place. Jimmy also discovered that Müller was Department would investigate what Hansie Prinsloo and Bonn Müller, it attempting to have the parole board’s was going on. is claimed, served together as security decision to release him overturned, by Then, on 16 March, a Johannesburg policemen in the bad old days. Does referring it to the parole review board. High Court ordered the Department of Prinsloo want Jimmy kept in jail, so he Area Commissioner of Correctional Correctional Services to release Jim- won’t come after him in an attempt to Services, Mr Walter Mashiya, told my “from incarceration, on parole, by clear his name? – as Jimmy has indeed noseweek that he didn’t know who ex- not later than 12:00 on 19 March 2010, vowed to do. actly had referred Jimmy’s parole for by virtue of the decision of the Correc- And who, we wonder, is really in review. He told noseweek: “Parole deci- tional Supervision and Parole Board of charge of our prisons?

22 noseweek Ma y 2010 Doc Watch

han said he’d been out of the country between 11 and 22 March, and that the family should have consulted his locum, Dr Naidoo. Shortly after noseweek spoke to Gord- han, he phoned Yvette Wearne and apologised for what had happened. He again blamed the hospital staff for the lack of communication, and claimed he had assumed the parents were contact- Butcher ed before the operation. Because no-one from Life Hospital’s head office bothered to reply to nose- week’s requests for comment, we leave in the house you with a couple of questions, from ourways Life Hospital simply refus- I think the manner in which the ?situa- Yvette’s letter: “Have our surgeons be- es to disappear from the radar tion was handled was utterly disgust- come butchers in a cattle market, ea- screen. The latest complaint ing.” ger to take your money then get you involves 14-year-old Blayde Yvette spent the whole day at the out of there as soon as possible? And Wearne, who was taken to the hospital, but there was still no sign of what happened to the ‘bedside manner’ hospital’sF casualty department, with Dr Gordhan. In fact Yvette first saw we once took for severe abdominal pains, in the late af- the surgeon the next day, when he told granted from ternoon of Monday 8 March 2010. The her that Blayde could be discharged medical prac- casualty doctor ordered blood tests, and and gave her instructions on how she titioners?” told Blayde’s parents that he was fairly should dress the wound. And that was sure their son had a ruptured appendix that – no card, no talk of a follow-up and it would need to be removed. The appointment, no mention of the stitch- doctor ordered Blayde’s admission, and es that would be removed. So Yvette said the surgery would be done by the took Blayde home, but things didn’t go hospital’s general surgeon, Dr Bhavesh too well – Blayde had a fever, and his Gordhan. wound began bleeding. As Yvette was So Blayde’s parents signed the docu- unable to get hold of Gordhan (she was mentation (including a consent form), subsequently told that he was abroad), and sat with Blayde in the ward wait- she took Blayde to Casualty again, and ing for Dr Gordhan. By 9.45pm Gord- two days later to a wound clinic. han had not appeared, so the couple This prompted Yvette to ask in her went home. Blayde’s mother, Yvette, letter: “Is it normal for a doc- phoned at 11.45pm and learned that tor to leave, go on holiday Gordhan had called to say he would op- or wherever, and not even erate between 8 and 10 the following hand their patients over [to morning. a stand-in doctor], in case of The next morning, Yvette phoned the emergencies?” hospital at 7am and was told by the When noseweek spoke to Dr ward sister that Blayde had had a good Gordhan he seemed genuinely night’s sleep, and was still in the land perplexed, asking what the is- of nod. So Yvette dropped her daughter sue was, as consent had been off at school and arrived at the hospi- signed. He said the boy seemed tal at 7.30, where a shock awaited her fine to go ahead with the operation, – Blayde was indeed asleep; in fact he so there was no need to call the par- was still under anaesthetic. He had ents. (Blayde insists that he only saw been operated on, and ruptured appen- Dr Gordhan when he was wheeled into dix removed, at six that morning. the operating theatre.) In a written complaint to the hospi- Asked why the parents had been told tal, Yvette described her feelings as fol- that nothing would happen before 8am, lows: “There are no words to describe Dr Gordhan said he’d made it clear to the feelings that filled me ... shock, the hospital staff that he would be op- anger, pain, guilt. I felt I had let him erating at 6am. He had a full day’s sur- down, because I was not there when gery planned, and didn’t want to delay he needed me. I should have been in- the procedure for another day, as the formed that the procedure was to take blood tests taken the night before had place and been given the opportunity, shown there was an infection. as his mother, to be with him. I am sure With reference to not being available any parent can appreciate my feelings. for consultation after the op, Dr Gord-

