>>16693999

>>>16664951 Makena Capital Management Bun

“Partners Capital [Lord Jacob Rothschild and Sir Ronald Cohen] Adds to its Board of Directors with the Appointment of Four Global Investment Executives” – Former Co-founder and CEO of Makena, David Burke is one of them

https://partners-cap.com/press/partners-capital-adds-to-its-board-of-directors-with-the-appointment-of-four-global-investment-executives/

14 July 2021

Top executives from institutional and private investment firms including Apollo, Makena, Rothschild Foundation and Höegh Capital Partners join distinguished Board of global OCIO

Partners Capital, a leading global Outsourced Investment Office, today announced the appointments of Sanjiv Misra, David Burke and Brad Fried to its Board of Directors. Martine Holter has been named as a Board Adviser.

These additions to the Partners Capital Board represent the most significant changes to its membership since 2005 when Lord [Jacob] Rothschild and Sir Ronald Cohen made their strategic investments in the business.

While the working partners continue to retain majority ownership and control of the firm, the strengthening of the Board with the addition of the external directors reflects an important milestone in the business.

The profiles of the new members are set out below:

• Sanjiv Misra is an Independent Advisor and Chairman of the Asia Pacific Advisory Board for Apollo Management, the global private equity and alternative asset management firm. He also holds several additional board seats and is President of Phoenix Advisors Pte Ltd, a boutique advisory and principal investing firm. Sanjiv spent his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, most recently as Head of Citigroup’s Asia Pacific Corporate Bank till 2008. Sanjiv’s appointment brings valuable experience and insight on Asian markets as Partners Capital look to deepen its investments business in the region.

• David Burke brings a different perspective on the Outsourced CIO business which he pioneered as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Makena Capital, based in San Francisco. David also brings extensive private equity and venture capital leadership experience. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of Selby Lane, a specialty finance company that provides capital and expertise to top investment and asset management firms.

• Brad Fried is the current Chair of the Court of Directors of the Bank of England and the Co-Founder of private investment firm Grovepoint Capital. Brad is the former Chief Executive Officer of Investec Bank and current Chair of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe. Brad will bring important macroeconomic insights to the Board and will provide an eye to good governance across the organisation.

• Martine Holter is the Chief Executive Officer of Höegh Capital Partners (HCP), a family investment office co-located in London and Oslo which oversees the investment interests of the Höegh family. Martine is also a board member of several Höegh-controlled direct investments, private and public. Prior to HCP, she was Chief Operating Officer of venture capital firm Arts Alliance Advisors, a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in London and an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York and Hong Kong.

Other members of the Partners Capital Board of Directors include independent directors Rosalind Hewsenian (CIO, Helmsley Charitable Trust), Rich DeMartini (Vice Chairman, Crestview) and Board Adviser Jeremy Sillem (Managing Partner, Spencer House Partners). Also on the Board are members of the firm’s senior leadership – Stan Miranda, Arjun Raghavan, Paul Dimitruk, John Collis and William Fox. The firm’s global Chief Operating Officer, Toby Seth, will carry on as a Board Advisor.

>>16567352

>>16696610

>Brad Fried is the current Chair of the Court of Directors of the Bank of England and the Co-Founder of private investment firm Grovepoint Capital. Brad is the former Chief Executive Officer of Investec Bank and current Chair of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.

Sir Bradley Fried – Partners Capital

https://partners-cap.com/team/brad-fried/

Brad was raised in South Africa and trained with Arthur Andersen before moving to the US. After graduating with an MBA from Wharton, he joined McKinsey in New York where he was a partner in the firm’s Financial Institutions Group.

In 1999 Brad moved to London to run Investec Bank in the UK. In 2009 he co-founded the private investment firm, Grovepoint. In 2012 Brad was appointed to the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, becoming chairman of the Bank in 2018.

Brad is a Governor of the London Business School; a Fellow of Cambridge University’s Magdalene College; and was previously the CEO-in-Residence and a Fellow in Finance at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School.

Brad is also Chairman of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.

>>16696619

>In 2009 he co-founded the private investment firm, Grovepoint. In 2012 Brad was appointed to the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, becoming chairman of the Bank in 2018.

“Bank of England’s Fried to Head Billionaire Kirsh Family Office [Another South African Family]”

https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news-fast-news/bank-of-englands-fried-to-head-billionaire-kirsh-family-office/

October 14, 2015

Fried starts in November and takes over from Ron Sandler, the former CEO of Lloyd’s of London.

Bradley Fried, a member of the Bank of England’s Court of Directors and former chief executive officer of Investec Plc, is joining South African billionaire Nathan “Natie’’ Kirsh’s family office as its new CEO.

Fried will oversee Kirsh Group, the management company that holds Kirsh’s disparate assets, which include two US wholesale grocery businesses, commercial and residential real estate, and private equity investments on four continents. Kirsh’s fortune is valued at $6.2 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

“I’ve met many chief executives, many who were outstanding at strategy, outstanding at execution,” said Fried in a telephone interview. “In Natie, I’ve found an extraordinary visionary. At the age of 50 I almost feel as if I’m being apprenticed all over again.”

Fried starts in November and takes over from Ron Sandler, the former CEO of Lloyd’s of London, who Kirsh said will remain working as a trustee and adviser to the family.

Early Ventures

A Cape Town native, Fried worked for McKinsey & Co in New York before moving to London in 1999 to work for UK-listed Investec. He resigned as CEO from the bank in 2010 to found his own investment firm, Grovepoint Capital, which Fried said has completed “a couple billion dollars” in deals since inception.

Fried became acquainted with Kirsh shortly after he relocated to London and credits the billionaire with helping his venture prosper in its first five years. He said Kirsh has advised on all of Grovepoint’s deals, which include acquiring Total SA’s UK downstream assets and buying a stake in Israeli microalgae farm Algatechnologies. He’ll continue to be involved with Grovepoint and remain on the court of the Bank of England until his term’s expiration in May 2019.

The move comes one month after Ashvin Chhabra, the former chief investment officer of Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, joined as president of the family office for hedge fund billionaire James Simons. Both appointments were made as family offices worldwide suffered “lackluster” returns, according to a report released in September by UBS AG and London-based research firm Campden Wealth.

Swaziland Mills

Kirsh, 83, made his first fortune in Africa in 1958, starting with a Swaziland corn-milling business that later evolved into a dominant food retailer in his native South Africa. Today the billionaire’s most valuable asset is Jetro Holdings, a New York-based company that manages Jetro Cash & Carry and Restaurant Depot, which had more than $9 billion in combined revenue in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Fried said he won’t be directly involved with the operations of Jetro or Kirsh’s other subsidiary companies, which all have their own CEOs. He said his role will be to oversee existing investments, hunt for new opportunities and prepare the group for a time when Kirsh is no longer involved.

“Natie said to me, over time families make transitions, and I’d like you to be there during one of these transitional moments,” Fried said. “And I said to him, I’d like you to teach me everything you can.”

>>16696637

>Fried became acquainted with Kirsh shortly after he relocated to London and credits the billionaire with helping his venture prosper in its first five years. He said Kirsh has advised on all of Grovepoint’s deals, which include acquiring Total SA’s UK downstream assets and buying a stake in Israeli microalgae farm Algatechnologies.

“Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried made their first investment in Israel. $50 million in Algatechnologies”

https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2013/06/23/leon-blitz-and-bradley-fried-made-their-first-investment-in-israel-50-million-in-algatechnologies/

June 23, 2013

Blitz and Fried, Grovepoint, have recently concluded their first major transaction in Israel, taking majority stakes in Algatechnologies Ltd.

One of the most successful examples of such a farm can be found on Kibbutz Ketura situated in the south of Israel, close to the popular holiday resort of Eilat.

The Kibbutz branch specialising in the commercial breeding of algae goes by the name Algatechnologies, and has earned an international reputation in the cultivation of micro-algae, which goes into the production of what is regarded as among the most effective and powerful antioxidants available, which goes by the name of astaxanthin.

Astaxanthin is extracted from the algae, in the form of a much more pleasant looking dark red organic pigment. Apart from its many health giving benefits, Astaxanthin also make up a considerable ingredient in the production of cosmetic products, sun creams, food supplements, and even crustacean food colourants.

What’s most important is that Astaxanthin, as a powerful natural antioxidant offers proven health benefits in treating several health conditions related to cardiovascular health joint and muscle function, skin care health among many other medical conditions. The natural astaxanthin goes into the production of AstaPure®, whose benefits are already well known and established in the Japanese health food product markets whilst demand for the product is rapidly increasing in the United States as well as throughout Europe.

These are the reasons why Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried through the investment company Grovepoint has invested an estimated $50 million in exchange for a 56 per cent stake in the business.

Their participation in Algatechnologies marks Grovepoint’s first investment in Israel, who displayed their intentions to create a serious presence in the country by establishing a local office in 2012, with resident managers Hagai Stadler and Gil Meirovich on the lookout for investing opportunities.

Leon Blitz speaking on behalf of Grovepoint after the deal had been completed stated that the company had always wanted to invest in Israel as soon as it was formed. “ We are very keen on the country because of their technological prowess particularly in water, agriculture and food, biotech and clean tech which also enjoys the benefit of being very transportable.” Mr Blitz summed up

Grovepoint also announced their plans to increase Algatech’s production levels by hundred percent over the next few years, and will be making additional capital available to expand the sphere of the business. Their intentions are to increase the coverage of “AstaPure” on a global basis. In addition Grovepoint have made a commitment to investing in increased research and development facilities, to further the development of new algae-derived products.

Both Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried were born in Cape Town, South Africa and confess to being close friends for almost four decades. The pair first met whilst training to be accountants with the international partnership of Arthur Andersen.

Blitz left Arthur Anderson to join international investment company Investec, first working for them in their South African office, before being transferred to London in the early 1990s, going on to become head of direct investments and growth and acquisition finance, and head of private banking in the UK.

Bradley Fried rejoined his friend in London and at the Investec Bank in the UK in 2000, by way of the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he completed his MBA and a spell at merchant bankers McKinsey & Co in New York.

