Saturday, July 29, 2017

Timol inquest: A testimonial to a wounded country

THE DIARY OF A SECURITY POLICEMAN TURNED ANC CADRE............

GREG NICOLSON SOUTH AFRICA  25 JULY 2017 (SOUTH AFRICA)



The reopening of the inquiry into Ahmed Timol’s death has led to shocking revelations. Many of the gruesome details are, however, nothing new and represent the brutal history the country must face to move forward. By GREG NICOLSON.
A highlight in Pascale Lamche’s recent documentary, Winnie, is the on-camera appearances of apartheid intelligence officials admitting to waging a propaganda war against Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. As the National Party realised it would have to negotiate power with the ANC, it believed leaders like Winnie Mandela and Chris Hani were radicals, and common ground was more likely to be found with Nelson Mandela. Former National Intelligence Service boss Niel Barnard described the apartheid government’s fear of Winnie Mandela. Vic McPherson, former director of Stratcom, the propaganda arm of the security police, explained in detail how they tried to discredit her.
One of McPherson’s former colleagues appeared live on TV on Monday. Paul Erasmus was a Stratcom operative and, as his unit had extensive media connections to publish disinformation in the media, had written an article for Vanity Fair in the 1990s titled How bad is Winnie Mandela? A book excerpt published in Mother Jones said, “From 1976 to 1993, Erasmus killed, smeared, and harassed enemies of the apartheid state at the urging of his masters.” He applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for amnesty for his crimes.
Erasmus appeared in the North Gauteng High Court on Monday, once again playing the role of the repentant killer. Men like Erasmus always raise a question. His appearance – white hair standing on end like a cartoon character that’d been electrocuted, wearing a shirt and tie, but with a leather jacket – raised a few more. Was he speaking out of self-interest, a genuine belief in justice, or a balance of both?
Erasmus was testifying at the second sitting of the inquest into the death of Ahmed Timol. The South African Communist Party (SACP) member died in October 1971, falling from the notorious 10th floor of the Johannesburg police base, John Vorster Square. Timol’s family have tirelessly pushed to find out how he died and this year the inquest was finally reopened. It’s long overdue and inquests should also be launched for other victims of that 10th floor in Johannesburg, as well as for families across the country still waiting to find out what happened to loved ones allegedly killed by the apartheid regime.
A 1972 inquest into Timol’s death supported the story provided by the police. The magistrate upheld the claim that Timol jumped to his death after a supposed SACP document called on members to commit suicide rather than risk betraying comrades. The document wasn’t produced. Even in the 1970s the nexus of police, prosecutors and courts were criticised for ignoring the evidence to protect and enforce the apartheid regime. John Vorster became synonymous with the deaths of political activists in custody and the inquest will try to establish whether Timol was thrown off the 10th floor by cops.
Erasmus has spoken on the brutality of the apartheid security agencies before. He is reported to have fallen out with his colleagues in the 1990s, resigning officially due to post-traumatic stress. “I think having killed somebody, one crosses a certain line. It makes it easy to do it a second time round,” he told David Goodman, who wrote the excerpt featured in Mother Jones. After smearing her, he later became Madikizela-Mandela’s ally, denying she was responsible for the killing of Stompie Seipei. He has said the security police were clearly passing weapons on to the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to fuel a war among black political parties in the early 1990s.
Yet his Monday testimony at the Timol inquest was still shocking. During his time at Stratcom, he said he designed posters calling Archbishop Desmond Tutu a killer and forged Tutu’s signature, which was used on “many occasions”. He said torture was “standard procedure” as police were dealing with political activists at the time. Timol’s brother Mohammed has also testified to being tortured. Erasmus said there were “resident sweepers” within the system whose sole job it was to cover up apartheid abuses to avoid prosecution.
He spoke of torture techniques. They are best illustrated by the testimony Timol’s comrade Salim Essop gave to the inquest. Essop and Timol were arrested together in 1971, for possessing political pamphlets, and separated at John Vorster. Essop said he was taken to a room notorious for torture. He suffered beatings, electric shocks, asphyxiation, was urinated on and made to stand for days on end at the hands of the police. He said he saw Timol two days before the latter died and it looked clear Timol had also been tortured.
As the inquest proceeds, it will continue to draw attention to society’s lingering pains, some of which have been forgotten. Some within society, especially the youth, may not have confronted stories of such brutality before. A new country was born in 1994. But the cogs that drive its machinery were inherited from a past era. South Africa carries wounds that are rarely confronted in their festering detail. Despite the country’s relative progress, they linger. They have become infected. The Timol inquiry and the testimony of those like Erasmus, despite, or because of, his contradictions, is an opportunity to recognise those wounds.
In his extensive book, Apartheid Guns and Money, Hennie van Vuuren notes that the TRC exposed the horrors of torture and detention but failed to focus on the acts of economic corruption committed by the apartheid government, local corporates and their international counterparts. He focuses heavily on how the corrupt networks of the past created the conditions for ongoing looting.
The current struggle against corruption in South Africa is undermined by a basic lack of appreciation of that [white] corruption and the criminal networks that facilitate it – namely, that they are continuities of a profoundly corrupt system that predates the first democratic election,” Van Vuuren writes. Apartheid’s economic crimes are currently in vogue, but current discourses neglect talking about both violence and the corruption under the white government. To understand the present, both need to legitimately be placed at the forefront of education and national consciousness.
The TRC exposed some of the violence of apartheid, but there’s a current failure to emphasise the brutality of the past, let alone issues of economic corruption. The same apartheid agents testifying in the Timol case have gone on record before. That Erasmus’s testimony comes as a shock, and that the revelations included in the Winnie documentary are surprising, shows that the TRC wasn’t enough.
We need more information, even if it is repeated, to understand our history. We need to demand more new information and start processing what’s already out there, the testimonies from the TRC, often dismissed as a whitewash, and in other forums. Violence is in the country’s DNA and it’s time we check our condition rather than avoid taking the test. DM
Photo: Ahmed Timol.
  • GREG NICOLSON
DAILY MAVERICK