noseweek Ma y 2010 23 Kenya’s PM Raila Odinga (right) and his Picture: Group Nation Media administrative secretary Caroli Omondi receiving a PricewaterhouseCooper forensic audit report in February outh African grain trader Afgri Trading (Pty) Ltd, stands ac- cused of fraud and corruption in Afgri relation to procurement of a con- tract to supply maize to Kenya’s NationalS Cereals and Produce Board. A PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic audit has recommended criminal investiga- tions into the conduct of Afgri Trading and various Kenyan officials. Two of these, Caroli Omondi and Dr Mohamed Isahakia, have already “stepped aside” from senior posts in the Kenyan Office of the Prime Minister, following the February release of the PwC forensic audit. (Omondi also owns the build- ing that houses Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s party headquarters, while Isahakia headed Odinga’s fundraising campaign.) Kenyan officials arrived in South The mysterious case of Africa soon after a May 2008 declara- tion of a “famine emergency”, following the political clashes that had brought violence to the normally peaceful East the vanishing maize African nation. The forensic audit dis- covered that Afgri Trading had secured an initial untendered contract to sup- ply 18,000 tonnes of maize when the Kenyan delegation paid an unpubli- instructions to test only for possible ten contract with the National Cereal cised visit to Afgri’s Centurion, Preto- Aflatoxin contamination. This added and Produce Board of the Republic of ria, headquarters. A few weeks later a fuel to the fire, and soon the Kenyan Kenya (NCPB) for the supply of 18,000 formal tender committee awarded Af- parliamentary portfolio committee on tonnes of white maize, on 25 July 2008. gri a contract to supply 55,000 tonnes agriculture was accusing Odinga’s son Venter added that Afgri had entered – and this was later adjusted to read and some of his friends of having ben- into another contract for 60,000 tonnes 75,000 tonnes, to include the untend- efited from the deal. (5,000 tonnes more than was actually ered amount. The entire contract was The public uproar that followed awarded) on 8 August 2008. worth around $34m to Afgri. prompted the Ministry of Finance, The Kenyan National Cereal and The improprieties involved might which had funded the procurement Produce Board’s books show that Afgri never have been exposed, had a portion and importation of the maize, to retain was paid for 75,000 tonnes. Could it be of the first maize consignment to reach PricewaterhouseCoopers to undertake that 15,000 tonnes were paid for with- Mombasa not been declared unfit for a forensic audit of the procurement out delivery being made? Afgri have consumption. Some 6,300 tonnes of procedures. not questioned the official Kenyan fig- that 18,000 tonnes consignment were The PwC auditors, led by one of their ures, which clash with their own – and found to be contaminated by alumini- Kenyan directors, Martin Whitehead, apparently refused to co-operate with um phosphide, a compound used in the quickly tumbled to the fact that the PwC forensic auditors. fumigation of grains, but which may first contract was awarded without a Also at issue are upward price ad- become toxic if not properly handled. tender process being conducted, and justments made by Afgri, which ap- Officials of the Department of Public that the figures on the formally award- parently led to an increased profit of Health, which is headed by Beth Mugo, ed tender were then fiddled to reflect around $24m. On 25 July the South of President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of the difference, apparently in collusion African white maize price was pegged National Unity, discovered the contam- between Afgri and Kenyan officials. at $313 per tonne, with the rand at ination and barred the consignment Hubert Jarlet, chief executive of R7.61 to the dollar. The documentation from being released from the port. Afgri Trading, a subsidiary of JSE- shows that when signing on that date Prime Minister Odinga, of the Or- listed Afgri Ltd, told noseweek that for the first untendered 18,000 tonnes, ange Democratic Movement, whose of- the company was awarded a contract Afgri offered to sell at $422 per tonne. fice was involved in the procurement, for 60,000 tonnes, which included the Less than a week later, on 31 July, with then accused his opponents in the 18,000 tonnes. This contradicts the the market price now at around $250 power-sharing government of fabricat- official Kenya version – and a state- per tonne and dropping, Afgri offered ing the story in order to stir trouble. In ment by Afgri Ltd CEO Chris Venter, to supply 60,000 tonnes at $452 per an effort to clear his officials, Odinga carried by the South Africa Press As- tonne. contracted a British laboratory, Inter- sociation on 13 February 2010. Accord- Asked by noseweek to explain the tek, to examine the maize – but issued ing to Venter, Afgri entered into a writ- reasons for the upwards adjustments,

24 noseweek Ma y 2010 How the rot started PARIS FRANCE Sunny, spacious apartment ntil the turn of the millen- Food Emergency procurement for Fully equipped kitchen nium, corruption in public pro- private gain was first tried out in 2004 5 mins from Champs Elysees, shops, restaurants, curement was simply part of life when an emergency was declared and airport shuttle & metro. U English TV, free internet and phone. for public servants in Kenya. As with the businesses with the right connections 120 per day South African arms deal questionable were allowed to import maize, either 25 Rue Paul Valery, 16th, contracts were veiled with the banner duty-free or at state-subsidised rates. Metro Victor Hugo of “National Security Contracts”, which In 2008 three factors played into the [email protected] 082 900 1202 enabled public officials to secretly plun- hands of the corrupt: Post-election www.pvalery.com der the public coffers and foreign loan- violence affected most maize-growing funded contracts. areas of the country; the allocation of This began to change with increasing maize from the Strategic Grain Reserves pressure from foreign donors, civil socie- to politically connected individuals saw WATER LEAKS ties and opposition politicians, who all the depletion of the Reserve: and post- Don’t call the plumber rather call campaigned for transparency. Neverthe- conflict power-sharing arrangements who he calls that’s FINDALEAK less, corrupt public officials continued to failed to clarify whether the prime min- Leak detectors also call us for help have their way – and were constantly on ister or the president was in charge of SEE OUR WEBSITE FOR DETAILS the lookout for new terrain. It was soon the cabinet. www.findaleak.co.za discovered that tender procurement proc- The result of this was the declaration Call esses could be circumvented by declaring of a “famine emergency” – which led to FINDALEAK national emergencies – food security has the arrival in South Africa of Kenyan of- 0861-11-6306 been one such exploited area. ficials on a buying spree. 083-651-6306

Afgri Trading chief executive Hubert settlement was widely reported in Jarlet responded that there were no Kenya and public interest in the mat- upwards adjustments made to the ter died down. COMPANY DIRECTORS signed contracts. He said there were, However, two months later, nose- Websec offers 24-hour online information on however, demurrage bills that were week contacted Precious Shipping of directors of all SA-registered companies. payable due to a slower discharge of Thailand, operators of the Fanarun Low volume searches cargo than agreed in the contract. Naree when it was used to ship the (1000 pa) for R2750 plus VAT. Another curiosity of the Afgri deal grain from Maputo to Mombasa. Ac- Contact [email protected] was that the company chose to chan- cording to the company: “There has nel their shipment through Maputo indeed been a claim by NCPB that instead of Durban – at a significantly around 6,000 tonnes of white maize higher cost. Jarlet told noseweek that discharged in Mombasa in January this was due to a lack of rail capacity 2009 were contaminated, or otherwise for carrying grain to the ports, and to damaged. These claims are strongly a lack of export slots for bulk grain denied and are being contested. We through the port of Durban. The next regret that, since the matter is the best was to ship via Maputo. subject of arbitration in London and An independent grains exporter litigation in Kenya, we are not pres- told noseweek that Afgri’s explanation ently at liberty to enter into further doesn’t add up. Why would the Ken- correspondence.” yans have accepted the higher price of So who actually settled the claim? shipping via Maputo? Our source says Noseweek’s latest investigations that Durban harbour actually has a have revealed that the allegedly con- high capacity for loading grain – but taminated maize mysteriously disap- the grains are carefully examined to peared from the port of Mombasa, and prevent contaminated shipments from was apparently later found being sold leaving SA shores. Which suggests in rural locations around the country. that someone was aware that part of n Last month a ship carrying 40,000 the shipment was contaminated, and tonnes of genetically modified maize knew that this was unlikely to be from South Africa was prevented from picked up at Maputo. docking at the Port of Mombasa, after Shortly before PwC released their protests by the Kenyan Biodiversity report, the Kenyan National Cereals Coalition, which accused Monsanto and Produce Board released a media (see nose116), producers of three of the statement claiming that an insurance four maize varieties in the shipment, company had paid the state agency for of seeking to “contaminate the conti- the contaminated maize. The alleged nent”.