The pair left Investec Bank in 2010 to form Grovepoint , and since its foundation the company has made $1 billion of investments.

>>16696619

>Brad was raised in South Africa and trained with Arthur Andersen

>>16696646

>Both Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried were born in Cape Town, South Africa and confess to being close friends for almost four decades. The pair first met whilst training to be accountants with the international partnership of Arthur Andersen.

“Olympus: Where were the auditors?” – “The ghosts of [Arthur] Andersen may still be with us.” [Enron]

https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/olympus-where-were-the-auditors-1177231

November 14, 2011

If you happen to be a connoisseur of accounting scandals, then the past month or so has been about as good as it gets, capped by the unfolding disaster at Olympus. On the flip side, if you are an auditor for a big accounting firm, it just got that much harder to argue that society should value your services.

The scam at Olympus was simple. The Japanese maker of cameras and endoscopes hid losses by treating them as assets. It said it had been doing so since the 1990s.

Where were the auditors? While we still don’t know the full extent of what they knew and when, just looking at who the outside auditors were is fascinating.

Olympus’s auditor in the 1990s was the Japanese affiliate of Arthur Andersen, then one of the so-called Big Five accounting firms. After Andersen collapsed in 2002, KPMG acquired its Japanese practice and took over Olympus’s audit. KPMG remained the auditor through 2009. Olympus switched to Ernst & Young later that year.

The ghosts of Andersen may still be with us. It was indicted in 2002 over its conduct as auditor for Enron. Big accounting frauds turned up later at many of its former clients – names that included WorldCom, Dynegy, Qwest, Freddie Mac and Refco.

The Financial Times reported last month that KPMG had raised questions at some point about Olympus’s accounting. But no disagreements between KPMG and Olympus were disclosed publicly. Nor did Ernst & Young’s opinion letters flag any problems. Its latest audit report, signed June 29, noted that the firm audited Olympus’s financial statements only for the fiscal years 2010 and 2011, and that the company’s 2009 books were examined “by other auditors” whose report “expressed an unqualified opinion”. Now both Ernst & Young and KPMG have egg on their faces.

You can hear the echoes of past scandals, too, in the collapse of MF Global Holdings, which was built partly through an acquisition of Refco’s assets in 2005. MF’s auditor, PwC, as recently as May said its controls were fine, as did MF’s chief executive at the time, Jon Corzine. Whether that was accurate is now in question. More than a week after MF filed for bankruptcy, there’s still about $600 million (R4.7 billion) missing and unaccounted for.

Then there’s last month’s implosion at Dexia, the French-Belgian lender that took a government bailout to avoid collapse. Dexia got a clean audit opinion from Deloitte’s Belgian affiliate in March.

So many large companies have blown up after getting the all-clear from a Big Four accounting firm that many people regard auditor opinion letters as a joke. The client pays the auditor, after all. Regulators for decades have tried figuring out ways to get around this fundamental flaw by passing all sorts of rules requiring that auditors be “independent”. New waves of accounting scandals keep coming anyway.

Yet the next logical step – stripping the accounting profession of its golden goose by making outside audits voluntary for public companies – always has seemed like a horrible idea, because it practically would be an invitation for more frauds.

At least the public can revel in the entertainment value of all these scandals. It may not be much of a silver lining, but it is something to distract us from the obvious conclusion that we’re stuck for now with a system that too often doesn’t work.

The biggest fear for the Big Four cartel should be that someday investors will become so fed up that they demand the status quo be chucked entirely, figuring they’ve got nothing left to lose. We’re not there yet, but give it time. If the auditing industry can’t find a way to re-instill value in its most basic product, even terrible solutions may start to look like drastic improvements.

“A man stabbed and dragged infront of the SABC cameras in Soweto”

https://twitter.com/HerbertMemela/status/1546547458947399688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1546547458947399688%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesouthafrican.com%2Fnews%2Fbreaking-watch-stabbing-caught-on-camera-soweto-sabc-crew-video%2F

Notice the children witnessing this and they are not phased and seem to be desensatized. They can become the leaders of tomorrow

“A man stabbed and dragged infront of the SABC cameras in Soweto. Crime is rife at Nomzamo settlement. This happened few meters away from Mdlalose's Tavern. The Police Minister Bheki Cele has promises to deploy more police in the area.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1546547458947399688

>>16722741

“SABC News crew witness brutal stabbing in Nomzamo informal settlement: Ofentse Setimo”

https://youtu.be/PEDGqioZgdk

“Investigators found more than 100 spent AK-47 cartridges at the tavern in Orlando, Soweto, where 15 people were shot dead early on Sunday morning. Police Minister, Bheki Cele, has visited the Nomzamo informal settlement, where gunmen opened fire on tavern patrons. SABC reporter Ofentse Setimo joins us now from Orlando in Soweto.”

“WATCH: Horrific stabbing witnessed by SABC camera crew in Soweto”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-watch-stabbing-caught-on-camera-soweto-sabc-crew-video/

12-07-2022

There aren’t any words that can aptly describe the sheer horror witnessed by SABC journalists and the camera operators on Monday afternoon. While reporting on the Soweto tavern shooting, two members of the news network inadvertently captured part of a brutal stabbing incident.

SOWETO STABBING WITNESSED BY SABC CREW

Violence in this part of Soweto is nothing new, but the way this stabbing was committed so brazenly has even left hardened locals stunned. [they do not look stunned to me in the video of the previous post]

NOMZAMO SETTLEMENT ‘BLIGHTED BY VIOLENCE’

Setimo was accompanied by cameraman Herbert Memela. The pair were stunned when, just as they prepared to interview a witness at the Soweto tavern shooting, a man drove a knife into his victim’s body – with blood allegedly spurting onto the crew’s tripods.

The man collapsed to the floor, before others continued to beat and kick him. The hapless victim was then dragged out of the road, and his fate remains unclear. According to the senior journo, other camera crews witnessed this shocking act.

“We were setting up to interview a witness, when two men asked if she wanted to go through with it – almost joking with her. Out of nowhere, someone came and stabbed one of those men with a knife. At first, we thought he was greeting him. Then we saw blood on his palm.”

“That blood even splattered onto one of our tripods. We then moved away from the scene, and the community attempted to separate the two males. It is indicative of the crime in Nomzamo right now. We weren’t the only camera crew who captured this, either.”

Ofentse Setimo

“THE LINK BETWEEN EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES AND SEX TRAFFICKING”

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/272964.pdf

June 2017

Extractive industries involve the removal of non-renewable raw materials such as oil, gas, metals, and minerals from the earth. Although communities can benefit from such industries by using these natural resources for sustainable development, their extraction has also “triggered violent conflicts, degraded the environment, worsened gender and other inequalities, displaced communities, and undermined democratic governance,” according to the UN Development Program. Furthermore, mining, drilling, and quarrying activities often occur in relatively remote areas with minimal infrastructure and limited rule of law, leading to the development of makeshift communities, such as mining “boom towns,” that are vulnerable to crime.

Forced labor in extractive industries has been well-documented; however, the link between these industries and sex trafficking is increasingly an issue of grave concern among governments and advocates alike. Bolivian and Peruvian girls are subjected to sex trafficking in mining areas in Peru, and women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking near gold mines in Suriname and Guyana. In Madagascar, the government and NGOs have reported increasing commercial sexual exploitation of children related to mining sectors. In other areas, this type of exploitation involves organized crime. For example, in Colombia, NGOs report organized criminal groups control sex trafficking in some mining areas.

Discovery of raw materials will necessarily lead to a large influx of workers and other individuals, some of whom create a demand for commercial sex. In Senegal, a gold rush resulted in rapid migration from across West Africa; some of these migrants are women and children exploited in sex trafficking. Likewise, in the oil industry, individuals are sometimes recruited with false promises of work opportunities, but instead are exploited in commercial sex. Service providers in areas near camps surrounding large-scale oil extraction facilities, such as the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota in the United States, have reported that sex traffickers have exploited women in the area, including Native American women.

Sex trafficking related to extractive industries often occurs with impunity. Areas where extraction activities occur are usually remote and may be difficult to access, meaning that workers are isolated from government oversight and community support and may have less access to protective services, legal advocates, and law enforcement personnel. Information on victim identification and law enforcement efforts in mining areas can be difficult to obtain or verify.

Traffickers take advantage of work settings that are culturally isolated or physically remote to compel adults and children to work in unsafe and often abusive situations and exploit them in sex trafficking. Anti-trafficking strategies should address the unique risks workers face in settings that are isolated from the public, from law enforcement, and from traditional support networks.

>>16756816

The Pirbright Institute – “Our major stakeholders”; Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and so on

https://www.pirbright.ac.uk/partnerships/our-major-stakeholders

The Pirbright Institute is a publicly funded private company. We have a diverse range of major stakeholders, and receive strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Our major stakeholders are:

• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

• UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

• Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council (MRC) and other research funding agencies

• International funding and disease control agencies, such as OIE, WHO, the European Commission, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

• Industrial producers of veterinary vaccines and antivirals

• Farmers and livestock keepers

An excellent lecture! Does this not remind you of COVID? Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Forest Laboratories, are mentioned.

“Psychiatry & Big Pharma: Exposed - Dr James Davies, PhD”

https://youtu.be/-Nd40Uy6tbQ

Posted November 24, 2019

Why, without solid scientific justification, has the number of mental disorders risen from 106 in the 1960s, to around 370 today?

Why has the definition of mental disorder expanded to include ever more domains of human experience?

In the first part of this lecture, Dr James Davies will take us behind the scenes of how the psychiatrist’s bible, the DSM, was actually written – did science drive the construction of new mental disorder categories like ADHD and major depression or were less scientific and more unexpected processes at play? His exclusive interviews with the creators of the DSM reveal the answer.

The second part will address why psychiatry is such big business, and why, on the whole, it may be doing more harm than good. You’ll get insider knowledge on how psychiatry has put riches and medical status above patients’ well-being. The charge sheet is damning; negative drug trials routinely buried; antidepressants that work no better than placebos; research regularly manipulated to produce positive results; doctors, seduced by huge pharmaceutical rewards, creating more disorders and prescribing more pills; and ethical, scientific and treatment flaws unscrupulously concealed by mass-marketing.