COMMENTS BY SONNY COX

THIS INQUEST REEKS OF DOUBLE JEOPARDY.........

From 1971 to date there HAS been speculation that ahmed

timol did not take his owN

life but was rather murdered at the hands of the security 

police.

we are just going to deal with one of the witnesses here.

the testimony of paul erasmus.

under oath he makes wild allegations against his ex

colleagues and the security  branch.

he elaborates on matters of which he was not part OF.

during 1971 he was on the school benches of queens

high kensington.

when he arrived at the security branch he portrAyed

himself as the tough koevoeT bush  fighter and produced 

a photograph oF him standing next to a dead swAPO 

FIGHTER WITH HIS FOOT ON THE BODY AND A RIFLE IN HIS HAND. 

YES, A TROPHY PHOTOGRAPH.

ERASMUS WAS ASSIGNED TO THE STUDENT DESK AT JOHN VORSTER

SQUARE.

HE STARTED INFILTRATING ROCK BANDS AT THE CROWN MINES

COMMUNITY WHERE HIS MAIN TARGET BECAME ROGER LUCEY.

ERASMUS LATER WAS ASSIGNED TO STRATCOM AS HE TESTIFIED

IN THE PRESENT INQUEST.

ERASMUS AND WINNIE MANDELA BECAME VERY GOOD "CLOSE

FRIENDS" WHEN HE WAS ASSIGNED TO LOOKING AFTER HER AFFAIRS.

HE PERFORMED WITH GREAT ZEAL.

NOTHING HE STATED OTHER THAN SLANDERING HIS COLLEAGUES

AND THE SECURITY BRANCH WAS RECORDED.

ERASMUS BECAME UNSTABLE AND LATER LEFT THE SECURITY

BRANCH UNDER A BLANKET  OF SUSPICION.

AT ONE STAGE HE, TOGETHER WITH ANOTHER FRIEND AND WINNIE

MANDELA WANTED TO SET UP A CLINIC IN ROSETTENVILLE TO TREAT

 H.I.V. PATIENTS WITH HIS SECRET HEALING. 