noseweek Ma y 2010 25 Nedbank’s Money Maze Account How investing $100 can lead to an identity crisis

ne thing to be said for banks is that they are truly democratic: they stuff the little guy and the big guy around equally. Take the case of Steven Linde,O a diving instructor whose work takes him right around the globe. In late 2008, Steven went into the Sea- point branch of Nedbank (where his family have banked for years) to open a current account. He told consultant Hashiem Cornelius that he was on his way to work in Malawi for a few months, and wanted internet access to the account in order to monitor his af- fairs and make online payments. Internet access? said Hashiem, I think Nedbank can just about man- age that. Great said Steven, and I also want to deposit a cheque for $100 – please make sure it goes into the old investment account my mother opened for me many years ago when I was still in short pants. But though Hashiem could locate that account on the com- puter in front of him, he told Steven that he couldn’t access it. So Hashiem suggested depositing the dollar cheque message which was never replied to. Nedbank middle management literacy into the new current account. Fine, said By now Steven was getting a tad programme is not going quite what it Steven, but please do sort out this old panicky, because he couldn’t make should be – he apologised for the delay investment account so I can access it. important payments back home. In in getting back to Steven by blaming it So Steven moseyed off to Malawi – desperation he cut short his stint in on “an unfortunate injury to my write but got no correspondence from Hash- Malawi, which cost him some R10,000 arm”. iem. So he emailed Hashiem, who now in wages. He then wrote an email to the Paterson went on to say: “We can pro- changed his tune somewhat – listen bank: “Nedbank cost me far more than vide proof of the deposit of $100... no my friend, this internet banking stuff a phone bill and an air flight... they investment account can be traced but if is very difficult, especially if the cus- cost me my job and a decent reference... you do have proof of this in any form we tomer is out of the country, and we they cost me additional phone calls... will do further searches .. The banker need all sorts of forms signed. When they cost me transport to the airport that handled your application for inter- Hashiem stopped responding to emails, – a three-and-a-half hour car journey net banking is no longer in our employ Steven contacted the branch manager, – and an overnight stay in Blantyre... and it is therefore impossible to ascer- Marie, who told him that Hashiem was they cost me a lot of hassle, income and tain why this was not done initially... no longer with the bank, but that Niel time, among other things.” I’m prepared to authorise the payment would sort things out. But Niel was as Steven found himself dealing with of R1,260 to cover the telephone costs useless as Hashiem. So Steven had to Nedbank area manager Anton Pater- ... but the travel claim I unfortunately start making phone calls from Lake son, and demanded proof of deposit cannot authorise as there are other Malawi. Which was hugely frustrating, of his US dollar cheque and repay- channels that could have been used because each time he was either cut off, ment of his telephone and travel costs. which would have resulted in your or left holding on forever, or he left a Paterson’s response revealed that the complaint being resolved, namely the

26 noseweek Ma y 2010 next level of management or lodging a investment account to SA Linde at saw the stand-in manager and a clerk. complaint directly with our complaints Steven’s mother’s address. Yet now Steven asked the Nedbank employees hotline.” Nedbank’s records showed that the to produce the documentation that had Anyone who has had the misfor- account belonged to one Sean Andre been submitted when the account was tune of trying to sort out a problem Linde of the same address, but with a opened all those years back. But even with a bank should identify with the 94 ID number. Steven’s response was that request was inexplicably refused. sheer frustration evident in Steven’s that of a man totally at his wits end: After further negotiation, Nedbank response: “You mentioned that I can- “According to you, I have been receiv- agreed to pay the money that was in not lodge a claim successfully be- ing statements addressed to me for the the investment account into Steven’s cause other channels were open to me, last 10 years or so, detailing the bal- mother’s account, on the basis that she namely the next level of management ances on an account that’s not mine. was a co-signatory of the account. So or the complaints department. I did Whose fault is that? According to me Steven eventually got his money back. try the complaints department, sev- and Sheree Linde [Steven’s mother], But by this time he was so pissed off eral times... when I did this I did little who opened the account herself on my with Nedbank that he wanted an ad- other than learn the tunes on your pre- behalf, I have been receiving state- mission from the bank that ID fraud recorded systems by heart and devel- ments since its inception accurately de- had taken place, with Hashiem (who op brain tumours... not once did I get tailing balances. We have not touched saw nothing wrong with the account through to an operator without being the account for at least as long as when Steven saw him, and who then cut off. I contacted your branch man- memory serves and when I was in the left the bank) being the most likely ager – are you implying that it was my branch in May the receptionist pulled suspect. But Nedbank doesn’t do mea responsibility to know that the branch up details of this account, registered to culpa. manager appointed by Nedbank was me – no problem. Now, several months So Steven took the matter to the not sufficiently capable of dealing with later, it seems that nobody can find the Nedbank Ombudsman Arthur Camp- bell, who responded as follows: “It is therefore our view that the claim to cover your travel experiences is un- Take some money and shut up reasonable since the matter could have been resolved and settled by alternative means like email, fax and this request. I did not ask her to build account – and that it is now registered through the Nedbank Contact Centre a spaceship – it was a relatively simple to a person who lives in my house, ap- ... (we are) willing to pay an amount of thing to get done.” parently born in the early 90s, called R1,260 for the telephone costs ... in full When he had calmed down some- Sean Linde, that the four other people and final settlement ... subject to the what, Steven asked Paterson to pay in my house, and myself, have never following conditions ... you agree that the R1,260, as offered, but Paterson met. I think that either way you look you will not disclose, publish, utilise, mysteriously refused, saying: “I can’t at it, aside from the possibility of all employ or exploit in any manner what- do the transfer as you’ve not accepted my family members (aside from Sean) soever the details of the settlement.” this payment of goodwill.” (Presum- having serious mental problems, the So when all else fails, it’s back to ably Linde had to acknowledge that fault is on your side. If you still disa- “take some money and shut up”. But if payment was without admission of li- gree, explain to me why you are still you’re going to do that you’ve at least ability). sending someone else’s statement to got to make it worthwhile. For a mis- And, despite the fact that Steven me.” erable R1,200, very few will forego the also provided the account number of Eventually Steven took his mother pleasure of exposing Nedbank for the the missing investment account, Pa- (who’d opened the account in the first clowns they are. And that’s how come terson’s response was even more as- place) along to the branch, where they you’re reading this story. tounding: “The account number that you furnished us is not in your name ... therefore the money cannot be transferred as per your request ... we checked the opening documents of the investment account and I can confirm that it was opened by a different in- dividual on behalf of another with ID numbers not corresponding to yours... Due to client confidentiality I cannot disclose any specifics but I can assure you there is no fault on our side.” So what on earth was going on? Well it took Steven some time to get to the bottom of it, but it was basically this: Steven’s full name is Steven Adam Linde, his ID number starts with 84, and for years Nedbank has been sending statements relating to the