You’ll learn the true human cost of an industry that, in the name of helping others, has actually been helping itself.

Dr James Davies graduated from the University of Oxford in 2006 with a DPhil in Social and Medical Anthropology.

He is a Reader in Social Anthropology and Mental Health at the University of Roehampton and a practicing psychotherapist. James has delivered lectures at universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Oslo, Brown, UCL and Columbia.

He has written for The Times, The New Scientist, The Guardian and Salon, and is author of the bestselling book: Cracked: why psychiatry is doing more harm than good.

James is the co-founder of the Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry, now secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence. His latest book: ‘Mental Health in Crisis’ will be published later this year.

>>16763881

“Gravitas Plus: How Big Pharma pushes dangerous drugs and reaps profits”

https://youtu.be/XCciAJJMt9Q

Posted January 9, 2022

The pandemic has revealed the power of big pharma. Major drug manufacturers and suppliers have the power to set prices, influence regulators and lobby lawmakers. This power has allowed big pharma to push potentially dangerous drugs. How? Palki Sharma tells you.

>>16931494

>“The Final Volcker Oil for Food Report: An Assessment” - George Galloway (An ANC agent) and others

“INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME (630 page doc) - D. SANDI MAJALI

http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf

https://humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/volcker_report_10-27-05.pdf

PAGE 103 OF 623; PAGE 104 OF 623; PAGE 105 OF 623

D. SANDI MAJALI

One example in the Programme of exploitation of the symbiotic relationship between a country’s closely aligned political and business figures and the Government of Iraq, is that of Montega Trading (Pty) Limited (“Montega Trading”) and Imvume Management (Pty) Ltd. (“Imvume”). As described below, the principals of these two companies used their relationships with South African political leaders to obtain oil allocations under the Programme.

Throughout the Programme, South Africa and Iraq were actively developing business and political ties. In late November 1999, South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad led a delegation of 30 South African companies with interests in oil, electricity, and other sectors to Iraq. One purpose of the visit was “to expose South African businesses with already established interests in the so-called ‘oil-for-food’ programme with Iraq to the processes involved in winning such UN-approved contracts.”198

Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and other Iraqi officials were also interested in gaining the political support of South Africa and its leaders. At the time, South Africa chaired several influential political alliances. South African President Thabo Mbeki was Chair of the NonAligned Movement (“NAM”) and had been the President of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (“ANC”), since 1997. He was also Chairman of the African Union. Within weeks after Mr. Pahad returned from his trip, Iraq established its Embassy in Pretoria, and, by 2001, Iraq had accredited a full Ambassador to South Africa using Iraqi funds that had been frozen until then.199

South African officials also pushed to improve trade relations. In October 2002, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs (“DFA”) sent a delegation of senior officials to Iraq. Both sides reportedly expressed satisfaction with the state of relations between their respective countries, which had been boosted by Mr. Aziz’s then recent visit to South Africa. Later that month, the DFA issued a statement that Mr. Pahad would visit Iraq to represent South Africa at the annual Baghdad International Trade Fair in November. During his visit, Mr. Pahad reportedly met with Saddam Hussein and conveyed a message to him from President Mbeki. He also met with Mr. Ramadan and Mr. Aziz, and the Foreign Minister, the Minister of Trade, and the Minister of Electricity. According to the public statement of Mr. Pahad, Saddam Hussein told South African officials that he would instruct his ministers to “observe special care” with respect to economic, technical, and scientific relations with South Africa.200

Mr. Aziz perceived that South Africa could be supportive of Iraq. During his July 2002 official visit of Mr. Aziz to South Africa, Mr. Aziz attended a farewell dinner hosted by the ANC with members of South Africa-Iraq Friendship Association (“SAIFA”) and the business community at the Cabanga Conference Center, which was funded by Imvume, which—as described below— had been purchasing oil from Iraq under the Programme. In October 2002, during a United Nations weapons inspection crisis, NAM supported the Security Council’s efforts to explore a peaceful resolution to the situation. NAM issued a statement calling for inspectors to return to Iraq. That month, South Africa dispatched Mr. Pahad for discussions with China, Russia, and France concerning Iraq, and similar discussions with those countries occurred one month later. In January 2003, Mr. Pahad traveled to Italy, Belgium, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia to discuss Iraq and to present the views of South Africa and NAM. As chair of NAM, South Africa successfully called for three emergency Security Council meetings to broaden the debate on Iraq and included non-Security Council members so that Council members could hear the views of the wider United Nations membership before adopting a resolution. During February 2003, South Africa dispatched its own team of weapons inspectors to Iraq to supplement the efforts of UNMOVIC inspectors. This action was designed to demonstrate that weapons inspections were still possible and that Iraq was prepared to cooperate with them, thereby negating a key justification for war. When war broke out in Iraq in March 2003, Kgalema Motlanthe, Secretary-General of the ANC, assured Iraq of the ANC’s support for all “efforts to end the unilateral aggression of the United States and other countries.”201

>>16934485 - continued

“INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME (630 page doc) - D. SANDI MAJALI

http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf

https://humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/volcker_report_10-27-05.pdf

One of the areas in which the political and commercial interests of South Africa and Iraq coincided was in the Oil-for-Food Programme. During the Programme, two South African companies that profited from Iraq’s efforts to deliver business opportunities to South Africa in return for political support were Montega Trading and Imvume. South African businessmen formed the companies to take advantage of the oil contracts available under the Programme, and they were able to obtain a total of eight million barrels of oil in allocations.

1. Montega Trading (Pty) Limited

An Iraqi-American, Shakir Al-Khafaji, helped facilitate the granting of oil allocations to Sandi Majali, a self-proclaimed advisor to the ANC and President Mbeki, through his joint venture with Mr. Majali and Rodney Hemphill, a South African businessman, called Montega Trading Limited. Mr. Al-Khafaji had access to Mr. Aziz; indeed, Mr. Aziz specifically asked Mr. AlKhafaji to help strengthen the ties between Iraq and South Africa. In December 2000, Mr. AlKhafaji travelled to Baghdad with Mr. Majali and Mr. Hemphill to meet with Iraqi officials. During their meetings in Iraq, Mr. Majali described himself as an advisor to both the ANC and President Mbeki. After several days of meetings, Mr. Majali was allocated two million barrels of oil. The SOMO contract of approval explicitly referenced “Sandi Majali—Advisor to the President of South Africa.”202

>>16934485

>>16934493

“Sandi Majali found dead”

https://mg.co.za/article/2010-12-26-sandi-majali-found-dead/

26 December 2010

The body of tycoon Sandi Majali has been found in the Quatermain Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Sunday, Moneyweb reported.

The cause of death was unknown on Sunday evening. Moneyweb quoted Majali’s lawyer John Ncebetsha as saying the family were preparing a statement.

The hotel’s general manager Rosie Chilewitz said she could confirm that Majali had stayed at the hotel on Saturday night, and that his body had been found on Sunday morning.

Chilewitz however could not say when Majali had checked into the hotel.

“I can’t give you any more details on that, all I can say is that he was with us last night. Police are dealing with the rest,” she told the South African Press Association.

Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, Gauteng police spokesperson, said he could not confirm that the man found dead was Majali, and that the family needed to identify the body.

Dlamini also could not say whether the man had any injuries to his body.

“An inquest into this has been opened,” he added.

The Mail & Guardian broke the story of how Majali and his company Imvume Management diverted millions of rands of public money to the African National Congress before the 2004 elections.

PetroSA paid R15-million to Imvume in December 2003 as an “advance” on a shipment of oil condensate for which payment was not yet due and without checking whether Imvume had the ability to repay. Within days Imvume transferred R11-million to the ANC and smaller amounts to, among others, a brother of then-minerals and energy minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and a builder renovating the private home of then-social development minister Zola Skweyiya.

When Imvume failed to pay its foreign supplier in turn PetroSA obliged by paying the same amount again. PetroSA’s efforts to reclaim the money — using a lawyer who happened to be Majali’s business partner — were ineffectual.

Imvume had won large oil allocations from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq after travelling to Baghdad with then-top Luthuli House officials Smuts Ngonyama, Mendi Msimang and Kgalema Motlanthe.

‘Hijacking’

Majali also appeared in court this year, for “hijacking” a company, Kalahari Resources.

Majali along with three other men were expected to go on trial in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court to face charges of fraud.

They allegedly removed Kalahari Resources’ two directors, Brian Amos Mashile and his sister Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, from the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) database.

The two siblings had to bring an urgent interdict before the High Court in Johannesburg to get themselves reinstated as directors of the company.

Kalahari Resources owns a 40% stake in Kalagadi Manganese, the mining company developing an R11-billion Northern Cape manganese mine and sinter. – Mail & Guardian reporter and Sapa

“Hero’s send off for [Sandi] Majali”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/heros-send-off-for-majali-1009933

January 10, 2011

The ANC and black economic empowerment fraternities - bodies that controversial businessman Sandi Majali dedicated his life to - appeared to shun him in death as none of the most prominent leaders attended his funeral yesterday.

However, Majali, who achieved notoriety as an ANC benefactor, was given a hero’s send-off in a colourful funeral that turned the sleepy village of Qhubuswayo, outside Port St Johns, into a hive of activity.

The most senior ANC leader present was former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi, now the Deputy Minister for Correctional Services, who was introduced as having been dispatched by the ANC’s national executive committee to represent the party.

Referring to the absence of ANC leaders, KwaZulu-Natal MPL and ANC North Coast leader Bheki Ntuli, who spoke on behalf of Majali’s friends, said that “when days are dark, friends are few”.

Others who attended included Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, the former minister of Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities, Tourism Deputy Minister Tokozile Xasa, Eastern Cape Transport MEC Thandi Marawu, KZN Speaker Peggy Nkonyeni, Eastern Cape ANC chairman Phumulo Massaule and KZN SACP secretary Themba Mthembu.

It was only at the weekend that ANC president Jacob Zuma acknowledged him among the party’s fallen cadres.

