What will Zuma do: What does turning tide mean for Yesterday’s Man?

No Fear No Favour No Gupta partnerships...........


Ranjeni Munusami  SOUTH AFRICA 29 AUGUST 2016 01:15 (South Africa)

                                                                             

A year ago, some of President Jacob Zuma’s allies were floating the idea of a third term for him as ANC leader. Now even his most ardent supporters know Zuma is a dead weight. The local government election results clearly signalled that people are fed up with him, even though the ANC is reluctant to admit it. The Hawks investigation against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has been pinned on Zuma, prompting more prominent voices in society to speak out against him. The clearest sign that Zuma’s political capital has diminished is the decision by the Gupta family to cut and run. Even the SACP, which fought zealously for Zuma to be president, wants his powers cut. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

Had it not been revealed that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was ordered by the Hawks to present himself at their offices and had he decided to comply with the order, one has to wonder what might have happened last week. Would Zuma have decided that Gordhan was effectively a suspect and removed him from his position? Would the economy have bottomed out? Who would be our finance minister now?

The big question is, if events had gone according to plan, would the Gupta family have announced on Saturday that they would be selling all their shareholding in their South African businesses? The family said in a media statement that they were “already in discussions with several international prospective buyers and will soon be in a position to make further announcements”.

“We believe that this decision is in the best interests of our business, the country and our colleagues,” the statement read. 

The Guptas are really having a torrid time. Apart from being unable to wrestle Gordhan out of the finance ministry yet, their lucrative partnerships with state-owned enterprises are being exposed and threatened.

A National Treasury report has revealed that Eskom paid more than R130-million to a Gupta-owned company, Tegeta Exploration and Resources, for coal that could not be used. The Guptas threatened to go to court to stop the report from being made public. The Sunday Times also reported that Treasury was planning to go to court over Denel’s partnership with another Gupta company, VR Laser Asia. The paper said Treasury’s legal head Rebecca Tee had sent letters to Denel demanding that the weapons maker dissolve its partnership or face legal action.

The Gupta family has also been hit by revelations by amaBhungane that another Gupta-linked firm, Trillian, was extracting cash out of Transnet at an alarming rate. AmaBhungane reported that R167-million was paid from Transnet to Trillian. The Treasury is also investigating contracts between the companies.

So it is quite obvious why the Treasury is the bane of the Guptas existence. If the Treasury is questioning their current deals, their hopes of scoring big through the proposed nuclear build programme are now crushed. Any hope that their good friend, President Zuma, would be able to protect their profitable deals is also diminishing. Zuma is himself under serious pressure and cannot push buttons in the state or the ANC as easily as he could a year ago.

The Guptas could not have been reassured by the presidency’s clarification this week that Zuma would not have direct involvement in the reform of the state-owned companies through the establishment of presidential SOE co-ordinating council.

“It is not to directly run projects or usurp responsibilities of line function ministers,” the presidency said. This will not make life any better for the Guptas, who are still battling for government to intervene on their behalf to get South Africa’s banks to do business with them again.

While it was possible in the past to secure people’s co-operation or intervention through an invitation to lunch at Saxonwold or a phone call from Number One, the Guptas are now pariahs. And Zuma is fast becoming a lame duck president.

The ANC Youth League (ANCYL), which a year ago was punting the idea of Zuma staying on as ANC president for another term, said last week that there should be an early national conference to elect a new leadership. Shortly after his election last year, ANCYL president Collen Maine said youth league members were “consistent in that they were in favour of Zuma serving a third term”. That “consistency” seems to have changed now. While the ANCYL and its “premier league” faction want to handpick the next set of top six leaders in the ANC, even they are not so idiotic to have Zuma on their slate. They will try to protect Zuma’s position in the state so that he completes his term but his usefulness to their faction is diminishing.

This weekend the South African Communist Party (SACP) made it clear that they are no longer part of the Zuma fan club. In a media briefing after a central committee meeting, the SACP said “the manner in which the ANC chose to campaign by foregrounding President Zuma and not local issues and local mayoral candidates played straight into the hands of the opposition campaign”. The party said the opposition was therefore able to focus on “our national leadership shortcomings – whether real or alleged”.

The SACP slammed the “ongoing harassment” of Gordhan, saying the investigation against him had an “eerie similarity” to the time Zuma was probed for corruption. “The current harassment of Comrade Gordhan bears an uncanny resemblance to those events, where judicial processes are used and abused for political ends.”