noseweek Ma y 2010 27 Mr Nose’s red telephone trills. On the line is an irate Eric Berman, partner in Johannesburg auditing firm Taback, Pelkowitz & Berman. He demands to know why his firm was not consulted for their view on the ongoing high court spat between property speculator Leslie Lob and his former partners, Martin Ettin and Derek Greenberg (nose124). Taback, Pelkowitz & Berman are auditors of Et- tin and Greenberg’s company Caribbean Estates, and noseweek had stated: “Lob also seeks pro- duction of four lever-arch files delivered in a sealed box by Caribbean’s auditors, Taback, Pelkowitz & Berman, to Ettin and Greenberg, in alleged breach of an earlier subpoena served against these auditors compelling them to deliver documentation to the Registrar of the High Court.” Splutters Eric Berman: “It’s totally factu- ally incorrect!” We don’t think so. Says Berman: “One of our partners, Dirk van Breda, was responsible for Caribbean’s audit. In June 2008 he emi- grated to Ireland. None of the remaining partners were at all familiar with Caribbean and, to be totally hon- from Fluxmans was ‘hand it THE SEALED est, I didn’t want to get embroiled in [the sealed box] over to us this.” and then it’s not your prob- Berman tells noseweek that when lem any more’. I was not try- Lob’s subpoenas were served on 28 Oc- ing to avoid the subpoena.” tober last year, he sought advice from Why are Caribbean’s finan- attorneys Fluxmans. “The legal advice cial statements from 2005 – I got was to hand over the working especially those for 2007 – so papers to Fluxmans in a sealed box, important to Leslie Lob? Our marked ‘To be opened only on my per- nose124 story centred around mission as a partner of the firm’.” the 2007 sale of a small com- He had no knowledge of the contents pany, CBS Asset Manage- of the box, the auditor insists. “The box ment, to the Public Invest- BOX was subsequently delivered to the at- ment Corporation for R140m. Half of fetched R70m, effectively valuing Lob’s torneys and it sat there.” But, said CBS Asset Management was owned by original stake at R8.4m, Lob felt he was noseweek, the subpoenas stated that Ettin and Greenberg’s company Carib- due another R7.1m. But by the time he the documents required – including bean Estates, so R70m of the purchase got around to asking for it, Caribbean annual financial statements for - Car price was paid to Caribbean. Estates had no assets left. ibbean Estates (Pty) Ltd from 2005 to Ettin and Greenberg had previously Where, Lob wants to know, did that date – should be handed over to the paid Lob R1.26m for his 6% stake in R70m go? To its shareholders as a divi- Registrar of the High Court. CBS Asset Management, based on the dend, Greenberg told noseweek. Which “Yes, the subpoenas did say that,” duo’s 2005 valuation of their 50% stake is why Lob wants to see those Carib- agrees Berman. “But the advice we got at just R11.3m. But after their 50% bean accounts.

28 noseweek Ma y 2010 Tabacks have applied (without from such documentation that has FRAUD HURTS success) to have Lob’s subpoenas set been listed in our client’s discovery af- aside. In his founding affidavit for that fidavit, our client is not in possession of ���������� application Eric Berman claimed “We any further documents.” do not have personal knowledge of the In an affidavit sworn on 1 September ������� plaintiff’s [Caribbean’s] affairs.” He 2009, Derek Greenberg had declared also stated: “We do not have any of its that he was in possession of Carib- documentation pertaining to the said bean’s annual financial statements for period [August 2005 to July 2007] in the year ended 30 September 2006. our possession or under our control.” But no mention of 2007’s. Greenberg ������������������������ Berman’s affidavit states that - Car said: “The plaintiff (Caribbean) is not ��������������������� ibbean’s files in their possession were aware of the whereabouts of such fur- handed back to Ettin and Greenberg ther documentation. To the best of the on 2 November 2009 – five days after plaintiff’s knowledge such further doc- Berman and his partners were served umentation does not exist.” with Lob’s subpoenas. In a further affidavit, dated 28 No- NEED TO CATCH So why does Berman now say that vember 2009, Greenberg states: “The Caribbean’s papers were handed in a plaintiff has not finalised its financial A SNAKE? sealed box to attorneys Fluxmans? statements for the year ended 30 Sep- Africa’s premier snake catchers In a later affidavit Berman relates tember 2007 or for the year ended 30 (We’re not bad at sharks either) how, after being served with Lob’s sub- September 2008.” poena, he took advice from Ms J Levi- Just days later Ettin and Greenberg’s tan of Fluxmans. “As a result I caused legal counsel said he had no objection all the audit files which pertained to to Lob having access to the sealed box Caribbean’s affairs to be placed in a with Caribbean’s files. Lob and attor- Mercantile Investigation box. I caused an index of these files to ney Goss duly attended Glyn Marais’ Litigation support be made. I sealed the box and marked boardroom, the box was opened, and, lo, Recoveries & it: ‘Not to be opened without the prior what should they now find there but: resolutions written consent of Mr Berman of Ta- n Caribbean’s 2005 annual accounts, back, Pelkowitz and Berman’. The box approved by the directors (Ettin and was collected by Caribbean on 2 No- Greenberg), and signed off by Tabacks Tel: +27+83 357 8555 vember 2009.” (He told noseweek that on 9 May 2007; [email protected] they had “never opened that box” – as ■ Caribbean’s 2006 annual financial if to suggest that he had no idea of its statements, approved by directors Et- contents.) tin and Greenberg and signed off by A letter from Fluxmans, dated 2 No- Tabacks on 15 May 2007; vember 2009, confirms that scenario. ■ Caribbean’s 2007 annual finan- “We are advised that the auditing firm cial statements, approved by Ettin and of Taback, Pelkowitz & Berman hap- Greenberg and signed off by Tabacks pens to be in possession of one or more on 31 May 2008. Bingo! of the auditing files kept by the former So it seems that Dirk van Breda, Ta- auditor of Caribbean, who has now emi- backs’ erstwhile partner, miraculously grated. We have requested the plaintiff managed to sign off those elusive 2007 (Caribbean – i.e. Ettin and Greenberg) accounts just before his departure for to collect same from the auditors.” Ireland that June. All of which drew an angry letter Attorney Craig Assheton-Smith of from Lob’s attorney, Errol Goss: “Most Glyn Marais refused to allow Lob and disturbingly, in flagrant disregard of his attorney to make copies, on the the subpoena and allegedly on the ad- grounds that the papers were confiden- vice of Fluxmans, the auditors have not tial and privileged. He said there were handed the files which they have to the “errors” in Caribbean’s 2007 financials, Registrar, but rather have returned but refused to elaborate. the files to your client [Caribbean Es- Leslie Lob tells noseweek that the tates].” contents of the long-sought 2007 ac- Concerned that crucial documents counts were “extremely revealing”, but might disappear, Goss demanded im- declined to elaborate. mediate inspection of the files “in pre- After Eric Berman’s initial irate call cisely the same unsanitised condition to Mr Nose about that “totally factu- as same were returned”. ally incorrect” paragraph in nose124, Attorneys Glen Marais, represent- and a further little chat, the auditor ing Caribbean, replied: “Our client has had a change of heart. Now he didn’t made discovery of all such documents want a retraction: “I think we should in its possession and/or control. We just leave it,” he said. reiterate our instructions that apart That he should be so lucky.