CLEANSING OF CONTAMINATED BLOOD WITH CERTAIN CHEMICALS.

THEY COULD NOT FIND A SPONSOR.

THIS VENTURE NEVER GOT OFF THE GROUND.

ONE WOULD WONDER WHAT AMOUNT OF CASH HE WAS OFFERED

TO PLAY A ROLE IN  "INDIANS CAN'T FLY" AND THIS CONTROVERSIAL

INQUEST.

THE JUDGEMENT HERE IN THIS CASE CANNOT BE OTHER THAN BIAS

AND ONE SIDED.

YES, MUSLIMS COMMIT SUICIDE MORE NOW THAN EVER!

THEY REFER TO THEMSELVES AS "SUICIDE BOMBERS!"










Monday, July 24, 2017

ANC’s Leadership Race: The Dirtiest Options

no STATE CAPTURE no CORRUPTION...... NO ZUMA..........


STEPHEN GROOTES : SOUTH AFRICA  24 JULY 2017 (SOUTH AFRICA)













It goes without saying that we live in cynical times. So cynical that some people believe the worst is about to happen. That a “certain someone” is about to steal the leadership of the ANC for his ex-wife, that the political situation is about to get much more disruptive and violent, that in fact what we are living through now is the calm before a very damaging political storm. At the root of these fears, correctly or not, lies President Jacob Zuma. So low has his political image in urban areas fallen that many people believe he is about to try to make a bid to literally steal the country. Quite a few of these fears may be unfounded, but, with some evidence now emerging that Cyril Ramaphosa is the above-board frontrunner for the ANC’s December leadership contest, it is worth examining what Zuma’s options actually are, and how events could play out. By STEPHEN GROOTES.