At the time, the SACP maintained that state agencies were used by former president Thabo Mbeki in a political campaign against Zuma. The fact that the party itself now drew a parallel between the two cases is quite shocking.

In response to questions about widespread expectations that SACP leaders would be culled in a pending Cabinet reshuffle, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said it would not be a “train smash” if they were no longer ministers. He said they were “irritated” by suggestions that they are serving in Cabinet because they are looking for jobs. Trying to “dangle” Cabinet positions in order to silence the SACP would not work, Nzimande said.

It is almost a dare for Zuma to fire them.

The ANC has steered clear of responding formally to the issues raised in the fiery speech by former foreign affairs director-general Sipho Pityana at former minister Makhenkesi Stofile’s funeral last week. Pityana was scathing of the ANC and Zuma in particular, saying had the president attended the funeral, he would have pleaded with him to resign for “humiliating” the organisation. To make matters worse, the Sunday Times reported that it had been Stofile’s last wish that Zuma not speak at his funeral. Pityana’s speech has resonated in society, emboldening more people to speak out.

For the second time in his career, Zuma could be politically isolated. When he was fired as deputy president of the country and charged with corruption and rape, he was treated as an outcast in the ANC. Since the announcement of the election results, when four women staged an anti-rape protest, Zuma has not appeared on any public platforms. He has not responded to any of the debates around him or spoken himself of the commotion around Gordhan. Zuma’s time away from the country, travelling this weekend from Kenya to Swaziland and then to China, gives him a breather from domestic issues.

Zuma will have to face the country at some stage. Will he feel secure enough to speak on public platforms knowing the level of discontent is growing and that he cannot anticipate how he will next be confronted about his scandals and controversies? Zuma will also have to return to Parliament to answer questions – with an emboldened opposition waiting to pounce. With his political capital declining fast, he will also be unsure of who in the ANC he can trust as more and more people will back away from him.

The best way for Zuma to defuse the hostility around him would be to admit his shortcomings and take responsibility for his bad leadership, poor decisions and for causing damage to the ANC and the country. He can also devolve some of his functions to the deputy president and ministers, and allow for more collective decision-making in the ANC – to counter what the SACP has now termed “presidentialism”.

If Zuma really wants to regain some of the public trust he has destroyed, he can speak to the nation and undertake not to make any more risky decisions such as firing ministers to do his friends’ bidding. He can also instruct his Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko to stop using the Hawks as a political weapon to persecute their enemies.

There is always another option, which is for Zuma to admit his mistakes and resign. That would, of course, be completely out of the question as Zuma, his family and his allies have too much vested in his presidency to suddenly quit. 

And then there is the most likely option, which is to continue with business as usual, with even more stringent security measures around Zuma to protect him from the people he leads. Zuma would go on laughing at the criticism of his leadership and dust off attempts to hold him accountable. He would continue to allow looting and abuse of the state, and preside over the wars in government. He would also still require the ANC to act as his shield in Parliament and push his organisation further down the path of self-destruction.

Perhaps the most feared option would be for Zuma to seek to consolidate his power. In order to do this, Zuma would have to manipulate ANC structures and exercise full control of the state. Our democracy is safeguarded by the Constitution, which defines powers, functions and responsibilities. Eschewing accountability systems and appropriating control of state functions and resources would require suspending the Constitution – or as Zuma has joked several times, becoming a “dictator” for a few months. With Zuma already getting away with violating the Constitution once, civil society would need to watch closely to prevent this happening again.

Even with everyone around him running for cover, Zuma remains like a rotting corpse as the head of the ANC and the country. By the time he is replaced as ANC president, he will be completely isolated and powerless. After a once celebrated role in the liberation struggle and peace-making efforts in the country and the continent, Zuma is headed for an inglorious end. The only question is how long before this happens. DM

Photo: The New Age Board Chairman Atul Gupta and President Jacob Zuma and the First Lady MaNtuli Zuma. President Jacob Zuma at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium for the T20 match between South Africa and India. South Africa. 30/03/2012. (Photo: Presidency of South Africa)

• RANJENI MUNUSAMY
• SOUTH AFRICA

DAILY MAVERICK

COMMENTS BY SONNY

NOBODY IS ABOVE THE LAW......

THIS IS STATE CAPTURE TO SAY THE LEAST OF THIS WHOLE SPECTACLE.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE ANC AND HIS COHORTS BEING THE GUPTA'S AND

MOST OF HIS CABINET SHOULD BE TAKEN TO TASK.