In his address, Ramatlhodi said: “Majali is one of us, our flesh and our blood. There were times when we could not pay salaries for staff of the ANC, and Majali paid those salaries.

The funeral was conducted in true ANC style, with marshals ushering in the nearly 3 000 mourners. The marshals’ T-shirts bore Majali’s picture, the emblems of the ANC, SACP and Cosatu, and read: “Sandi Majali – A selfless revolutionary. He dedicated his life to fighting for economic liberation of the black majority.”

His shiny casket was placed on a stage draped in ANC colours and was covered with a blanket. Several speakers told of Majali’s vision, selflessness, dedication to the economic liberation of black people and his resourcefulness.

Massaule said that Majali was the “glue” that held the ANC-led alliance together.

“What we read in newspapers is a complete distortion of the life of this comrade,” he said. “We know him and we struggled with him. He was an epitome of the struggle.”

Majali’s son Phillip called his father an “achiever and a trendsetter”.

“He was the first person to have an insurance company, own a petrol chain and to break into the most difficult oil industry. We will always remember him,” he said.

At the time of his death, Majali had just been released from prison after being arrested for allegedly “hijacking” mining company Kalahari Resources.

“Majali's ghost haunts ANC” Part 1

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2011-09-18-majalis-ghost-haunts-anc/

18 September 2011

In a startling letter addressed to ANC leaders before he died, Oilgate kingpin Sandi Majali spells out his frustration at being left out in the cold - despite giving the party millions of rands - and threatens to spill the beans on more shady dealings.

The letter was written just weeks before his death in December last year, at a time when the businessman's empire was unravelling and his powerful friends had apparently abandoned him.

Majali's revelations include the payment of R18-million - and not R11-million as previously reported - to the ANC. The money was funnelled through his company, Imvume Management, by state-owned oil company PetroSA in 2003. It was used to fund the ANC's election campaign in 2004.

That scandal became known as Oilgate.

In the letter - dated November 15 2010 and addressed to President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe - Majali accounts for how the R18-million was disbursed.

"R11-million was paid to the ANC and R7-million was paid directly to service providers for the January 8 function [marking the anniversary of the party's founding]," Majali said.

He discloses other payments made to the ANC.

"In 2004 I paid more than R3-million for the medical aid of the organisation as it was three months in arrears. This payment brought the scheme up to date and members could continue drawing benefits," he writes.

"I also paid and facilitated R10.5-million to the ANC through my various companies and the records are available for inspection."

Majali writes that, in total, "I personally paid and facilitated more than R45-million to the ANC between 1999 and 2006".

Majali had just been arrested for his attempted corporate hijacking of Kalahari Resources - a company in which he had a stake - and was facing a possible new probe into the Oilgate scandal.

"It was my money and I could do whatever I wanted with it. I then spent R18-million of the R24-million (and not just R11-million as reported in the newspapers) in assisting the organisation that I support. Since then the police came back to reopen the case," Majali complains.

He makes an implicit threat that should either probe continue, he would disclose more about his dealings with the ruling party.

"They are forcing me to say things that I would not normally disclose in my lifetime, because I have assisted my organisation willingly," he writes.

The party denies receiving the letter - but Majali's close associates told the Sunday Times he was given an assurance that the concerns raised in his letter would be addressed and he would receive a response, by January this year.

But Majali was found dead on December 26 last year at a Sandton hotel.

>>16934537

“Majali's ghost haunts ANC” Part 2

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2011-09-18-majalis-ghost-haunts-anc/

18 September 2011

The copy of the letter seen by the Sunday Times is unsigned, but several of Majali's close associates have confirmed its authenticity.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said: "He never sent that letter to me. I've never seen such a letter."

Mantashe refused to reveal how much Majali had contributed to the party over the years.

"I don't know [how much he contributed]. Do you want us to tell you how much Standard Bank contributed, how much Absa contributed? I'm not going to do that, you know that," he said.

When it was put to Mantashe that the party was not being transparent about its dealings with Majali, Mantashe said: "There's a difference between transparency and being nude … why should I go around telling how much people contributed?"

ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa told the Sunday Times on Friday that there was no record of the letter or the money.

But, after seeing detailed questions e-mailed to ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu, Phosa called back to say he would discuss the matter with "the president, deputy president and Jackson".

Yesterday, Phosa's response was that he had "informed the relevant people" and that there was "no memory of a letter being received".

Phosa added: "Our books are audited by Deloitte and there is no record of this money in our finances."

He added: "Majali isn't here to dispute what we are saying … in our culture it is not wise to engage someone who cannot respond, it is undignified."

Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj referred questions about Majali's claims about the money to ANC spokesman Mthembu.

In the letter Majali denies that he had been refunded R11-million by the ANC, as the party had claimed.

"I want to make it clear to those that were not part of my funding activities of the ANC that I have been hearing that someone from the ANC has been informing the media that the ANC has refunded the R11-million to me.

"I place on record that I have never demanded the R11-million from the ANC and, even if the ANC offered, I would be unwilling to take back the money," Majali writes.

Yesterday, Phosa expressed surprise: "Mendi [Msimang, the former treasurer-general] said at Polokwane that the money was returned."

Majali goes on to say: "It is not my intention to draw the ANC [in]to my prosecution process. I simply want to alert the leadership, who may not have sufficient information of what happened in the fundraising process of the ANC at the time."

In 2005 the then public protector, Lawrence Mushwana, declined to pursue the Oilgate money trail to the ANC, saying this was outside his mandate.

In June this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal set aside a decision by the High Court in Pretoria ordering the public protector to reopen the investigation into whether Majali had diverted millions belonging to PetroSA to the ANC.

Public protector Thuli Madonsela said after that ruling that she would "review" Mushwana's report.

The high-flying business tycoon - who was named in the United Nations report on Iraq's oil-for-food scandal - regularly bankrolled ANC dinner parties.

Majali's death was shrouded in mystery, and speculation about the cause of death is still rife, ranging from poisoning to respiratory problems.

Top-ranking ANC members were noticeably absent from his funeral and hesitant to comment after his death.

The exception was the Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Ngoako Ramatlhodi .

>>16934537

>>16934540

“Majali's ghost haunts ANC” Part 3

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2011-09-18-majalis-ghost-haunts-anc/

18 September 2011

At Majali's funeral near Port St Johns in January , Ramatlhodi told mourners that many ANC leaders wanted to deny Majali's cash injection into the ANC, but it was a fact.

"There was a time when he was paying the salaries of some people at Luthuli House. Some of us want to deny it, but we can't."

In December 2008, the Sunday Times reported that then president Kgalema Motlanthe had moved into a R6-million Saxonwold mansion that was identified for him by Majali, who arranged that his business associate Molotsi Sifora sign the agreement of sale. Motlanthe occupied the home while occupational rent was paid with cheques from Majali's company.

At the time Motlanthe's spokesman, Thabo Masebe, said Motlanthe had a lease agreement with Sifora and "was not involved in the sale at all".

At Majali's memorial in Bryanston last year, Ramatlhodi said Majali's contribution to the ANC's 2004 election campaign "turned out to be a curse that he carried to his grave".

Ramatlhodi said: "His first sin was to support the ANC. His second sin was to insist on being an equal player in the economic sphere."

This year President Zuma included Majali in a tribute to party members who had died in 2010.

Sandton detective Captain Shaun Robson said Majali's death was still under investigation.

"The postmortem has been finalised but we are awaiting three more test results which can take one to four years to complete because of backlogs," he said.

Majali's family enlisted the help of a private pathologist in the hope that this would shed more light on how Majali died. The Sunday Times has established that tests by the private pathologist have been finalised.

Majali family spokesman John Ngcebetsha said: "The family wants to compare outcomes from both the state and the private pathologist. It is disappointing that the state is taking this long, but we are hoping that there will be an outcome before year end."

>>16934485

>>16934493

“INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME (630 page doc) – D. SANDI MAJALI, IMVUME MANAGEMENT

http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf

https://humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/volcker_report_10-27-05.pdf

Page 108 of 623; Page 109 of 623

1. Imvume Management (Pty) Limited

After the shipping incident, Mr. Majali continued to receive oil allocations through a new company, Imvume. Because Montega Trading had failed to pay the outstanding surcharges, SOMO refused to sell oil to Mr. Majali in Phase X. When Mr. Majali complained to Iraqi officials, SOMO was ordered to allocate oil to Mr. Majali in Phase XI. Imvume managed to obtain two Iraqi oil contracts in Phases XI and XII.206

Prior to the renewal of his oil allocations, Mr. Majali had been very involved in strengthening ties between South Africa and Iraq. In September 2001, as Chairperson of both the SAIFA and the South African Business Council for Economic Transformation (“SABCETT”), Mr. Majali led a South African delegation to Baghdad, which included officials from the South African Strategic Fuel Fund Association and South African Department of Minerals and Energy. The delegation was involved in discussions on strengthening ties between the ANC and the Iraq Friendship Association and Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party (“Ba’ath Party”), as well as building better oil trade relationships between the two countries. Mr. Majali undertook the trip as a recognized representative of the ANC. In a letter to the Iraq Friendship Association, Mr. Motlanthe stated that Mr. Majali’s position as Chairperson of SAIFA had the ANC’s “full approval and blessing.” He also confirmed the ANC’s approval of Mr. Majali “as a designated person to lead the implementation processes arising out of our economic development programmes.”207

After these meetings, Mr. Majali wrote two letters to the Iraqi authorities in which he referred to a request for oil allocations that had been made to support South Africa’s political activities in connection with Iraq. In a letter to the President of the Iraqi Friendship Association, dated September 20, 2001, in his capacity as “Chairman” of SABCETT, Mr. Majali expressed the view that a “joint effort between the ANC and the Arab Ba’ath Party will add a lot of value towards achieving the common political objectives” and “will result in an effective strategy geared towards campaigning for the lifting of sanctions.” He went on to advise the President that, as had been discussed in their meeting in Baghdad, a letter had been sent to SOMO requesting an allocation of 12 million barrels of oil and requested that the transaction be facilitated:

__with particular attention to the competitive advantage pricing of this transaction for the benefit of both parties in order to build financial resources to support political programmes. I am convinced that you do appreciate that such financial resources are crucial for the long term sustainability of the political programmes that [the ANC and Ba’ath] parties will be implementing and to run seminars, workshops in order to develop effective political development strategies.__208

>>16938118

>>16934493

>>16934485

“INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME (630 page doc) – GLENCORE, D. SANDI MAJALI, MARC RICH and more

http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf

https://humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/volcker_report_10-27-05.pdf

Page 12 of 623; Page 47 of 623; Page 61 of 623; Page 106 of 623; Page 107 of 623; Page 109 of 623; Page 111 of 623; Page 146 of 623

Ultimately, four traders and companies financed and lifted over 60 percent of the Iraqi crude oil during the exporting crisis in Phase IX. The top financiers of Iraqi crude oil in that phase were Bayoil Supply & Trading Limited (“Bayoil”), the Taurus Group (“Taurus”), Glencore International AG (“Glencore”), and the Vitol Group (“Vitol”). None of these traders had been given the significant direct access to oil contracts that they sought under the Programme. In Phase IX, these companies purchased substantial amounts of crude oil through intermediary entities: Bayoil mainly through Italtech SAR, an Italian-based company; Taurus mainly through Fenar Petroleum Ltd. and Alcon Petroleum Ltd, Liechtenstein-based companies; Glencore through its own Swiss-based company, and Petrogaz Distribution S.A.; and Vitol mainly through Mastek Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian-based company, among others.