It is obvious to all that the stakes in the ANC’s December contest are incredibly high for those involved in it. For Zuma, it appears that he may be in a world of legal hurt, should he lose control of the National Prosecuting Authority. For Ramaphosa, on his version at least, the very soul of the ANC is at stake, so his own grouping has to fight incredibly hard.
In the real-world ANC, a practice employed at many previous provincial and regional conference is “gate-keeping” – the simple manipulation and creation of branches. It is a game both sides can play. It is probably happening right now. However, for this to really work, cash, and bucketloads of it, is needed. The cynics would say that state money is going to be used for this purpose, and that the Guptas have the cash to make it happen. Critics of the other side would point to the personal wealth of Ramaphosa.
The branch manipulation must happen in secret, otherwise the entire process is exposed to massive risk. If a branch decides it is going to nominate a certain faction for financial reasons, it would take only one member of that branch to blow the whistle. Nowadays, that wouldn’t even have to be Luthuli House. You could imagine the splash the media would make with the branch buying evidence captured on a cellphone.
So, it could happen, and probably will in some places, but it still is a dangerous proposition.
Then there is the manipulation of the actual delegates at the conference itself. Technically, the delegate goes to the conference with a mandate from their branch. But that mandate is not necessarily cast in stone – they can change that decision if circumstances change. This opens the door wide to dubious political transactions, and involving massive amounts of money. But this is probably an overly cynical reading of the situation – one hopes.
What would be easier is to control the delegates through the provincial chairmen (the use of “chairmen” is deliberate. Despite the fact the ANC may be about to elect its first-ever female national leader, there are currently no elected female leaders of an ANC province). We all know about the “Premier League”, who appear to have almost propped up Zuma in the ANC. But recently it seems Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza could be preparing to move over to the Ramaphosa side. From what can be seen (and there is much that cannot be seen), Mpumalanga is solidly unified behind Mabuza. His total control of his own province gives him the crucial role in the coming months.
For the Dlamini-Zuma side the imperative is obvious – make sure Mabuza is locked in. There are several ways this could be achieved. Considering the long-running claims of corruption against Mabuza (there have been no charges, and no convictions) it may be possible to simply threaten to let loose the criminal justice system. Or he could be bought, politically, through the offer of the position of deputy leader in the ANC. But this carrot-and-stick approach only works if Dlamini-Zuma is able to show confidence that they will win, no matter what. If Mabuza thinks for a second that Dlamini-Zuma could lose, then the entire proposal simply wouldn’t work; Mabuza could walk away from the table, never to return.
Another strategy that could also work quite well could be to simply disband the branches and regions that are going to support your opponent. So, if a region in KwaZulu-Natal wants to back Ramaphosa, the Zuma-supporting provincial leadership could simply disband them. City Press suggested this weekend that this may already be happening in the Western Cape. But, again, it is a complicated process. The national executive committee of the ANC could overrule these moves. Then there is the problem that you could end up with an ANC with no structures left standing at the end of it, which would make things even more ungovernable in the party than they are now.
It is now considered a fact of our political lives that our intelligence services play a factional role in our politics. The political sage Aubrey Matshiqi has written of how, a year before Polokwane, he tried to convince National Intelligence Agency officials to stay out of the ANC’s leadership race, but to no avail. Ten years later, journalists routinely have conversations only through encrypted means. For the political opponents of Zuma, this must now be second nature.
But, this is not necessarily the ace in the hole it may appear to be. While it would indeed provide advance notice of what your opponents are planning, it doesn’t automatically mean you can stop their progress. They can still campaign, still plan, still gather support, and crucially, keep the momentum going.
That said, it would be wise to expect many revelations about the personal lives and political histories of the enemies of those who have access to the intelligence agencies. Everything from the “truth” about their internet browser histories to claims of their dark secrets. Still, it would have to be something very deep and very dark to seriously change the race now. Perhaps it would be more effective to find a way to subject a politician to ridicule than to actually hope that some “secret” could stop them from gaining the top job. Ridicule can weaken a person, whereas a new “secret” may not be believed, and may not change the minds of those who are already critical of the incumbent faction.
What can also be expected is the kind of harassment of journalists and other critical voices. In many ways, the authenticity of the #GuptaLeaks emails has been proven again by the fact that groups like Black First Land First are harassing those who write about the emails (Conflict Alert: This writer is on their list of bad, bad people). It almost certainly shows that there is no other possible response, because, as the Rand Daily Mail said once about the Info Scandal, “It’s all true”. As this deluge of damaging information continues to flow, these attempts at harassment are likely to intensify.
Other attempts may well be made to distract the nation and the politically interested from what is really going on. This could include a bid to simply change the subject, or to make the narrative entirely about race, or wealth or inequality. Obviously, Bell Pottinger has already tried this to an extent. It may have gained some traction, but if someone is to use race in a divisive way for an internal party-political campaign, they essentially have to take on the legacy of Nelson Mandela. It sounds easy to get people to turn on each other, but in practice it may actually be harder.
Then there are other levers in government that can be pulled. If one was to judge every single government action only through the prism of the ANC’s December conference, one could suspect that Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane’s new Mining Charter and his new attempt to stop the awarding of mineral prospecting rights was an attempt to force the Chamber of Mines into an action that could be used for campaigning purposes. It would go like this – the Chamber gets pushed into a position in which it has to go to court to enforce the rights of its members. That case then becomes a massive cause célèbre which is used to demonstrate how “white people still want to control our minerals”. And of course Dlamini-Zuma would be the only person who can stop this from happening.
These issues can flare up very quickly. The case of the painting, The Spear, is a good example of how cultural issues were used by Zuma to shore up support for him incredibly quickly. It would be foolish to discount that ever happening again.
There’s also the two nuclear options:
These are wild times and the severity of the fight could lead to an altogether outlandish claim that the easiest thing for Ramaphosa’s opponents to do right now would be to simply remove him from the contest altogether.
In fact, that would be an incredibly bad strategy. If this were to happen – whatever the motive, means or result – the finger of suspicion would point to the other faction and the consequences, while difficult to predict, would be nationwide, and severe. But more important, Ramaphosa is not a person acting on his own, he is head of a much greater group. The strength of Ramaphosa is that it is not only his campaign – it is the other ANC leaders who are throwing their weight with him. If he were removed from the scene, there are others to replace him, so the entire exercise would have been futile.
At the same time. the Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma faction does not appear to have the same luxury, or depth of the bench.
And the final nuclear option: ... Just cancel the entire ANC conference. Create a situation, either in the ANC, or in the country, in which holding it is just impossible. It’s a favourite scenario of the extreme cynics. But this also has huge dangers. It could allow Ramaphosa and the parts of the ANC to simply hold their own conference on the currently scheduled dates. It would be the end of the ANC, of course; the split would be the real moment that part of the ANC’s conference started. But it would strengthen the claim of those who believe Zuma has dictatorial tendencies and allow them to get a head start in the race to claim the ANC’s legacy and legitimacy.
In the end, while it is correct to be a little concerned about what could happen, it is probably wrong to be unduly worried. There are strong political reasons to believe that the worst options, on the most cynical reading of politicians’ motives, will not come to pass. In the end, what both sides want is control of a fully functioning ANC that can still win the 2019 elections. DM
Photo: ANC President Jacob Zuma, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC’s Policy Conference, 5 July 2017 (Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee)