noseweek Ma y 2010 29 The Invisible walls

hich profession is home to refused to hand them over, as did the the shadiest characters Council – despite submission of an Ac- around? Property develop- cess to Information Act request. When ers! Are there more devious the opponents sent town planning con- people anywhere? (Well The developers sultant Tim Spencer to the Council of- –W leaving aside auctioneers, bankers, fices to look at the file, he was refused estate agents, insurance brokers, law- access by Council building control offic- yers, liquidators, politicians...) of a block of er Bill Moir. Asked to explain on what There’s a juicy case pending in the grounds the development had been Cape High Court which involves a flats in an approved, the Council refused to talk. challenge to a developer’s applica- All a bit odd. tion to consolidate a bunch of plots in Finally the opponents got hold of the Bantry Bay (on the seaboard slopes of upmarket Lion’s Head, just on from Seapoint) and construct thereon a seven-storey, Cape Town 39-unit, luxury apartment block. It’s currently being marketed off plan by Seeff as The Bantry Bay, and at R1.9m suburb have to R12m apiece the apartments are all but sold out. produced two The developer, Midnight Feast Prop- erties 24 (Pty) Ltd, appears to be close- ly linked with Eco Ventures Property very different Development (Pty) Ltd. (Gregor Plotz and Adriaan Marais are the men be- sets of plans: hind the corporate masks.) Both com- panies are respondents in a court ap- plication brought by eleven residents one for the of Bantry Bay, who want an order re- straining the developers from doing council and any demolition or building work, as well as an order reviewing and setting aside the decision of the Council (City one to attract approved plans from an estate agent, of Cape Town) to approve the plans. and were able to compare them to Predictably enough, the opponents buyers those being used to market the block – own properties in the surrounding and there was the can of worms. area, and a towering seven-storey The Council-approved plans show apartment block will affect them badly large open-plan or loft-style apart- – sea views will be lost, property val- ments, with extended living areas serv- ues could drop by 15-20%, and traf- ing as combined lounge, dining room fic in the area is already on the edge the surrounding area will “probably and study, and one or two bedrooms. of unbearable. They claim that many be disfigured”, or if the construction But the plans shown to punters, and residents in the area oppose the devel- will be “unsightly or objectionable” or incorporated into those already signed opment, but for financial, business or “derogate from the value of adjoining agreements of sale, show dotted lines other reasons, they can’t all join the or neighbouring properties”. The op- in the living area – to indicate where application. ponents argue, on the advice of David extra bedrooms will be inserted later The opponents say they invested in Polovin of Kritzingers, that approval on. Hidden deep in the contracts is a the area on the assumption that there should therefore have been refused. clause that says “drywalls represented would be no high buildings – Ban- Ho hum – another disgruntled by dotted lines on floor plans will be try Bay’s apartment blocks are lower neighbours vs greedy developers sto- erected after the completion date”. So down, closer to the seafront. According ry. Except that the thing reeks. For you buy a two-bedroom apartment, to the National Building Regulations starters, there’s the secrecy. In late happily knowing the extra bedroom and Building Standards Act, approval 2009 residents tried to get hold of the or two you wanted will materialise for construction should be refused if official plans, but the developers later (after the building inspector’s

30 noseweek Ma y 2010 final visit, no doubt). expert, open-plan apartments are not won’t negatively affect the neighbours’ This is exactly where these shady likely to be built in Bantry Bay area – views, won’t impact on their privacy, types love to operate – the arcane world such apartments are only likely in the and won’t have a detrimental effect on of zoning and building regulations. The city centre where commercial or indus- property values – an expert employed area of Bantry Bay in question is zoned trial buildings are converted. Council by the developer claims that property for “general residential”, which means officials should therefore have ques- prices may increase because of the de- the permitted floor area of apartment tioned the plans. Enquiries suggest the velopment. blocks is linked to the number of “hab- Council was aware of the issue, as the Klotz’s town planning consultant, itable rooms”. The plans handed to developer initially submitted plans, but Thomas Brummer, agrees, saying that the Council show 68 habitable rooms these were rejected because there were the developer could quite lawfully build – within the prescribed limit. But the too many “habitable rooms”. three double-storey dwellings on the plans shown to purchasers show 120 Although the Council has thrown in plots that are being consolidated, and habitable rooms: for this rezoning the towel and indicated it will abide by each could rise to 20m, the same height would have been required – and, cru- the court’s decision, the developers are as the planned apartment block. Klotz cially, public participation. opposing the application. Gregor Klotz also devotes a great many words to the So it’s pretty obvious that the de- has signed the answering affidavit but, basement parking, claiming that it will veloper’s application involved a scam though he has lots to say, it’s difficult to actually lie wholly below ground, so to evade the zoning scheme and avoid discern what real defence he’s putting there’s no “set-back” issue. endless delays and unwanted attention up. As for the really big issue – the differ- from neighbours who might react nega- Klotz starts off telling the court that ence between the two sets of plans – he tively to having a beautiful monstros- he studied law at UCT (the “trust me deals with this in a most cursory, and ity suddenly appearing on their perplexing, way. Klotz does doorstep. admit that the sales plans There’s more. According to the envisage the creation of ex- court papers, the developers are tra habitable rooms. Then he also attempting to conceal the fact says the developers are “not that their “basement parking” contractually obliged to erect will be partially above ground. the dry-wall structures in the They’ve done this by depicting a sales plans”. The developer soil retaining structure around “did not intend to mislead the building, which hides the true the City of Cape Town”, and ground level. If the developer had that the developer “intends to shown the parking garage to be build only what has been ap- partially above ground, a public proved”. (Purchasers would participation process would’ve be interested to hear this, been required. The parking ga- wouldn’t they?) The developer, rage design on the approved says Klotz, is “not obliged to create these struc- tures [dry walls] if it is precluded from doing so in law and/ or the dictates of [the Council]”. “Extra bedrooms will be inserted later” And that’s it. So what the hell does it mean? In the ab- sence of further ex- plans appears to attempt to circumvent I’m a lawyer” defence). He says that if planation, it seems to mean this: Yes the regulation relating to “set back” – the court grants an interdict, the devel- we did try to defraud the City of Cape it pretends to be underground parking, oper will suffer badly as it has already Town, and the people of Bantry Bay – because as such it doesn’t need to be set spent some R27.4m, and the bank may it’s a fair cop guv. But look there’s no back as far from the road as the build- recall the R95m it has put up to finance problem here – we’ve been caught out ing itself. the deal. He then makes the extraor- so now we’ll shaft the buyers too and By this little deception, the block will dinary claim that the opponents are give them fewer bedrooms than they’ve have many more than the 69 parking “unlawfully in possession” of the plans, been promised. bays shown in the approved plans. This and claims that the Council was quite In their reply the opponents point adds more fuel to the opponents’ fire, right to withhold the plans, as releas- out that the developers aren’t giving an of course, because it will exacerbate the ing them would infringe copyright. unequivocal undertaking to building area’s already serious traffic problem. Klotz somehow wants the court to be- only according to the approved plans, Apparently no traffic survey was done lieve that The Bantry Bay would be “in and that Klotz hasn’t explained why before the development was approved. harmony” with the general pattern of two sets of plans were created. The opponents claim that Council of- the place, and says there are a number We can’t imagine that the court is ficials didn’t apply their minds to this of apartment blocks in Bantry Bay. going to struggle too much with this matter. According to an architectural The development, he claims, therefore one.