Iraq’s preference for French companies and the limited number of recipients in France for Iraqi crude oil led certain companies to pass themselves off to SOMO as being French-based. For example, Vitol S.A., a Switzerland-based company, purchased Iraqi oil under the name “Vitol France” even though no such company existed. Glencore managed to use its Glencore France S.A. subsidiary to contract with SOMO in just one phase. Marc Rich + Co. Investment AG, a Switzerland-based company, financed and purchased oil through European Oil and Trading Company (“E.O.T.C.”), a company that was established specifically for the purpose of trading oil under the Programme. Addax BV, a Switzerland-based company, had a new affiliated entity, Addax (France) S.A.R.L., incorporated to purchase Iraqi crude oil.

Mr. Majali used Montega Trading as the contracting company to purchase the oil. Montega Trading arranged to sell the oil through Sopak SA (“Sopak”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore. Glencore financed the contract with a $46,585,093 letter of credit through BNP, and it arranged for lifting and selling the oil. Although Glencore was backing Montega Trading’s SOMO contract, the company insisted that its name be concealed from disclosure to any third parties:203

Glencore did not have the oil delivered to the United States, as agreed in the contract, but instead had it shipped to Singapore. Over 1.85 million barrels were lifted on Montega’s contract at a total value of $45,502,470, using a United Nations pricing formula that took into account that the final destination would be the United States. As a result of Glencore’s change in shipping destination, Montega Trading, as the contracting company, owed millions of dollars to SOMO for the price differential.204

A couple of months later, Imvume obtained a contract to supply two million barrels of oil to the South African Strategic Fuel Fund Association. This association is responsible for the procurement and management of the strategic crude oil and petroleum products of South Africa. Because of concerns raised during the comprehensive due diligence of Imvume in the bidding process, __Glencore sent a letter to the South African Strategic Fuel Fund Association (“SFF”) representing that it backed Imvume “as its strategic partner.” As part of the contract conditions, Glencore was liable for performance of the contract, and Imvume needed approval to lift oil from SOMO by March 2002.__210

__Ultimately, Imvume did not sell the oil under its SOMO contract (M/11/72) to fulfill its obligation to supply oil to SFF. Imvume had Glencore purchase four million barrels from two Russian companies for shipping to South Africa.__213

Like Bayoil and Taurus, Glencore benefited from the scarcity of willing buyers for Iraqi crude oil in Phase IX after surcharges had been imposed by the Government of Iraq.

Claude Kaspereit, a businessman and son of the French Parliamentarian Gabriel Kaspereit, was allocated a total of over 9.5 million barrels of oil from the Government of Iraq. Mr. Kaspereit used a France-based shell company, European Oil and Trading Company (“E.O.T.C.”), to enter into SOMO contracts to purchase oil under the Programme. Marc Rich + Co. Investment A.G. (“Marc Rich + Co.”) financed four million barrels of oil under E.O.T.C.’s contract in Phase IX. Marc Rich + Co. directed BNP Paris not to disclose its identity to BNP New York in connection with its financing of the United Nations contract.105

>>17411484

>The land that was KwaZulu is no longer state land. It’s in private ownership, held in trust by the King.

The Battle for the Zulu throne and land

"Zulu war of succession: Hundreds of warriors escort Queen Mantfombi's body through Johannesburg amid claims that she was poisoned by rival wives or siblings after King Goodwill Zwelithini's death six weeks ago”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9549379/Zulu-war-succession-Hundreds-warriors-escort-Queen-Mantfombis-body-Johannesburg.html

6 May 2021

BATTLE FOR THE THRONE: The pageantry surrounding Queen Mantfombi's funeral today masks a bitter war of succession being waged within the palace among King Goodwill Zwelthini's five surviving wives and at least 28 children - not just for the title but for the vast wealth and land which goes with it.

Sibongile says that she should inherit half of his estate, which includes almost three million hectares of land.

Her legal action comes after Queen Mantfombi was named interim successor in the king's will after his death on March 12.

Known as the 'Great Wife', the queen was born into royalty and is the sister of Africa's only absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Swaziland [now Eswatini].

King Zwelithini paid a fabulous bride price of around 300 cattle to take her as his third wife in 1977, cementing her senior status among his queens. The couple had eight children together.

It had been expected that Mantfombi's US-educated eldest son Prince Misuzulu, 47, would be next line to the throne.

“Prince Simakade traditionally crowned as King of amaZulu by family faction”

https://youtu.be/N0BWO_3am-k (embedded)

August 15, 2022

A faction of the AmaZulu royal family has traditionally crowned Prince Simakade as King of the Zulu nation. This is despite other members of the royal house and government officially recognising his brother, King Misuzulu, as leader of the nation. On Saturday night, people gathered at Enyokeni royal palace for Prince Simakade's kraal-entering ceremony. Royal family members supporting him said only they can appoint a King, saying they do not recognise Misuzulu as King. Historian Professor Musa Khulekani Xulu is the founder of Indonsa Yesizwe Think Tank, which focuses on the Regeneration of the Zulu Kingdom and other Kingdoms in South Africa, Africa and the Diaspora through the promotion of traditional and indigenous knowledge. He joins us now on Zoom.

KZN House of Traditional Leaders appeals for end to royal impasse

https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/news/kzn-house-of-traditional-leaders-appeals-for-end-to-royal-impasse-85abb6ea-45d6-4baf-bc89-6c5996e4d298

August 17, 2022

That section of the royal house also confirmed that a letter had since been sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa demanding that he recognises Prince Simakade as the new king.

However, Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, who has been recognised by President Cyril Ramaphosa will have a entering the kraal ceremony on Saturday.

>>17412128

>Known as the 'Great Wife', the queen was born into royalty and is the sister of Africa's only absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Swaziland [now Eswatini].

>King Zwelithini paid a fabulous bride price of around 300 cattle to take her as his third wife in 1977, cementing her senior status among his queens. The couple had eight children together.

“How The Eswatini Royal Family Spends Their Billions” – King Mswati III “controls a trust worth $10 billion”

https://youtu.be/R7zCEwpSd70

King Mswati III has a vast fortune. His personal net worth is about $200 million and he controls a trust worth $10 billion. He owns private jets, expensive cars, and numerous palaces. King Mswati has deep pockets and an extremely expensive car collection. King Mswati’s private planes have led to a lot of controversies. His $20 million McDonnell Douglas MD-87 was allegedly given to him by an Indian mining company. For his 50th birthday, the King bought himself a $16 million Airbus A340-300. He purchased the private plane from China Airlines in Taiwan and received the plane before Eswatini’s Golden Jubilee. The annual budget of the Eswatini royal family is about $61 million, and the King and his wives regularly spend millions redecorating their palaces. This is how the Eswatini Royal Family spends their billions. King Mswati owns 60% of Eswatini’s land, making him the largest landowner in Africa. He owns 1 million hectares of farmland and much of it is used by locals to grow crops and raise livestock. The King’s most luxurious residence is the Lozitha royal palace. It’s his primary residence and is often used for political meetings with visiting dignitaries. King Mswati’s wives are known to go on extravagant shopping sprees, and residents usually protest as the queens spend thousands on high-end fashion and luxury goods. The King’s wives were spotted in Italy buying goods made by Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, and Burberry. His children spend much of their time traveling around the world. Keep watching to learn more about the Eswatini Royal Family and their incredible fortune.

>>17069544

Eswatini/Swaziland history and the British involvement - “The commissioner had the power to expropriate up to one third of each concession without compensation”

Independence; 6 September 1968

In April 2018, the official name was changed from Kingdom of Swaziland to Kingdom of Eswatini, mirroring the name commonly used in Swazi.

In 1903, after the British victory in the Second Boer War, Swaziland became one of the British "High Commission Territories", the others being Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Bechuanaland [now Botswana: Indepence; 30 September 1966 (also soon after HF Verwoerd’s assassination and all 3 High Commission Territories kept their independence post Apartheid)], although a protectorate was not established because terms had not been agreed with the Swazi Queen Regent Labotsibeni Mdluli.

The Swaziland Administration Proclamation of 1904 established a commission with the task of examining all the concessions and defining their boundaries. This work was finished by 1907, and the Swaziland Concessions Partition Proclamation provided for a concessions partition commissioner to be appointed to set aside areas for the sole use and occupation of the Swazis. The commissioner had the power to expropriate up to one third of each concession without compensation [sound familiar?], but payment would need to be made if more than a third was taken. In the event, in 1910 he completed his work and set aside 1,639,687 acres, some 38% of Swaziland’s area, for the Swazi. The queen regent then encouraged the Swazi to go to work in the Transvaal to earn money to buy more land from the Europeans. [ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V50KAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-PA39#v=onepage&q&f=false]

The government is an absolute monarchy, the last of its kind in Africa, and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986.[17][18]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eswatini

>>17406397

>Shabtai Kalmanovich, a Russian-born Israeli businessman with dubious credentials introduced to Mangope by Sol Kerzner (the uncrowned king of the casinos and hotels empire in Bophuthatswana who later established himself in the US), was appointed Bophuthatswana’s trade representative in Israel.