DAILY MAVERICK

COMMENTS BY SONNY

SO, JACOB ZUMA INSISTS ON PULLING THE PUTIN CARD?
HE, OR HIS CRONIES ARE TOO LIGHT FOR THAT MOVE.
ZUMA IS DESTINED FOR A SOUTH AFRICAN OR DUBAI PRISON!
INCARCERATION IS THE ONLY FUTURE FOR ZUMA AND HIS CRONIES.......
YES, HE HAS RUN OUT OF OPTIONS.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

SUSPECTED CT GANG LEADER REPORTEDLY SHOT & INJURED IN SANDTON

more state capture more organised crime.........

According to the reports, the driver managed to drive away, but collided with three other vehicles at the Morningside clinic.







According to the reports, the driver managed to drive away, but collided with three other vehicles at the Morningside clinic.

CAPE TOWN - A suspected Cape Town gang leader has been shot in Gauteng.
Several sources have told Eyewitness News Ralph Stanfield was shot earlier on Thursday afternoon.
The Sandton Chronicle has also reported that the driver of an Audi R8 was shot in the upper body.
The news outlet reports the shooting took place in Melrose, near the Athol offramp.
It states that Constable David Mothapo has confirmed reports that the driver heard gunshots and realised he was the target.
According to the Chronicle Mothapo said the driver managed to drive away but collided with three other vehicles at the Morningside Clinic.
The report states the driver was then taken to a nearby hospital to receive further treatment.

Cape Town 28s gang boss  was with a friend in an Audi when they were shot near Melrose Arch in Joburg. He's in hospital.

EWN

COMMENTS BY SONNY

The assassin was an amateur.
Sounds similar to the first attempt on Brett Kebble's ASSISTED SUICIDE..... SAME SPOT!  HOPE THEY DON'T GET PAID FOR THEIR FAILURE.
ITS INTERESTING TO SEE ALL THE STATE ROLL PLAYERS AND IT STRETCHED TO SARS.
ANOTHER TURF WAR CAPTURE!

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

SEXWALE LEAVES TRILLIAN AS FIRM FACES CLAIMS OF STATE CAPTURE

no fear no favour - STATE CAPTURED............


Tokyo Sexwale made the announcement while giving feedback on Geoff Budlender's report into Trillian and alleged links to the Guptas.



FILE: Non-executive Chairman of Trillian Capital Partners, Tokyo Sexwale. Picture: Reinart Toerien/EWN