SOUTH AFRICA'S ECONOMY DEPENDS ON THE REMOVAL OF ZUMA AND

COMPANY.

IF THE HAWKS AND THE NPA WERE IMPARTIAL THEY SHOULD

INVESTIGATE HIGH TREASON CASES AGAINST ALL AND SUNDRY

INVOLVED IN THIS HEINOUS STATE OF CONSPIRACY, CORRUPTION

AND GREED!

PRAVIN GORDHAN SHOULD BE TREATED ACCORDING TO OUR

CONSTITUTION AND NOT AN UNLAWFUL POLITICAL AGENDA.

THIS PASSAGE BY JESSE DUARTE SPEAKS VOLUMES OF DECEIT AND

LIES........        .........."Duarte had laid it on quite thick, saying in

an interview with the Gupta-owned ANN7television station

that the public support for Gordhan had turned into an

“international campaign against South Africa”. While

defending the Gupta family, Duarte accused her

 “comrade” of “grandstanding” and projecting himself

 as being above the law. She claimed that the longer

Gordhan’s innocence remained unproven in a court

of law, the more he ran the risk of debasing his

“personal integrity”............

BREAKING: SARS Wars Endgame – Hawks order Pravin Gordhan and others to “present” themselves

No Fear No Favour No anc involvement............


Mirrianne Thamm  * SOUTH AFRICA  23 AUGUST 2016  05:16 (SOUTH AFRICA)

The Hawks are again circling Pravin Gordhan as well as four SARS officials, former Deputy Commissioner Ivan Pillay, Group Executive Johann van Loggerenberg, Pete Richer, former SARS head of strategic planning, and initial head of the investigative unit, Andries van Rensburg, who have all been ordered to report to the Hawks in Pretoria on Thursday for warning statements. The threats of criminal action relate to allegations of an alleged “rogue unit” located in SARS. Pravin Gordhan has been in the Hawks cross-hairs since accidentally landing back in the hot seat as Minister of Finance in December. By MARIANNE THAMM.

Update/Correction: 

Andre van Rensburg, original head of the unit, presented himself to the Hawks in Worcester. Former spokesperson Adrian Lackay has not been served with any letters or notices. The four former SARS officials who have been asked to present themselves to the Hawks on Thursday at 10am are Gordhan, Pillay, van Loggerenberg and Pete Richer, former SARS head of strategic planning.

The convoluted SARS “rogue unit” saga appears to be heading for a dramatic climax as the Hawks are poised to finally make a much anticipated move on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan this week. This in spite of Gordhan's answering of 27 questions personally delivered by the Hawks head Lieutenant-General Mthandazo Ntlemeza in February with regard to the so-called “rogue unit” in SARS.

Gordhan has for some time, since his reinstatement as Minister of Finance in December after President Jacob Zuma's disastrous firing of Nhlanhla Nene, been viewed as an obstacle thwarting the interests of individuals linked to Zuma including SAA's Dudu Myeni, current SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane as well as the Gupta family's interest in the country's nuclear deal, among countless others.

In May Gordhan released a public statement saying that earlier reports of his arrest had been distressing for him and his family and urged South Africans to “protect the integrity of the treasury”.

“I cannot believe that I’m being investigated and could possibly be charged for something I am innocent of. Throughout my 45 years of activism, I have worked for the advancement of the ANC, our Constitution and our democratic government,” he said.

Daily Maverick has been reliably informed that Gordhan, Pillay, Van Loggerenberg, Lackay, as well as the original 2007 head of the unit, Andries “Skollie” van Rensburg, have all been asked to report to the Hawks at 10am on Thursday. Pillay, Van Loggernberg, Lackay and Van Rensburg were sent letters informing them of the charges they will face. Gordhan was informed that he would, along with the other, be receiving a “warning statement” given to an accused person before they are charged with an offence and to warn them of their rights in terms of the Constitution.

Daily Maverick also learned that Pillay, Van Loggerenberg, Lackay and Van Rensburg have been informed by the Hawks that each of them face possible charges in relation as to how the unit was formed. Pillay will also be questioned in relation to his pension payout and Van Loggerenberg in relation to a charity he ran. In addition to it, Pillay will also face questions about the alleged “project 

Hawks spokesperson, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, told Daily Maverick that he did not have a “mandate to discuss any case or any confidential information attached to any case that is still under investigation. Any matters related to this enquiry is mere speculation and we will also not comment on it.”

When approached for comment on the matter, Van Loggerenberg, Pillay and Lackay declined.