“Sol Kerzner commentary: Let sleeping tycoons lie – judge”- Part 1

https://www.biznews.com/news/2021/10/15/sol-kerzner-allan-greenblo

15th October 2021

One could say it’s the story of corporate enterprise in any developing country – and Sol Kerzner would have probably have dismissively chuckled at any ‘moralistic’ journalist trying to hold him to a higher bar. Which is what troubles former investigative magazine, Noseweek’s founder, Martin Welz; particularly, the curtain drawn by a South African high court judge on highly questionable aspects of the charismatic late billionaire’s corporate exploits. Judge Monas Flemming gave an eponymous High Court stamp of disapproval to Kerzner Unauthorised, effectively deleting several passages in the detailed work by former Financial Mail editor and Finance Week founder, Allan Greenblo. Here, Weltz takes up the cudgels on behalf of his much-respected late colleague, posing some searching questions and making some telling observations about the judgement. In 2019, the late Sol Kerzer’s Tsogo Sun and its associated operations raked in R11,6 billion, according to its annual report. This came out within months of the four-times married Kerzner dying of cancer at the age of 84. Judge for yourself. – Chris Bateman

GREENBLO / KERZNER [INTRO] COMMENTARY

In his 1997 judgment banning publication of Kerzner Unauthorised, Allan Greenblo’s biography of Sol Kerzner, Judge Monas Flemming of the Gauteng High Court noted with patent irritation what he called Greenblo’s “attempt to taint [Kerzner] by association”.

“[Greenblo] seems unable to refer to a homeland except when adding the emotionally laden adjectival ‘apartheid created’,” the judge complained.

Odd, considering the fact that Greenblo, a former editor of the Financial Mail and co-founder of Finance Week, had made clear in his affidavit to the court that his book was exactly that: “A rigorous and detailed investigation into the manner in which business operated in apartheid South Africa.”

And in it he was able to demonstrate that, explicitly as a reward for successfully “marketing apartheid abroad”, Kerzner’s companies negotiated tax and other financial incentives that resulted in their paying next-to-no tax in South Africa.

Maybe the reason for the judge’s sensitivity – and his declared view that bygones should be bygones – lay closer to home. The courts were one of the institutions most tainted by their association, over 50 years, with apartheid. The Appeal Court from the mid-’60s onwards was, undoubtedly, apartheid created.

Given that context, it came as no surprise that, in his judgment, Judge Flemming refused to consider American insight into the importance of freedom of speech in a democracy. His reason: “Each community has its own culture and develops its own ideas of what is fair, proper and desirable.” He therefore saw no reason to deviate from “what has developed in the [South African] Appellate Division over years”.

Already a decade earlier, one of Britain’s best known newspaper columnists, Bernard Levin of The Times, proffered this explanation for what he perceived to be the obvious bias of many of South Africa’s magistrates and judges: “A lifetime of accepting [white] South African values … of feeling part of a protective laager … has resulted in a withered imagination.”

Levin clearly had a point and Allan Greenblo, who died earlier this week, had the courage and ethical commitment to confront it head-on. I am sure you will agree, once you’ve read these short extracts from the book Judge Flemming saw fit to ban.

Slightly longer extracts appeared in Noseweek in March 1998, cheekily extracted from the court record as a gesture of defiance.

Maybe after all these years, Kerzner Unauthorised may yet be published for all to read. I know that was one of Allan’s last wishes. He told me so only weeks before his death.

It’s a story that undoubtedly still needs to be told.

– Martin Welz

>>17427750

“Sol Kerzner commentary: Let sleeping tycoons lie – judge”- Part 2

https://www.biznews.com/news/2021/10/15/sol-kerzner-allan-greenblo

15th October 2021

GREENBLO ON SOL: WHAT YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE TOLD

[Intro strap:] In December 1997, hotel and casino magnate Sol Kerzner and his ex-wife Anneline Kriel instituted urgent court proceedings to have certain passages deleted from an about-to-be-published biography of Kerzner written by well-known financial journalist Allan Greenblo.

The book, titled Kerzner Unauthorised, published by Jonathan Ball, was already printed and ready for distribution.

Judge Monas Flemming banned publication of the entire book and any of its contents.

Two months later, Noseweek (subtitle: ‘News you’re not supposed to know’), published this telling extract from the book, retrieved from the court record.

_______

SOL IN BOP: THE FULL MONTY

On the 6 April 1987 President Lucas Mangope of Bophuthatswana wrote to Sun International Chief Sol Kerzner asking him to make “yet another contribution to Bophuthatswana”.

This time Mangope wanted Sun to “augment” the salary of his Minister of Finance, Leslie Young – he suggested R20 000 p.a., for three years, would do the trick.

In his letter, Mangope revealed in passing that Gencor had been “augmenting” Young’s income in this way since 1985, and had agreed to continue doing so until 1990. Sun’s contribution was required to afford Young a salary increase. Gencor, with major mining interests in Bophuthatswana, relied heavily on its negotiations with Young to get huge tax, labour and financing concessions in the so-called “independent” homeland, so it is not surprising that they agreed to make this – private – concession.

The point was not wasted on Sun International. Chairman Sol was abroad when the letter arrived, but his deputy, Ian Heron, had no difficulty in immediately obliging. “We would certainly be prepared to contribute towards the augmentation of Mr Young’s salary,” he wrote in reply. “Upon receipt of the advice of the amount required each year and the desired manner of payment we will make the necessary arrangements.”

The favours Young had done for Sun were many. For instance, only six months earlier, on 4 September 1986, Young had given Kerzner’s deputy, Ken Rosevear a hand-written note which recorded his (Young’s) approval of a “management” agreement concluded between SunBop and an offshore company called Sun International Management (SIM). By law all material contracts must be disclosed in the prospectus of a public company which is inviting the public to invest in its shares. This one was not.

SIM shelters from tax in Bermuda, and is wholly owned by another of Kerzner’s off-shore companies, Royale Resorts. The SunBop prospectus, which was issued on 22 October 1985 – six weeks after Rosevear had obtained his note guaranteeing Young’s silence – duly made no mention of the fact that Kerzner and friends had contrived to, in effect, get themselves awarded nearly double the “dividend” which was likely to be paid to any other SunBop shareholder, by the simple expedient of a hidden so-called management agreement. Not only was the management fee, which in some years, by Young’s account, exceeded R100 million (in 1987 money!), not disclosed; at least half of it – (by Young’s own later account) in effect amounted to an extra, preferent, tax-free dividend paid – off shore – to Kerzner and his close circle only.

>>17427750

>>17427752

“Sol Kerzner commentary: Let sleeping tycoons lie – judge”- Part 3

https://www.biznews.com/news/2021/10/15/sol-kerzner-allan-greenblo

15th October 2021

In 1984 Young had also used his discretion in allowing Sun International special tax deduction which was available to the “export service” industry. In allowing Sun International this special deduction from tax, he had to apply some most unusual definitions to the term “export service”. 

According to Young’s definition, contained in a letter written to Kerzner in February 1984, an “export service” did not, as one might reasonably have expected, refer to income which a Bophuthatswana company earned by rendering services to an overseas customer. According to Young, the tax allowance was not even “necessarily related” to overseas earnings which would be received [and kept] in another country. They could be “events that are widely publicised on an international scale”. Finally, at the end of the letter, came clarity: “Actions which beneficially publicised Bophuthatswana so that the republic benefited indirectly in the future, could also be regarded as ‘expert services’,” he explained. In short, any investment which might contribute to what others might, less discreetly, have called “marketing apartheid abroad” could be deducted from Sun’s tax bill.

Another (secret) concession with a similar drift was the secret kickback that Sun received – throughout the 1980s – from the Bop treasury on taxes paid by foreign entertainers and sports stars when they were hired to perform at Sun City. In 1987 the tax rate for visiting entertainers and professional sportsmen who earned more than R26 000 in Bop in any month, was increased to 50% of their fee (it had been 40%). In terms of an agreement which was “not generally known” – Young said he regarded it as “classified” – 90% of any taxes collected from the entertainers was then given back – to SunBop, to add to its income.

If Sinatra was paid R5 million for his appearance at the Superbowl, SunBop would secretly have got R2.25 million of it back from the Bop government. In a 1986 memo to the Bop Executive Council, Young explained: “The publicity generated overseas [by the entertainers] has been great. The country has obtained wide media coverage portraying it as a peaceful and prosperous African State.”

In Greenblo’s view, Bop (a product of apartheid ideology [Yet Israel invested millions >>17406394, >>17406397, >>17406399

and Kerzner was Jewish >>17406414 ] and ostracised in the world for that reason) was rewarding Sun International for promoting its image abroad.

In 1988, Sun International started negotiations with Young about special tax allowances on hotels. They wanted – and got – the allowance on investments in hotel buildings and “attractions such as golf courses, gardens, infrastructure, etc.” increased from 10% to 20%, in addition to other write-offs and allowances. All were promptly granted. Greenblo sums up: “From the 1960s and into the 1970s there was a one-time allowance on new equipment; a depreciation allowance on used equipment; and a further investment allowance for the first year. There was a ‘basic’ buildings allowance; plus an additional ‘gradings’ allowance, plus another investment allowance on the cost of the buildings … The upshot was that Southern Sun [as it was at the time] paid next to no tax …”

And all of it negotiated with Minister Young, whose salary Sun was secretly subsidising. Greenblo [and Noseweek] thought the conflict of interest was obvious. Not so, ruled Judge Flemming: Gencor had seconded an accountant (Young) to “give Bophuthatswana a competent Minister of Finance”. Sun International had, thereafter, made a “contribution to promoting” the minister. As for the rest, said the judge, “attempts at promoting tourism at joint expense, or subsidies for Sun International’s efforts, are in order.” The judge notes with disapproval that, in Kerzner Unauthorised, these matters are cast in a sinister light, and that Greenblo “minimises or argues against” what could be perceived as an acceptable excuse, mitigating, or serve as a reason to “close the book on the past.”