Gia Nicolaides 5 days ago


OHANNESBURG – Tokyo Sexwale has announced that he is stepping down as chairman of Trillian, and Thursday is his last day on the job.
Sexwale says one family and allegations of state capture are destroying his organisation.
He says one group of people has had control over the country.
The businessman is briefing media on the Geoff Budlender's report into Trillian and alleged links to the controversial business family, the Guptas.
Sexwale has urged people not to wait to get caught through incriminating emails but to rather come out with information on state capture.
 Sexwale says CEO Eric Wood is a good person but he's been caught in the cross fire. GN
He adds that he knows the Guptas are good people, but maybe there is something he doesn’t know.
Sexwale says emails exposed in the Gupta leaks have shocked him.
An independent investigation into Trillian Capital Partners has shown that the company did help the Gupta family pay for the Optimum coal mine.
The report by Budlender has revealed several links between Trillian and the Guptas. It shows that on the same day that Gupta-linked company Tegeta paid for the Optimum Coal Mine, a large sum of money was withdrawn from Trillian's current account.
Advocate Budlender has also revealed how work was done for Eskom by one of Trillian's subsidiaries and therefore when Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown was answering questions about this in Parliament she either provided false or seriously misleading information.
He has pointed out that Trillian management has consistently attempted to obstruct his investigation and failed to provide information.
At the same time, Sexwale says allegations of state capture – along with the power of the Guptas – is destroying the both the ruling party and the country.

WATCH: Sexwale on state capture: "There's more than meets the eye"
EWN

COMMENTS BY SONNY

The Magnet who wanted to become PRESIDENT BY 2019.

CAUGHT IN BED WITH THE GUPTA'S

PRODIGAL SON OF JACOB ZUMA..................

BIRDS OF A feather...................................

After the Gupta wedding and the SARS ‘Rogue Unit’ report fiascos: What future for KPMG in South Africa?

  • MARIANNE THAMM
  •  
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  •  
The fallout from KPMG’s association with the Gupta-owned Linkway Trading, implicated in laundering R30-million in public funds to pay for the family’s 2013 Sun City nuptials extravaganza continued this week as former KPMG Africa CE, Moses Kgosana, resigned from his new job as chairman of Alexander Forbes. Past accusations that KPMG copied and pasted findings of an investigation conducted for SARS on the so-called “rogue unit” and which cost taxpayers R23-million have also resurfaced. That investigation recommended that Pravin Gordhan be probed. What should happen to KPMG South Africa? By MARIANNE THAMM