noseweek Ma y 2010 31 Subscribers can win! Apart from having SA’s top investigative magazine delivered to your door, you could also win one of five Ken Forrester wine packs. Subscribe now and stand in line to score.

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32 noseweek Ma y 2010 Where are they now? Nedbank’s designer jailbird

rison life appears to & Niemeyer still exists – he suit André Crou- thought we would be liquidat- camp, now some 20 ed. He kind of had this idea months into a 15- that, without him, we couldn’t year sentence for function, or write fees, and aP R26.7m scam involving wouldn’t have any clients. 935 charges of fraud, theft, He’s still got a massive ego.” money-laundering and cor- While André Croucamp ruption. relaxes in the slammer, the As recounted in nos- turmoil caused by his crimi- es111&112, the ex-partner of nal rampage continues. Ned- one of Pretoria’s oldest law bank is claiming R17.4m firms, Findlay & Niemeyer, from Findlay & Niemeyer, be- plundered the firm’s trust ac- ing monies misappropriated count for seven-years – with by Croucamp from recover- the assistance (witting or ies made at auction sales on unwitting) of senior staff in Nedbank-bonded properties. Nedbank’s home loans divi- Findlay & Niemeyer is sion. Sentenced to a total of counter-claiming for R45m. 47 years’ imprisonment, a “This is trust money which is plea bargain allowed batches due to us,” says senior part- of charges to run concurrent- ner John Price, 79-year-old ly, resulting in an effective grandson of the firm’s 1892 15-year sentence. founder. “It’s pretty clear this A recent visitor to Pretoria amount was fees and dis- Central found the 43-year- bursements that were due old attorney “quite cheerful to us, but laundered through and resigned to his fate”. The our trust account over seven visitor, who works for Find- years and into Nedbank. But lay & Niemeyer, needed his 90% of it is our money.” signature on some papers. Today, says Price, the firm She found Croucamp clad, as is slowly rising from the ash- required, in the usual orange es. “It’s a hell of a fight, but prison overalls – except that I think we’ll survive,” says the usually shapeless gar- Price. ment had been tailor-trans- The staff, formerly 80 formed into a trendy fashion strong, has been slashed to 40, statement. “He’s very natty,” and the number of partners reports the visitor. “His over- from five to three. “It’s leaner alls have a collar, buttons and much healthier,” says and pockets. I asked why Price. “Under Croucamp’s they looked so fancy and he sway, Nedbank was the major said he gets them tailored.” client, because he was bribing Croucamp has also con- Nedbank people to channel trived to have a cell to him- massive business to us. But self, instead of having to endure an on a very long holiday.” we’ve always had other clients and overcrowded prison cell, with its dan- So far, Croucamp has managed to we’re surviving nicely. gers and discomforts. He apparently evade the attentions of the prison “When this sort of thing happens passes his time teaching prisoners in gangs. “He said that as long as you the Law Society gets very anxious. the jail’s school. “He wasn’t depressed stay out of other people’s way, and But we’ve made our books available or devastated,” says his visitor. “In fact keep to yourself, they don’t interfere and the Law Society carried out an in- he looks 10 years younger. I think it’s with you. vestigation and has given us a clean because all the stress has gone. He’s “He was very surprised that Findlay bill of health.”

noseweek Ma y 2010 33 Books

Fifaand all its works

uch a pity – the Emperor Nero construction industry in the orgy of would have benefited immeas- LEN ASHTON stadium-building. urably if this magisterial over- REVIEWS Much corruption has been revealed view of the bread-and-circuses Player and Referee to a confused public by investigative business (currently dominated ConflictingI nterests and journalists – not excluding writers in byS FIFA) had been available to him this very publication. Confusion of- the 2010 Fifa World Cup before the barbarians became im- ten arises from the conflict between pertinent. Ancient Rome might well (Institute for Security Studies) have survived to thwart the invading Edited by ISS MONOGRAPH 169 hordes. Head O ce Collette Schulz HerzenbergBlock D, Brooklyn Court 361 Veale Street Player and Referee is an impressive, New Muckleneuk, Pretoria, South Africa Tel: +27 12 346-9500 Fax: +27 12 346-9570 E-mail: [email protected] Player and Referee densely researched monograph, which Addis Ababa O ce 1st oor, Ki-Ab Building meticulously dissects the entire South different place if we hadAlexander been Pushkin Street privy Con icting interests and the Pushkin Square, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Con ict between public and private interests Tel: +251 11 372-1154/5/6 Fax: +251 11 372-5954