Greenblo, he said, had given no reasons for attaching “more significance than acceptable behaviour” to “assisted secondment”, “promotion of income” of both Sun International and the Bop government and, finally, what the judge prefers to describe as “incentive-inspired tax patterns”.

“Thou shalt not publish and be damned” - Judge Monas Flemming, Allan Greenblo Part 1

https://mg.co.za/article/1997-12-19-thou-shalt-not-publish-and-be-damned/

19 December 1997

Judge Monas Flemming bestowed on Allan Greenblo the honour of becoming the new South Africa’s first banned author when he turned the clock back on the country’s media law in the Johannesburg High Court last week.

His decision to ban Greenblo’s biography of Sol Kerzner was all the more puzzling because it came three weeks after he himself quashed a bid by Liberian politician Emanuel Shaw II to stop the Mail & Guardian publishing material about Shaw’s corrupt past.

Although South Africa’s media law has been in a state of flux since the passing of the constitution, there has been a discernible shift away from the repressive approach previously adopted by the courts where freedom of expression was concerned.

In the most important post-constitution defamation case, Holomisa v Argus Newspapers, Judge Edwin Cameron effectively shielded newspapers from attack by public figures providing journalists show diligence and providing they show they are reasonable.

But Judge Flemming, the deputy judge president of the Witwatersrand, has adopted an approach in Kerzner which is far more favourable to plaintiffs in defamation actions.

He has gone even further than Sol Kerzner wanted when he applied to interdict Greenblo’s publishers, Jonathan Ball, from publishing Kerzner Unauthorised. Judge Flemming ordered the proceedings be held in camera – despite the fact Kerzner’s legal team did not call for it. The deputy judge president noted in his judgment that he presumed Kerzner said this to avoid looking like the kind of man who likes to “gag the press”.

Judge Flemming has also banned the entire book – Kerzner only asked for sections to be excised. He said in his judgment: “If the book unlawfully invaded rights on publication, there is a single act which is interdicted and the whole of the book may not be published. There is no need to give an opinion on what amendments will justify the survival of a new edition.”

Does this mean that if an article in a newspaper is successfully interdicted, the entire edition must be cancelled?

The judge could have upheld Kerzner’s interdict merely on the grounds that Greenblo infringed sections of the Divorce Act by publishing details of the gambling supremo’s break-up with Anneline Kriel.

But he went much further than this technicality, attacking other material in the book – such as a detailed exploration of Kerzner’s notorious pay-off to Transkei leader George Matanzima – and arguing that its publication could damage Kerzner’s business interests.

He also questioned the notion that being a public figure disqualified a plaintiff from claiming damages for defamation: “It is only a pointer in a rough manner to one aspect of considering whether private rights have to yield.”

And he dismissed the suggestion that South African courts should follow the US doctrine against “prior restraint”. He noted: “American ideas of fairness and interference would cause many changes in various areas of our law.”

>>17427797

“Thou shalt not publish and be damned” - Judge Monas Flemming, Allan Greenblo Part 2

https://mg.co.za/article/1997-12-19-thou-shalt-not-publish-and-be-damned/

19 December 1997

Judge Flemming adopted a different approach in Shaw.

The judge ruled that that week’s material on Shaw – which included an editorial entitled “Well qualified to pillage” – did not add “to any noticeable extent to what has already been said in the two previous publications … no additional harm is done in any material sense”.

The same could be argued for much of Greenblo’s book, which provides more detail and more discussion about incidents that are so well-known – such as Kerzner’s R2-million pay-off – they are now part of South African folklore. If anything, Judge Flemming could have argued that Shaw, as a new man on the South African block, should have been given a chance to develop a reputation in South Africa.

In the Kerzner judgment Judge Flemming distinguishes his Shaw decision, saying: “What is to be learnt from the Shaw case is only that where a party has intended to do little more than what he himself has already done to Shaw, the additional harm from refusing an interdict is so little that it is outweighed by the harm for public interest … Here (in Kerzner) there are new defamers, there is a new readership, new infringing material is added, allegations which must have faded in the public mind are given new life, there is no contemporaneous relevance to much of the material, etc …”

Judge Flemming gave Shaw – who conducted the interdict from Monrovia, or what the judge referred to as “some strange place” – until December 24 to sue for defamation.

Far from suggesting that the M&G’s expos of Shaw could damage the Liberian’s business interests, the judge said that Shaw’s employer, state oil chief Don Mkhwanazi, was clearly a man who “sticks to his loyalty never mind what is said; and will not be influenced”. He also implied the M&G’s reports did not affect Shaw’s standing in South Africa as he could not assume that the kind of people with whom Shaw associates – such as Mkhwanazi and the minister of minerals and energy – read the M&G.

The difficulty in reconciling Shaw and Kerzner makes this area of the law even murkier than before. But what is perhaps most important about the Kerzner judgment is Judge Flemming’s expression of his fondness for interdicts in general – a fondness that could cause havoc in South African newsrooms until a higher court injects some clarity into this area of the law.

He says: “I have on a previous occasion pointed out the outdatedness of the law of defamation, inter alia that a modern medium like a newspaper does the harm prominently to thousands of readers but the apology comes in modest terms, in a small item on a different page …

“It seems to me better to use the available means to ensure that if a case is made that publication would be libellous, publication should not take place before the applicant has had a chance to prove his case if it is in dispute. But once the applicant’s case is adequately proved, there is no justification for allowing that the wrong be committed.”

>>16941522

>Phalatse’s appointment at Armscor, the state arms procurement body, was announced by Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota on Wednesday. Phalatse is among four new board members expected to steer the troubled arms parastatal into calmer waters. Another surprise appointment is Constand Viljoen, the former South African Defence Force chief and Freedom Front leader.

>The bribes that Phalatse says he and his colleagues took were allegedly part of a deal the SFF struck with Trafigura, a major international oil trading company, and its South African joint venture operation High Beam Trading International. The investigation that followed resulted in raids on former Central Energy Fund (CEF) chairperson Keith Kunene and High Beam’s head, Moses Moloele. Both men are icons in the black business community. After the raid, Kunene resigned his numerous public positions and has since faded from public life.

“Oil man’s CV of sleaze” – Emanuel Shaw II, Gu[u]s Kouwenhoven - Part 1

https://mg.co.za/article/1997-11-14-oil-mans-cv-of-sleaze/

14 November 1997

Mungo Soggot documents the extraordinary history of the Liberian set to earn R3- million a year in South Africa’s oil industry

The Liberian charged with reshaping South Africa’s state oil industry helped cream off millions from his country’s own oil business and had ties with a company which pumped oil into apartheid South Africa.

Emanuel Shaw II – who is set to earn at least R3-million a year from the South African taxpayer – spent much of the 1980s concocting elaborate money-making ploys with a partner known as “The Godfather of Liberia”. The Mail & Guardian has obtained correspondence between Shaw and his partner, Gu[u]s Kouwenhoven, in which Shaw details his involvement in their scams.

Don Mkhwanazi, the chair of South Africa’s state oil company, the Central Energy Fund (CEF), is standing by his decision to recruit Shaw as his chief adviser. He says the Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, endorsed Shaw for another state oil job in 1995.

The M&G revealed last week how Mkhwanazi ignored state tendering rules, state oil company policy and the Department of Minerals and Energy to recruit Shaw and his son, Emanuel Shaw III. The Liberian was a confidant of the West African country’s former president, Samuel Doe, and rose to become the notorious dictator’s finance minister.

Shaw has recently been appointed Liberia’s “ambassador extraordinaire” by the country’s new president, former warlord Charles Taylor.

By taking up the job at the CEF Shaw opens himself to an obvious charge of a conflict of interest, because he has also been working for South Africa’s biggest petrol company, Engen, since last year.

Shaw’s letter to his partner, Kouwenhoven, indicates the two men were outright rogues. It was written to justify a claim by Shaw for a greater share of their ill-gotten gains.

Shaw details how he gave Kouwenhoven the BMW dealership in Monrovia; the sole control of Monrovia’s top hotel, the Hotel Africa; and how he established a string of front companies to give Kouwenhoven a cut in the purchase of a new aircraft for Doe. In some instances Shaw went as far as to change Liberian law to give Kouwenhoven plum deals, all of which earned him a healthy commission.

Kouwenhoven is understood to have accompanied both Shaw and President Taylor on a visit last week to Taipei.

The letter, which has become part of Liberian business folklore, was first published by a Liberian magazine in June 1991, and subsequently by several other Liberian newspapers. The letter was found on Shaw’s computer after he fled Liberia.

>>17427852

“Oil man’s CV of sleaze” – Emanuel Shaw II, Gu[u]s Kouwenhoven - Part 2

https://mg.co.za/article/1997-11-14-oil-mans-cv-of-sleaze/

14 November 1997

In the Hotel Africa deal, Shaw also gave Kouwenhoven exclusive gambling rights by changing the country’s gambling laws. He says: “I wrote a gambling law and you got the opportunity to review and edit it to your satisfaction. I had the new gambling law passed by decree … I supervised the drafting of your concession agreement … and helped you protect your exclusivities and rights thereunder for all these years, making so many enemies for myself.”

The article which quotes the letter was written by a Liberian journalist, Reggie Goodridge, who is ironically now Taylor’s press secretary. The article is entitled “Sovereignty on auction – the saga of Emanuel Shaw and Gus Kouwenhoven”, and is described as “an expos that renders the activities of the Italian Mafia pale by comparison”.

In the letter Shaw also explains how he managed illegally to arrange an insurance payout for Kouwenhoven after the Hotel Africa burnt down in a “mysterious” fire in 1983. Shaw says he falsified certificates about the value of the hotel’s contents. Goodridge wrote that the letter also described the two men’s involvement in Nigerian oil deals and in the astonishing saga of the Liberian National Petroleum Corporation.