Earlier this year the Hawks sent the 27 questions to Gordhan who was SARS Commissioner when a request for a unit with special investigative capacity was signed off in 2007. This was done with the knowledge of then Finance Minster Trevor Manuel and in agreement with the NIA (National Intelligence Agency), who was to partner the unit in an attempt to curb the illicit economy.

Gordhan replied to the questions stating that, according to legal advice, the establishment of the unit had been lawful, that the finding by the Sikhakhane Panel (one of four investigations into the unit) that the establishment of the Unit contravened the National Strategic Intelligence Act was “wrong and based on a superficial and clearly mistaken reading of the aforementioned Act” and that the unit had been “an essential part of SARS’ enforcement strategy as it is with most tax and customs administrations globally.”

All of this also had been in line with then President Thabo Mbeki's announcement in his 2007 SONA that government would “start the process of further modernising the systems of the South African Revenue Service, especially in respect of border control, and improve the work of inter-departmental co-ordinating structures in this regard, intensify intelligence work with regard to organised crime, building on the successes that have been achieved in the last few months in dealing with cash-in-transit heists, drug trafficking and the poaching of game and abalone”.

Under Gordhan, SARS was turned into one of the most efficient government departments. The National Research Group, as it was later to be named, was responsible for raking in millions in unpaid taxes and for investigating the criminal underworld, including abalone smuggling, rhino poaching, the importation of grey goods as well as drug and tobacco trafficking.

Some of the unit's successes included a R40 million fine paid by former Hyundai SA boss Billy Rautenbach who had evaded local authorities for ten years, nailing of underworld drug lord Glen Agliotti, as well as investigations into billionaire Dave King’s tax affairs. The unit's apparent crime/mistake was that it also began sniffing around individuals and companies who had alleged dealings with President Jacob Zuma and his family.

The “rogue unit” narrative was first advanced by a former NIA (National Intelligence Agency) operative Dr Mandisa Mokwena, a SARS group executive who headed the Segmentation and Research Division and who was later charged with 40 counts of fraud, racketeering and money laundering. It was also forwarded by State Security Agency double operative Pretoria attorney, Belinda Walter.

Since then at least four “investigations” have been conducted including the controversial KPMG report, which cost taxpayers R23 million and which has still not been released.

Some of the allegations included that the unit, headed by Johann van Loggerenberg, had gone “rogue”, had spied on politicians including Jacob Zuma, had set up a brothel and had used a slush fund.

Walter was a double agent for the SSA and British American Tobacco (BAT) while she worked as an attorney for BAT competitors Carnilinx. She also chaired the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA). After a relationship between Walters and Van Loggerenberg turned sour, in 2014 Walter lodged a complaint with the HAWKS and SARS.

All of this loops back to 2013 when Pillay, shortly after being appointed as acting Commissioner of SARS, announced that the revenue service was requesting the NPA to prosecute 15 local tobacco manufacturers and importers for tax evasion and illicit trade in an attempt to collect around R12 billion in unpaid taxes.

On 14 November SARS wrote a letter to the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa (TISA), and the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) as representatives of the majority of the stakeholders in the tobacco industry in South Africa. The bodies were advised that SARS had implemented programmes to monitor and increase compliance particularly with regard to the tobacco industry identified as “as one such high risk area for reasons which include the on-going trade in illicit cigarettes.”

Tax and Customs Enforcement Investigations (TCEI), a new division that fell under Gene Revele, was mandated to investigate serious non-compliance issues and gathered information on the tobacco industry.

About 18-months later, Pillay and several other top officials, all found themselves jobless.

This after the Sunday Times, under then editor Phylicia Oppelt, was instrumental in publishing reports on the “rogue unit” and which subsequently directly led to new Commissioner Tom Moyane culling SARS top leadership.

The Sunday Times, under its new editor Bongani Siqoko, later apologised for the newspaper's role in the “rogue unit” saga. He admitted that a 9 November 2014 report that the unit had run a brothel was not true and that this had merely been an allegation by a disgruntled former member of the unit.

“In another article in the same edition, we reported incorrectly that Johann van Loggerenberg had written a 'confession' letter to SARS commissioner Tom Moyane admitting that he had indeed run a 'rogue unit'. The document contains no such confession. It was, in fact, a denial. More errors were repeated in other reports, such as 'the infiltration of politicians as bodyguards', 'breaking into homes and conducting house infiltrations', 'running front companies' with secret funds of over R500-million, and 'spying on taxpayers and top cops',” wrote Siqoko.