Chair and Chief Executive of Pan-African Investment and Research Services, Dr Iraj Abedian, has strong views on what should happen to KPMG as well as the systemic effect the current case being investigated by the Independent Auditors’ Regulatory Board (IRBA) has and will have on the South African economy.
The South African IRBA now has to show its teeth, otherwise the entire audit industry will be left under a cloud of suspicion hereafter. This is a serious matter. A slap on the wrist is not going to do it,” Abedian told Daily Maverick.
Xanti Payi, economist and head of research at Nascence Advisory and Research, told Daily Maverick that “we have seen this movie before in the US. It was this sort of thing that led to the financial collapse, which started with Enron and their auditors, and came to climax with financial institutions and the junk products they peddled to the collapse we saw”.
Payi added that many South African firms participated in, if not spearheaded, “the cause for a closed and exclusionary economy” and that this had the effect of distorting economic outcomes and eroding people’s trust in the country’s economic and financial system.
Abedian said that over the past few years, various sources, including political leaders inside and outside Parliament, had mentioned “figures running into billions of rands that the Oakbay Group has defrauded and even repatriated via illicit financial flows”.
The office of the Public Protector, in its report on the State of Capture, had alluded to such transactions, said Abedian.
She (Thuli Madonsela) found it necessary to motivate the establishment of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the related matters. Given the gravity of the political economy impact, and in the light of the estimated and/or suspected amount of public money involved, KPMG and the entire SA audit industry have much to answer for. So, if the IRBA fails to recognise the gravity of the case, it will harm the industry and the SA economy for decades to come,” warned Abedian.
Weighing on the mind of IRBA might be the issue of “too big too fail”, but this was simply not applicable in the case of audit firms:
I would argue that the reverse applies in the case of the audit firms. As highlighted in the case of Arthur Andersen, the bigger the firm, the more necessary it becomes to rescue the industry and not the firm. No firm is ever bigger than the issue of the role of external auditors in a market economy,” he said.
If KPMG was not sent packing, or at least sent packing from South Africa, Abedian said, “then understandingly no one will be blamed for distrusting the audit views of KPMG and for that matter the auditors in general. This is a fairly simple and elementary logic of the entire audit profession. Audit is all about trust and legitimacy of compliance with the spirit of the audit process.”
The country needed to await the verdict of the IRBA and hope that it would do “the ethical thing, tough as it might be”.
He added that there were three issues that needed clear resolution; the suspension of KPMG’s licence as a firm (at least in South Africa); the suspension of the specific KPMG auditors and professional forensic staff who had over the years been involved in the many Oakbay companies (and maybe others) that had engaged in unethical bookkeeping and accounting practices, and the penalty that KPMG needed to pay for having caused a multibillion rand loss to South African taxpayers.
Abedian said it was clear that over the years KPMG had been aware of “all kinds of questionable transactions” in various companies in the Gupta Group.
That it chose to remain silent for so long is a serious matter of unethical conduct,” he said, adding that KMPG’s conduct “had the hallmarks of Arthur Anderson written all over it”.
(It was the 2001 Enron scandal that sounded the death knell for Arthur Andersen, after 89 years in business as one of the “big five” US accounting firms.)
KPMG may well end up going the same way. This is both necessary and constructive for the industry and for the economy,” said Abedian.
That KPMG had decided, via its own internal processes, to drop the Oakbay audit “speaks volumes” and this even before revelations in the #GuptaLeaks emails.
It appears that the rising levels of unethical bookkeeping and accounting practices finally became too much even for KPMG. So it had to drop the client. The current denial of impropriety and unethical audit by KPMG is understandably soft and indicative of serious worries.”
Abedian said McKinsey’s case was somewhat different with regard to the order of magnitude.
They are a consulting firm, and do not claim to abide by any ethical standards. If proven that they have engaged in this (and I do not know the details), then McKinsey’s has much to answer to.”
KPMG, with regard to its “independent” investigation conducted for SARS and Commissioner Tom Moyane into the so-called “rogue unit” in 2014, has managed to side-step serious questions about the findings of its report, handed to Moyane on 4 December 2015.
One of the recommendations of that report was that former SARS Commissioner Pravin Gordhan be probed for his alleged role in the establishment of the unit.
Taxpayers forked out R23-million for the report which has still not been made public. It was presented to Moyane with the strange proviso that it not be used “for the resolution or disposition of any disputes or controversies thereto and is not to be disclosed, quoted or referenced, in whole or in part”.
Only a few individuals were given a copy, including Moyane, members of the Kroon Board (appointed by then Minister Nhlanhla Nene who was to be fired by President Zuma on 9 December 2015), SARS lawyers as well as Nene and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas.
The report was then leaked to the Sunday Times. The paper claimed it had based some of its stories – which it was later forced to retract by the Press Ombudsman – on a draft of the KPMG report.
The report has subsequently been revealed to have been seriously compromised by the inclusion of at least 16 points in its recommendations and findings copied and pasted from recommendations made by SARS’ own legal representatives Mashiane, Moodley and Monama.