E-mail: [email protected] 2010 AND THE PLAYER INTERESTS AND REFEREE CONFLICTING FIFA WORLD CUP™ African 2010 Fifa World Cup process to isthis recognised asinformation one of the most prevalent before we tangled 2010 FIFA World Cup™ challenges at all levels of public life in South Cape Town O ce and beyond. The book seeks to tran- with the power of FIFA2nd Floor, and Armoury Building all its Africa. Mega events, like the FIFA 2010 World Buchanan Square Cup™, provide fertile ground for this.  e event 160 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, South Africa scend the sum of its parts (contribu- works. Tel: +27 21 461-7211 Fax: +27 21 461-7213 is a catalyst for competition - not only among E-mail: [email protected] football stars - but among the many contenders Nairobi O ce tions from nine award-winning jour- Thein the private evidence and public sectors who seek presented to Braeside Gardens, here O Muthangari depicts Road bene t from multiple state tenders that ow Lavington, Nairobi, Kenya nalists) and it does so successfully. It the majority of this country'sTel: +254 20 386-1625 Fax: +254 leaders 20 386-1639 from these highly  nanced events. Outcomes E-mail: [email protected] are vulnerable to manipulation through the use Pretoria O ce sounds a dreadful warning. – sporting,of in uence, political pressure, political bribes, fraud and businessBlock C, Brooklyn Court – as 361 Veale Street The research, presented in digest- embarrassinglyand extortion.  is publication presents readers naive New orMuckleneuk, greedy. Pretoria, South Africa Or with six detailed case studies that explore the Tel: +27 12 346-9500 Fax: +27 12 460-0998 E-mail: [email protected] ible chapters, deserves international both.dynamics thatEye-popping give rise to con icts of interest. amounts of money It also provides South African policy makers an www.issafrica.org attention from those who harbour am- haveopportunity been to reassess the integrity apportioned of mega- to vainglory event governance and re ect on weaknesses in Iss Monograph No 169 Price R30,00 bitions to host future beautiful games. whenthe country’s anti-corruption some framework. sensible compromises It is also hoped that this will provide invaluable South Africa might have been a very couldreading for have other countries beenset to host future agreed to secure both mega-events. the footie and major sustainable pub- lic benefits. Instead, the country has been This plunged publication was made possible into through funding enormous provided by the Open Society debt for Foundation for South Africa. In addition, general Institute funding is provided by Edited by Collette Schulz Herzenberg a long timethe Governments to of Denmark, come. the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Player and Referee draws sober conclusions and recommendations, aimed primarily at South African pol- icy-makers. However, writes Collette Schulz Herzenberg, they should also be of interest to future hosting nations patriotic emotions – milked by politi- to the World Cup, and to event organ- cians and those who stand to benefit isers generally. “Where potential risk financially – and justifiable suspicions exists, policy-makers should regard of the financial implications of all that that as sufficient need for integrity flag-waving. The suspicions, as the systems to be put in place. We hope writers make clear, are more than jus- that [this will] set an agenda for new tified. anti-corruption interventions.” In her conclusions, Herzenberg notes The calm and sensible recommenda- that the Municipal Finance Management tions, rendered from the writings of Act 56 of 2003 requires revision. It does all the co-authors, note that transpar- not at present allow for sufficient multi- ency is critical for proper governance. party political oversight of municipali- Tendering and procurement processes ties' financial and tendering decisions. at all levels of government require “The City of Cape Town has introduced far greater levels of openness than at measures to ensure greater transparen- present. One measure is to allow pub- cy in their tendering processes and this lic access to decision-making and pro- may provide a model for other munici- cedural bodies. Descriptions abound palities and other levels of government to of opaque procedures and Byzantine emulate.” Fat chance. But it needs say- legerdemain by officialdom and the ing.

34 noseweek Ma y 2010 Bheki Mashile’s Country Life

She notes that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has stated that there will be a revision of the government's procurement and tendering system to ensure greater transparency, and a more systematic approach to root- ing out tender fraud and corruption. “The case studies presented here echo many of these concerns and is- sues. They also contribute rich mate- Brother Jules rial and much-needed insight into key conflict of interest situations relating & the Juvenile Delinquents to government tendering processes, black economic empowerment and unequal elite access to state resourc- es,” Herzenberg notes. The general lack of protection for whistle-blowers is, naturally, deplored. “However, there is some evidence of a gradual shift in attitudes towards a more supportive whistle-blowing cul- ture.” We hope. It is perhaps naive to suggest that a corporate-minded organisation such as FIFA should prioritise the host nation's public interest. “Organisers are likely to regard these events as profit-maximising opportunities first and foremost. Nevertheless, sporting events of this nature are sold as a ‘public good’ and as development vehi- cles. And since these values underpin the rationale of the event it becomes imperative that its legacy is judged from that perspective.” o critics have been slamming broth- to benefit from the foresight of brother Do public interest values guide gov- er Jules and his fellow juvenile Jules, along comes a magistrate who ernment's decisions on the 2010 World delinquents over their insist- decides it’s time she were honoured Cup? Whose interests are really be- ence on the nationalisation of with a Killjoy of the Year award. Mrs ing served? The book claims not to mines. We all know which Jules Magistrate Kruger was sprung into ac- present specific proposals for reform, IS am speaking of; he of outstanding tion by events last December, when na- arising from controversial aspects of oratory skills; he of brilliant entrepre- tionalisation supporters decided they the event, but the findings of the writ- neurial skills – or, better said, tender- would not be denied their Jules-given ers do amount to a clarion call for entrepreneur skills. right to gold, and decided to take over national house-cleaning, particularly Naturally, like many others in this the mines by armed rebellion. in context of Citibank researchers' re- mining-rich nation of ours, I keep tabs For nearly two weeks during the cent impact assessment of the event on the issue because it could net me month of ho ho ho! this brazen bunch on South Africa's domestic economy. some pieces (gold-nugget pieces, to you of tunnel rats held legal mine workers It suggests that FIFA, the monopoly unsophisticated types). But, alas, I am hostage (underground, mind you), and organiser, is the major beneficiary being denied the chance, because my dared mine security to take them on. while the host nation carries a dispro- brother’s calls for nationalisation are Well mine security did, and the rats portionate share of the cost burden. blown to smithereens at every turn. were finally flushed out. Needless to Surprise, surprise. However, as a citizen of Barberton, say, their little takeover pissed off a n The authors are: Eddie I have come to the conclusion that lot of people, one of them being Mag- Botha, Stefaans Brummer, brother Jules’ call is already being istrate Kruger. After all, many of those Andrew Jennings, Gcina Nt- heeded. Several mines, right here, in men had seen the inside of her court saluba, Rob our vicinity, have already been na- more than once, and she is said to have Rose, Karen tionalised. Yes. Various nationalities taken their mine takeover personally. Schoonbee, – including Mozambicans, Swazis, and The good magistrate decided enough Sam Sole of course ZANU-PF victims from the was enough – no mercy this time. No and Col- north – have been helping themselves bail, and direct imprisonment if found lette Schulz to Barberton nuggets for quite some guilty at trial. She certainly sent out a Herzenberg. time. For years, in fact. resounding message: “Ok you’ve gone But then, just when I thought my too far now; I am woman – hear me roar.” brothers and sisters and I were about (Yes: Nothing like a woman scorned.) So, sue me! noseweek Ma y 2010 35 As a result, roughly 400 men found granted bail – only to head right back gave was she did not want to have her themselves awaiting trial in cells in underground. Her tunnel-rat guests no court turned into a circus. Well, soon and around Barberton. Police presence longer enjoy the revolving-door treat- after, that’s exactly what came about, was beefed up at the local magistrate’s ment. However, you don’t, without a what with the endless lines of illegal court, with the added impressive se- price, take away someone’s chance mining suspects, and the new cage curity measure of a cage that now of getting their hands on gold: Mrs that looks like part of a circus. So each surrounds the entrance to the court’s Kruger is said to have received her time I visit the court and the “tent” is holding cell. fair share of death threats. Yes, I know packed, I make a point of popping my So many gold-diggers are appearing what you are thinking, and I’m of the head round Mrs Kruger’s office door to in court that they are kept waiting in same mindset: Jules and Co. Who else say “Good day Your Honour. How’s the the transport vehicle, due to lack of would threaten a magistrate meting circus?”. (An American thing: I don’t room in the holding cell. But hey, you out justice? subscribe to “Your Worship”.) And, once again, I have been denied a photo request – to take a pic of Mrs Kruger herself. Her reasoning being Mrs Kruger has received her share of death threats that she’s already under threat, and publishing her photo could make it easier to track her down. That reason- bleeding-heart liberals, do not despair But my favourite outcome of the ing I can live with. – their grub is presented in the cage. “Kruger crackdown” is a little joke Brother Jules says we media lot are This is better than what they are used between myself and the killjoy magis- scum, out to destroy people. But please to, i.e. eating in the same area were trate. Late last year she declined my forgive Jules; he is from Limpopo, and they crap, in the shafts underground. request to take a camera into the court- if you want to understand the people Kruger’s actions have produced re- room, when I wanted to maximise the of Limpopo, pick up a copy of the Daily markable results, and illegal mining naming and shaming of constables who Sun. But be careful of the tokoloshi (lit- has been dealt a vicious blow. Previ- had been charged in an incident relat- tle evil man) that might pop out from ously, these goldmongers would be ing to illegal mining. The reason she between the pages.