Earlier this month, an anonymous Twitter account @EspionageSA leaked the largest data dump ever pertaining to British American Tobacco's alleged role in tax evasion, bribery, corruption and industrial espionage in South Africa. Hundreds of affidavits by whistle blowers, photographs, lawyers letters and sound clips were leaked by the account holder and linked to a Google docs folder (owned by 'Black Widow') and suggesting serious criminality on the part of British American Tobacco. BAT responded to the leaks with a standard, unsigned statement that it did not condone illegal behaviour.

The Hawks, in the meantime, have responded that they are not investigating these leaks and the serious allegations that BAT might have destabilised a state institution and been involved in bribery and industrial espionage. Brigadier Mulaudzi told Daily Maverick“we only comment on official complaints and the BAT is one of those that was leaked to the public and no formal docket has been opened.”

This suggests that, incredibly, until a private citizen or someone else lodges a complaint with regard to the massive and serious leak the Hawks are going to ignore it and go after South African former SARS officials instead.

The response by the Hawks is curious and inconsistent as in March 2015, Minster of State Security, David Mahlobo, announced that government “noted with great concern the allegations of espionage against the Head of the Office of the Public Protector [Thuli Madonsela] and certain political leaders in our country A search conducted on these allegations made, led government to the following website: africainteligenceleaks.wordpress.com, including other social media platforms.”

It appears that law enforcement agencies, when it comes to probing allegations that Madonsela was a “CIA agent” are prepared to investigate an Internet leak while this strangely does not apply to British American Tobacco. DM

Photo: Finance minister Pravin Gordhan, the Hawks head Lieutenant-General Mthandazo Ntlemeza. (SAPA)

• MARIANNE THAMM

SOUTH AFRICA - DAILY MAVERICK

COMMENTS BY SONNY

Is this what happens when the anc head and cadre
tried to get their dirty fingers back into the 
cookie jar? sa treasury. saa.......

the anc is at war with its partners who guided them 
through their 'revolution!'

their unjust revolution against CAPITALISM and 

opposition has backfired on them.

remember the people of south africa are now

watching the 'ruling party' more than ever

before.

the master jugglers will not get out of this one.

pravin gordham would have made a better president.

what about zuma's spy tapes?  ...a and all other?

what about nia and their rika spy agenda?

this general was declared a liar in the high court?

the ancestors of the anc have spoken.................

SARS Wars: Massive data leak alleges British American Tobacco SA's role in bribery and corruption

No Fear No Favour No Sticky Spooks here please.............




MARIANNE THAMM  SOUTH AFRICA  16 AUGUST 2016 01:15 (SOUTH AFRICA)

Craig Williamson, one of apartheid’s most ruthless spies and assassins, is one of many “agents” named in a massive data leak posted on a Twitter account, @EspionageSA, and which points to wide-scale industrial espionage, fraud, racketeering, corruption and bribery by agents representing and working on behalf of British American Tobacco SA (BATSA). While the allegations are not new, the explosive documents reveal how members of SAPS, the State Security Agency, the Hawks and SARS were drawn into BATSA’s attempts to eliminate competition in South Africa. These actions ultimately led to the destabilisation of SARS and the purging of its top executive structure in 2014. By MARIANNE THAMM.

The anonymous holder of the Twitter account SATobacco Espionage @EspionageSA signed up on 4 August, describing the account’s intention to “expose Industrial Espionage Money Laundering in Tobacco Industry by Corporate Company British American Tobacco”. The account’s first post referenced a WikiSpooks entry on notorious apartheid assassin, Craig Williamson, described by @EspionageSA as “Handler to the Dis-grunted [sic] Ex Employee of FSS (Forensic Security Services) Francois van Der Westhuizen”.

Today Williamson describes himself on his LinkedIn profile as an “Independent Tobacco Professional”. Williamson – who, among many other atrocities, orchestrated the murder of academic and activist Ruth First, sending her a parcel bomb in Maputo in 1982, and who sent a letter bomb which killed trade unionist Jeanette Schoon and her daughter Katryn in northern Angola in 1984 – was granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In 2008 he was sequestrated following a civil case by the Schoon family. Williamson was an original silent partner in CTC Pty Ltd, trading as Carnilinx, but later branched out on his own. As he has been declared insolvent in South Africa, Williamson currently works from Botswana where he owns that country’s only cigarette manufacturer, Benson Craig.