In other words, SARS’ legal firm appears to have instructed KPMG as to which findings to make in what should have been an “independent” report.
KPMG had been contracted by SARS and Moyane in December 2014 to conduct the forensic investigation.
Three months afterwards, KPMG was appointed as auditors for global multinational British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the companies that would feature prominently in the “rogue unit” investigation. It is not clear whether KPMG alerted SARS to this conflict of interest.
In the end KPMG, in the report handed to Moyane, named every other “suspect” in the “rogue unit” saga apart from BAT.
KPMG’s response to questions by Daily Maverick to CEO Trevor Hoole in 2016 read:
Due to confidentiality constraints as per the agreement with our client we unfortunately cannot divulge any information to you or discuss any aspect with you. Please direct any questions that you may (have) to SARS.”
Questions to SARS too remained unanswered.
Hoole later defended the KPMG report saying that it has merely been a “documentary review”; however, a draft of the KPMG report revealed that KPMG auditor Johan van der Walt had been tasked to work with SARS’ Advocate Martin Brassey to “capture oral evidence” as well as consider the findings of two other committees, the Kanyane (appointed by Pillay) and Sikhakhane panels.
A letter dated 30 November 2015 signed by David Maphakela, on behalf of Mashiane, Moodley and Monama, unequivocally informed the legal team representing a former SARS official who had been implicated in the “rogue unit” scandal that “further and as part of the forensic investigation, KPMG was mandated to advise SARS on any criminal or civil litigation to be pursued against any SARS official or 3rd party”.
It is clear from these communications that the KPMG report was much more than a mere documentary review – at least as far as SARS was concerned.
The scope of the KPMG investigation stretched as far back as 2003 and general procedures agreed to with SARS included considering and perusing existing reports and evidence collated in the preparations of the Sikhakhane and Kanyane committees, the consideration of legal papers, interviews with SARS officials “that might be considered to have knowledge”, draft affidavits, the identification and collation of electronic information including computers, cellphones, tablets and information on SARS servers and, most important, to independently “consider and review collected information and evidence to determine allegations”.
When KPMG was appointed as a contractor, Moyane’s trusted No 2, Jonas Makwakwa (now on suspension after media revelations in May 2016 that the FIC had flagged suspicious payments amounting to R1.3-million into Makwakwa and his girlfriend, SARS employee Kelly Anne-Elskie’s private bank accounts) and the SARS Steering Committee had been nominated “as representatives of SARS” .
KPMG and Hoole, after Gordhan had publicly attacked the auditing firm saying it was “supposed to come up with facts”, later defended the report, saying that was only a draft “until the client confirms to us that all matters have been addressed and that the report has been through the entity’s governance processes and is ready to be issued. A report may well be considered by KPMG to be complete or final but prior to being issued the client needs to notify us that it has been accepted by them.”
A recap of events that followed the allegations of a “rogue unit” in SARS reveals the gravity and the serious collateral damage of the allegations that first began to be published in theSunday Times in November 2014 (two months after Moyane’s appointment) and that ultimately devastated SARS’ senior leadership as it had existed until then.
During that period, SARS had been regarded as one of the most efficient government institutions and was, in fact, the engine that kept the economic cogs turning.
Six months later the entire SARS executive committee including acting commissioner Ivan Pillay, his special adviser, Yolisa Pikie, group executive Johann van Loggerenberg, head of strategic planning, Peter Richer, chief operating officer, Barry Hore, modernisation and strategy head, Jérôme Frey, anti-corruption and security head, Clifford Collings, as well as spokespeople Adrian Lackay and Marika Muller, were gone, all felled by Moyane, a close associate of President Jacob Zuma.
SARS too has featured as a focal point and key battleground in the State Capture narrative and in the later tensions that arose between Moyane, Hawks head Mthandazo Ntlemeza (since suspended) and the relentless hounding of Pravin Gordhan since his re-appointment as Finance Minister after Nene’s firing and the appointment by President Zuma of Gupta greaser, Des van Rooyen, who lasted only a weekend in the top job.
The political fallout in the slipstream of the “rogue unit” saga has been equally as devastating for South Africa and the ruling party, with President Zuma reshuffling his Cabinet in March, replacing Finance Minister Gordhan with the Gupta-linked Malusi Gigaba.
On Monday, former KPMG chief excutive Moses Kgosana, who attended the Gupta 2013 wedding, resigned from his post at Alexander Forbes where he was due to take up the position as the group’s chairperson on 3 August.
Alexander Forbes, in a statement, said, “Mr Kgosana felt that the demands on his time in the role of chairperson of the company whilst attending to these allegations will interfere with his deliverable expectations. Alexander Forbes welcomes this decisive action.”
Bernard Agulhas, CEO of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors, said that it was important that the board take seriously allegations against KPMG in the public domain “which are in the public interest”.12
The IRBA has since December 2015 been rolling out measures to increase transparency, improve independence and enhance audit quality.” DM
COMMENTS BY SONNY COX

in any Civilised Country these criminal elements would have been declared undesirable persons and have been deported back to india!

jacob zuma should have been granted the option to leave with them!