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36 noseweek MMa y 2010 36 Harold Last Word Strachan

Street. My mate is Jim Huggins, fourteen years a private in the British Army in India, and he’s got comfortable with a cowboy book in the manager’s plush swivel chair. Huge crowds mill and surge about the street be- Skitool low our window; this being a Sunday every- body’s off work and Queenie Windsor newly crowned is coming by to wave and expose her great big teeth to her subjects. Sud- ow I’d always thought Skitool an in- denly there’s a mighty cheer from a mil- sulting Fanagalo sort of name to lion throats. Hey Jim! I call, come and give a man, but he didn’t seem see the Queen! Imperial bullshit, says to mind it. Skitool was a short- Jim. I’m reading. ish fellow, and when lying down So now it’s ’95 and I’m in London again ifN he put his feet one above the other, heel and whom should I bump into but Ski- to toe, they reached up about half his body tool, he’s with an SA delegation to meet height, so when he was standing he looked British trade union people. Should be in- something like a kangaroo with great long teresting, say I, the British unions are an shoes. And in Fanagalo that’s what skitool emasculated bunch, Missus Thatcher cas- means: a shoe. He was also v. wiry and trated and spayed the bloody lot and en- tough, and v. silent. You had to get used to ticed them into her nice new globalised his company; if he didn’t talk much that gangster empire. Skitool nods, sadly. didn’t mean he wasn’t comradely, Come along, says he, as observer. also dedicated, and what he was So I go along. He was always dead dedicated to was Fosatu. The against disinvestment in strug- trade union federation of the gle days, I remember, all it did ‘80s. Unracial, unregistered, was create that huge pool of the unlawful, its leaders soon had demoralised jobless which voila!

banning orders laid on them, Illustration: Harold Strachan is with us yet. What Skitool but straightway a new lot wanted was huge investment to had come up, and they got build up union strength. Anyway, banned too. When the third we take a taxi to the Holborn Ho- lot came up it started to dawn tel, zero stars, and I sit to one side on the régime that once a trade as Skitool joins a dozen or two gents union movement gets the bit in in off-the-hanger suits round a big kind its teeth the only way to stop it is of conference table with carafes of water to seize all the leaders and stick for people making speeches. The Brits kick them up the chimney at Ausch- off. They celebrate our victory over fascism witz, and you’d have to seize power in SA, though seems to me it’s their own over the courts if you wanted to do that, but victory they’re blathering about. Gleefully the electorate would never go so far so you’d That’s why we remember the arms embargo, hey? though have to seize power over them too. That’s SA was making the best howitzer in the why we didn’t have fascism here, see, just world and an attack helicopter second to a nasty police state. They tried murdering didn’t have none plus an A-bomb with the aid of the Is- a few union people and then strangely fell raelis. Remember the sports boycott, hey? back on behaving as if Fosatu didn’t exist. though if Peewee Botha had never watched Maybe it would just go away. But it didn’t, fascism here, another game of rugby in his whole blik- it went into confederation with other up- sems life he wouldn’t have yielded on that start unions and voila! it is with us yet. see, just a one. But how about the big one, comrades? I was a union man myself, when young. To strike where South Africa was weakest, In London, that was, early ’50s. The Brit in the economy, how about the disinvest- unions were a fierce lot then, for sure, as police state ment campaign? that’s where we union Fosatu was in the ’80s. Where Fosatu was people were instrumental! All this for an plain sick of Race in South Africa and fierce hour or so. But now it’s time for a toast. We about it, the Brits were plain sick of Class in move downstairs to the private bar and sit good ole Albion and fierce about its perfidies, at little tables. Waiters bring in big tank- and after six years of dying for the bloody ards of working class British beer. Every- place they reckoned it was time they looked body lights up a working class cigarette. after their own interests, since nobody else Nobody really knows the protocol: who was going to do it for them. So here I am should propose the first toast? Skitool gets in a uniform and cap with a truncheon in a up on his size thirteen feet and raises his special long pocket on my broeks, and I am beer and says The Queen! God bless her a security guard at Lilley & Skinner’s, Lon- fanny and tits! don’s biggest and best shoe shop, on Oxford An uncomfortable silence ensues.

noseweek Ma y 2010 37 Smalls

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noseweek Ma y 2010 39