By Sunday evening @EspionageSA had posted hundreds of files, videos, photographs, PowerPoint presentations, lists of undercover agents, reports, records of payments, affidavits and internal documents belonging to the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association. Whistle-blower Van der Westhuizen’s identity had been kept secret until the Twitter posting on 8 August titled “THE Affidavit” and which linked to a Google Drive folder owned by “Black Widow”.

Van Der Westhuizen’s statement had been deposed in Johannesburg to the Competition Commission in December 2015 as part of Carnilinx’s complaint against British American Tobacco Holdings South Africa, British American Tobacco South Africa, Forensic Security Services (Pty) Ltd and its boss Stephen Botha, an apartheid era intelligence spy, as well as six others.

Allegations of widespread corruption and fraud in the tobacco industry are not new. Investigations by the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism have revealed, from at least 2010, that multinational tobacco agencies have spent millions paying State Security agents to protect their commercial interests. It has been a story fraught with subterfuge and deception with double and triple agents all employed and deployed to protect massive tobacco profits. Many of these operatives are former apartheid spies, spooks and cops.

The involvement of undercover agents, however, made sensational national headlines only in 2014 when Pretoria lawyer and triple agent, Belinda Walter, lobbed the first grenade at SARS, helping to create and shape a narrative about a “rogue unit” at the revenue service and that ultimately saw the SARS top executive structure – which had been investigating tax evasion in the tobacco industry - totally decimated. Those axed included Deputy Commissioner Ivan Pillay, group executive Johann van Loggerenberg and spokesman Adrian Lackay.

It was a spurious and still untested narrative, picked up by the Sunday Times, and which prompted the purge by the new SARS Commissioner, Tom Moyane.

In an affidavit deposed by Walter in February 2014 in the North Gauteng High court and in a matter involving Carnilinx, the attorney said she had been introduced to BAT through her handlers at South Africa’s State Security Agency. She had agreed to spy for the tobacco multinational while acting as an agent for the SSA. Over and above this, Walter acted as legal adviser to BAT’s competition Carnilinx and also was the chairwoman of the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA).

Walter and Van Loggerenberg, who headed the SARS National Research Group, embarked on a relationship which ended acrimoniously. Walter then lodged a complaint against Van Loggerenberg who resigned in February 2015 acknowledging that he had “erred in personal judgement concerning a matter in my private life... I believe I need to take responsibility and accountability for this”.

According to an affidavit seen by Daily Maverick, Walters earned £3,000 a month totalling £30,500 (just over half a million rand) in payments from BAT. In a confidential letter to Walter dated March 2014, BAT admits to paying her in cash or loading money on to two Travelex cards registered to a BAT employee in the UK. Walter was able to draw cash from ATMs in South Africa.

Van Der Westhuizen’s affidavit sets out how he was approached and recruited by Forensic Services Security (Pty) Ltd (FSS) in 2012. FSS was the Tobacco Institute of South Africas (TISA’s) private investigative arm and was funded by BAT to the tune of R150-million a year.

Through TISA, BAT and FSS representatives sat on a multi-agency Illicit Tobacco Task Team, which also included officials from the Hawks, Crime Intelligence, the State Security Agency and the NPA but not SARS. Criticism of the ITT is that BAT and FSS officials drove the law enforcement agenda.

Van der Westhuizen, an ex-cop and investigator for the Road Accident Fund, said he had been told that he would be required to conduct investigations for Unilever.

“On the first day of work I was told I would be investigating illicit cigarette manufacture on behalf of British American Tobacco South Africa (Pty) Ltd (BATSA). I discovered that Unilever is not and never was a client of FSS. I was employed as Project Team Manager, overseeing several investigations and was responsible for the conduct of several investigators,” said Van der Westhuizen.

These investigators were referred to as “handlers” he says, and his “primary work description from the very beginning was to spy on competitors such as Carnilinx, obtain confidential information through the employment of various contacts within the South African Revenue Services and the South African Police Services”.

Later he says, “Having now realised that my employment with FSS and BATSA was plagued with unlawful conduct, I decided to resign from the employ of FSS and BATSA and convey the facts of my employment to relevant parties. At all times I was told by FSS that the objective of my employment was to stop illicit trading of cigarettes which was invariably linked to criminal syndicates. I was told that the law sanctioned all of my investigations, interceptions of communications and breaches of rights to privacy of the various persons because we worked within the law with law enforcement agents.

“I have now discovered that the entire basis of my employment was premised on fraud; there was no proof of any illicit cigarette trading; there was no valid or lawful basis upon which the privacy of BATSA competitors could justifiably be breached. In hindsight, the purpose of my employment was for BATSA to deploy my investigative skill together with back-up from corrupt SAPS and SARS officials in order to disrupt the business of BATSA’s competitors, Carnilinx being one of them.”

He continues that it was “legally and morally wrong for me to work for FSS. I was misled though. I now find myself in a compelling position, as an upstanding citizen, to expose the high-handed and unlawful conduct of BATSA and FSS”.

FSS and BATSA, he says, embarked on a systematic campaign of harassment and disruption of Carnilinx’s business. The investigator says he had been told that “the only way for BATSA to successfully suppress competitors such as Carnilinx would be to employ a strategy of falsely suggesting that the competitors (including Carnilinx) are selling and marketing their cigarettes unlawfully”.

“The ultimate plan was to squeeze Carnilinx out of the market. And if that was not possible to prohibit its growth in order to guard the almost near monopoly market share of BATSA.”

He said officials from the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, SAPS and SARS had been part of a collective strategy employed against Carnilinx.

“FSS was never able to show trading in illicit cigarettes by either nonpayment of customs and excise duty on the part of Carnilinx or dealing in counterfeit goods by Carnilinx customers.”

He adds that the FSS Project Management Plan – aimed at cutting the illicit trade and/or low price methodology used by Carnilinx to 51% of what was was being distributed – included SAPS, the Hawks, Crime Intelligence, the Asset Forfeiture Unit, SARS, Customs and Traffic Control Policing Unit.

BATSA is identified as the “client” who “has the authority to make decisions and may provide funding/finance” as well as having “the potential to overcome political and socio-economic obstacles that might have a direct influence of certain aspects of the project management goals”.

This, says Van der Westhuizen, is a reference to “the political connections which members and directors of BATSA have cemented within the senior members of the South African Law enforcement circles”.

The allegations of BAT illicit behaviour in South Africa follow claims of bribery that have been passed on to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office by Paul Hopkins, a BAT whistle-blower who worked in Africa for BAT for 13 years. Hopkins, who was responsible for halting the illicit tobacco trade in east and central Africa, admitted he had facilitated payments on BAT’s account to cripple anti-smoking laws in several east African countries, had made payments to officials to undermine efforts by the World Health Organisation to reduce deaths from smoking, ran a corporate spying operation, and had conducted “black ops” to put rivals out of business. In 2014 BAT declared an operating income of £4,546-billion.

These claims led to members of the US Congress calling for a Department of Justice investigation.

Van Loggerenberg, who has extensive knowledge of the tobacco industry, told Daily Maverick that he was aware of the Twitter account and had studied most of the documents released.

“Virtually nothing surprises me. I can confirm that I have been aware of most of these allegations since late 2013. It had always been my contention that, at least initially, the attacks on SARS, the High-risk Investigations unit and me, were driven by persons associated with the tobacco industry because we had exposed much of what is now being aired publicly. Without going into detail, I make specific reference here to particular state officials that were part of the so-called Tobacco Task Team, private tobacco manufacturers, private investigators and informants shared among them,” said Van Loggerenberg.

He said why the four probes at SARS – Khanyane, Sikhakane, Kroon and KPMG – had never considered “what I had put to them in this regard as relevant to their outcomes is something I cannot answer to”.

Incidentally, KPMG, which conducted an “investigation” into allegations of the SARS “rogue unit”, acts as auditors for BAT. The firm did not disclose this when it was contracted by Tom Moyane to conduct the probe. KPMG also omits to name BAT in its SARS report which has still not been made public, 8 months after its completion.

The SARS “rogue unit” saga has seen the Hawks under Major-General Mthandazo Ntlemeza hound Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, who was SARS Commissioner when the unit was legitimately established and signed off. This included threatening to arrest and charge the Minister of Finance in relation to allegations of the “rogue unit” as well as demanding he reply to 27 questions hand-delivered a few days before Gordhan was due to give his budget speech.

The Hawks did not respond to Daily Maverick’s questions with regard to the revelations on the Twitter account or whether any of the individuals named are being investigated or faced arrest.

Van Loggerenberg, however, said he commended the person or persons who had set up the Twitter account and for bringing “some of these aspects” into the public domain.

“I implore the Hawks, SARS, SAPS Crime Intelligence, NPA and SSA to investigate those parts which clearly implicate some of their officials (current and former) in possible acts of corruption, money-laundering, fraud, advancing the interests of commercial enterprises, concealing such offences and compounding. If the type of ‘complaint’ lodged at SARS on 28 May 2014 can justify 4 ‘probes’ that must have cost the taxpayer millions, and a Hawks investigation, then I would imagine these revelations would surely require of these agencies to act decisive with what has now been released in the public domain,” he said.

In response to a query by Daily Maverick, BATSA issued an unsigned statement which reads:

“The illicit tobacco trade in South Africa, which accounts for nearly a quarter of the overall market, is a growing problem for our consumers and our business. For several years, we have endeavoured to assist the law enforcement agencies in their efforts to combat this illicit trade. Whilst we have a clear interest in combating the illicit trade and exposing the organisations behind it, under no circumstances will we condone illegal behaviour.”

BATSA also said it was currently involved in litigation with several manufacturers “who have made claims that some of our activities went beyond our legitimate interest in combating the illicit trade. We are conducting an investigation with the assistance of an external law firm and if we were to find that illegal activity had occurred, we would, of course, take appropriate action. However, given that our investigation is ongoing and that some of the allegations are the subject of legal proceedings, it would not be appropriate for us to comment any further on them.”

BATSA, the statement added, was “continuing to co-operate with law enforcement agencies to address the growing illicit trade issue in Southern Africa”.

Meanwhile an international petition, Make British American Tobacco Pay, by Corporate Accountability International, International Labour Rights Forum, Rainforest Action Network, RootsAction and Watchdog.net, has garnered 48,504 signatures.

The petition begins:

“British American Tobacco has been implicated in conducting illegal activities in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Comoros. A documentary by the BBC revealed that BAT engaged in corporate espionage and bribed politicians and policy-makers in the name of buying political influence and undermining tobacco control policies. We believe global corporations should not be able to act with such impunity and disregard for people’s lives. We are deeply concerned about the devastating health effects of tobacco throughout the supply chain, and we support democracy across Africa. For these reasons, we demand full and public inquiries into BAT’s activities. And we stand with public officials and people in the United Kingdom, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Comoros, and the United States to make BAT pay.”

Should we add South Africa to the list? DM

Photo: Passive smoker, Wan Mohd via Flickr.

• MARIANNE THAMM

SOUTH AFRICA

COMMENTS BY SONNY

If we take this matter a little further then it is possible
that the cia and mi5 & mi6 should be directly implicated 
in all these investigations.

these wikispooks have been operating illegally
infinitum.

sharemax is but one organisation that should also
be identified in this investigation of theft fraud and
money laundering.

A CERTAIN NPA ADVOCATE "NOLLI PROSECUTE" ONE OR MORE OF 
THESE INVESTIGATIONS.

SHE IS BEING PROSECUTED FOR IRREGULARITIES DURING HER 
TERM OF OFFICE.

these wikispooks set out aS masons who infiltrated the 
anc, sacp and broederbond.

when the broederbond and the nationalist party 
folded (PRE 1994) they were left in the Cold and had to 
resort to  becoming masons aND CRIMINAL ON A BROADER 
SCALE.

FSS (Forensic Security Services) AND ALL 
OTHER STATE ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED 
WERE INFILTRATED POST 1994 BY ROGUE 
AGENTS OF ALL DENOMINATIONS.

THESE ROGUE ELEMENTS ALSO THREATENED
TO EXPOSE F.W. DE KLERK AND HIS 
PARLIAMENT SHOULD THEIR PENSIONS, BENEFITS 
BE CURTAILED.  MORE EXPOSURE TO FOLLOW.

TERRORISM, DRUGS (INCLUDING CIGARETTES 
AND LIQUOR), FIREARMS, EXPLOSIVES AND 
MONEY LAUNDERING FORM PART OF THEIR 
VICES.

OUR SOURCES AND AGENTS ALSO RECEIVED 
THESE DEADLY CLUES FROM THE "#BLACK 
WIDOW" AND HER DEADLY WEB OF 
INTRIGUE.

THIS IS WHY THE SAPS MEMBERS WERE USED
TO ESCORT BAT SHIPMENTS WITHIN THE
BORDERS OF SOUTH AFRICA.

THE VERY SAME MEMBERS WERE CAUGHT 
HIJACKING CONSIGNMENTS OF CIGARETTES
IN TRANSIT.

WHY HAVE ALL THESE INVESTIGATIONS AND 
ARRESTS GONE  MISSING IN THE SYSTEM?

THE ILLEGAL IMPORTATION OF 
ZIMBABWEAN CIGARETTES BECAME 

A THREAT TO THE BAT.

TOP OFFICIALS ARE INVOLVED IN THIS 
CORRUPTION!