Shaw allegedly helped set up an oil consortium that took over the main functions of the the Liberian Petroleum Refining Corporation just before Doe was toppled in December 1989. Shortly after their new company was formed, the price of fuel in Liberia rocketed from $2,95 a gallon to $3,55 and, according to Goodridge, it was widely believed that the profits did not make their way back to the state’s coffers.

The shareholders in the company included Shaw, Kouwenhoven, Doe himself and the company’s president, Mark Woolman, who also headed a mysterious oil company called Tiger Oil.

Tiger Oil has been named as one of the companies which broke the oil sanctions against South Africa, in a submission to the truth commission by the Shipping Research Bureau in Amsterdam. According to oil industry officials and sources in Nairobi, Woolman – who was murdered last year – worked with Shaw in Kenya before Shaw came to South Africa in 1992.

Goodridge wrote that Shaw’s letter is now a part of public record after it was used in evidence in New York and New Jersey courts, in a multi-million-dollar case between the Liberian National Petroleum Corporation and the government of Liberia.

Shaw is also a shareholder in a company set up in 1989 to take over the operations of Liberia’s main iron-ore company. The company has yet to submit financial statements to the government.

“`His main occupation was stealing’” - Emanuel Shaw II – Part 1

https://mg.co.za/article/1997-12-19-his-main-occupation-was-stealing/

19 December 1997

US court documents show how Emanuel Shaw II privatised Liberia’s oil industry to benefit himself, report Mungo Soggot and James Butty

The man charged with reshaping South Africa’s oil industry was accused in a United States court of masterminding a fraudulent scheme to pocket the profits from Liberia’s petrol sales while serving as the country’s finance minister.

Court papers in the possession of the Mail & Guardian offer an astonishing expos of one of the most ambitious money-making schemes pulled off by Emanuel Shaw II while in power under the Liberian dictator Samuel Doe.

The papers also include several blanket indictments of Shaw such as: “It was common knowledge in Liberia, and internationally as well, that his [Shaw’s] main occupation while holding the office of Minister of Finance was to steal as much money as possible from the government and people of Liberia.”

Shaw is now earning at least R3-million a year advising South Africa’s state oil company on its restructuring and privatisation. His controversial appointment by state oil chief Don Mkhwanazi was the subject of a three-day commission of inquiry this week at the Department of Minerals and Energy. The findings are expected to be released next week.

Shaw has also worked for listed fuel company Engen whose chief, Rob Angel, was quoted last week saying Shaw was a “very,very bright man”.

Shaw, one of Doe’s closest confidants, fled Liberia ahead of the dictator’s downfall in 1990, but before he did so he allegedly masterminded an elaborate ploy to rob the impoverished country of about $27-million – in effect the remaining assets the country had abroad.

The court papers establish that Shaw set up a new national oil company in which he was a major shareholder, resigned as finance minister, and then wrote a letter as if he were still finance minister obligating the government to pay his oil company millions of dollars.

The plaintiff in the case – which was heard in New York in 1991 – was the Liberian National Petroleum Company (LNPC), which was set up by Shaw in January 1989 as the “sole and exclusive supplier of petroleum products” to the Liberian market. Shaw had a 60% stake in the company. The US court was told that, after resigning before Doe’s downfall, Shaw wrote a letter to the LNPC as if he were still finance minister, in which he confessed that the government owed the millions to the LNPC.

“In effect Mr Shaw, acting as finance minister, negotiated and signed the two guarantee agreements relied on by plaintiff in order to assure his own company payment of $20-million,” the US court was told by a representative of the interim government of Liberia, which took over after Doe was executed. The interim government was the defendant in the case.

Shaw’s letter persuaded the British High Court – presumably unaware that Shaw and his accomplices were actually the plaintiffs – to order the government of Liberia to pay up about $8,4-million in August 1990. With Liberia crumbling, no defence was mounted by the country’s government. The British court attached a Liberian Boeing 707 parked at Stansted airport as security and issued an injunction over other Liberian assets.

Shaw obtained an injunction on more Liberian assets in a New York court in 1990 and then tried to pull off the same trick by suing for $19-million in a US district court in New York.

>>17427871

“`His main occupation was stealing’” - Emanuel Shaw II – Part 2

https://mg.co.za/article/1997-12-19-his-main-occupation-was-stealing/

19 December 1997

But by then the interim Liberian government was ready to defend itself and Judge David Edelstein of the US District Court of Southern New York dismissed the case. The lifting of the injunction allowed the Liberian interim government to tap about $16-million that had been frozen.

One of the interim government’s key weapons was a detailed affidavit by Liberian justice minister Philip Banks III, which guided the court through Shaw’s ingenious scheme.

Banks, who ran the government’s case, said that in 1986 Shaw, Liberia’s justice minister Jenkins Scott and several other private individuals started plotting to acquire control over the sale of all petroleum products in Liberia. Their plan came to fruition in January 1989 with the creation of the LNPC, which immediately triggered a fuel price rise.

“Although the monopoly power exercised by LNPC inured directly to the benefit of Minister Shaw, who held a substantial ownership interest in LNPC, it came at the direct expense of the Liberian government and people. As soon as LNPC obtained control over the supply of petroleum products to Liberia, the price of those products increased sharply.”

Banks said that the exclusive contract between LNPC and Liberia’s existing national petrol company – the Liberian Petroleum Refining Company – was condemned by the judiciary committee of Liberia’s House of Representatives, which said the agreement “brings in no new investment and will only raise the cost of products for LPRC”. The house declared the contract null and void, Banks said.

Banks explained how Shaw secured himself a 60% stake in the new oil company through a company called Synergy Resources and also siphoned off all the lease payments LNPC was supposed to make to LRPC under the January 1989 agreement. Those payments were made to a company called Global Enterprises, which was owned and managed by Shaw.

Shaw was the LNPC’s chief executive and later appointed as president his trusted associate Mark Wolman. Wolman, a South African, ran a private oil company called Tiger Oil, which was a key sanctions- buster. Shaw acted as a “consultant” for Tiger when he arranged for it an exclusive contract to supply petroleum products to the LPRC in 1987 in a similar scheme to the one he pulled off with the LNPC.

Wolman was brutally murdered in Cape Town last year in what appeared to be an execution by a drug gang. Shaw’s passport was found in Wolman’s briefcase.

The papers, which suggest Doe was in on the scam, explain in detail how Shaw fraudulently wrote a letter in his capacity as finance minister to help LNPC obtain its money. “In short, with the country burning around them, Shaw and Scott decided to plunder the government treasury one more time.”

Banks said Shaw signed two guarantees obligating the government to pay at least $20-million, while Scott wrote a letter waiving the government’s immunity from legal attack abroad. He said Shaw wrote his letter as if he were still finance minister on July 18 1990 even though he had resigned in June 1989.

Scott was fired by Doe on June 27 1990, but wrote his letter waiving sovereign immunity on July 8 1990. “Their letters are nothing more than a flagrant effort to commit fraud on the courts of the United Kingdom and on this court, before the new government in Monrovia could move to block their continuing theft of government assets.”

>>17427871

>>17427874

“`His main occupation was stealing’” - Emanuel Shaw II – Part 3

https://mg.co.za/article/1997-12-19-his-main-occupation-was-stealing/

19 December 1997

The Liberian government’s founding affidavit said the English court was obviously hoodwinked. “Of course, the English court had no idea that the authors of these letters were the principals of LNPC, and that they were acting in their own self-interests, contrary to those of the government, because these facts were deliberately kept hidden.”

The US court was also presented with a now famous letter from Shaw to Gu[u]s Kouwenhoven, a man known as “the Godfather of Liberia”, in which Shaw documents the various corrupt schemes in which he and Kouwenhoven engaged.

Shaw told the M&G he did not write the letter, saying the Liberian interim government had probably forged it in desperation for money he was holding “in trust for a democratically elected government”. But the bundle of papers includes a handwritten note by Kouwenhoven acknowledging receipt of the letter.

* A leading Dutch newspaper, Parool, carried a prominent news story last Friday linking Shaw and Liberia’s current leader, Charles Taylor, to a notorious drug syndicate. The article claimed that in return for protecting the syndicate, the two politicians received a cut of its profits. Shaw is Liberia’s ambassador extraordinaire, economic adviser to President Taylor, and was recently appointed head of the country’s banking commission.

“Is That Emmanuel Shaw, Again?” Part 1

http://theperspective.org/2018/0524201801.php

May 24, 2018

Is that Emmanuel Shaw, again? That was my reaction to a picture in which the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and Emmanuel Shaw were standing side by side and smiling. Both appeared as if they were former schoolmates meeting at a class reunion gathering. But, this was not at a class reunion gathering. It was at a reception hosted by the French president in Paris for his visiting Liberian counterpart, President George Weah. Mr. Shaw, however, was not there, as other Liberian citizens were, to pay their respects to President Weah. Rather, Shaw was there as a member of the official Liberian delegation that was headed by the president. Hence, one can conclude that Shaw was selected by Weah to travel with him. Although it has not been announced publicly, one will not be wrong to also conclude that Shaw is an official in the Liberian government. For an administration that portrays itself to the world to be “pro-poor,” Shaw’s involvement in it, perhaps, with what appears to be unrestricted access to the president, does not inspire confidence in the commitment to the “pro-poor” agenda. Why do I make this assertion?

I make this assertion because Shaw has a checkered past that worries me. It should also worry other Liberians because the history of his past activities, as a public servant, contains no evidence of his concern for the downtrodden majority Liberians. While others see and go into public service to benefit the public good, Shaw sees and goes into it to benefit his personal ambition to be a multimillionaire. Therefore, he is instructed by his modus operandi to court friendship with people in government from whom the power to make and execute final decisions originates. These people are usually presidents or individuals who have unrestricted access to the ears of the presidents. His relationships with Stephen Tolbert, Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor, and now George Weah, demonstrate that.

For Shaw, becoming a multimillionaire has been an obsession. This obsession began in the 1970s when he was a protégé and confidant of Stephen Tolbert, President Tolbert’s younger brother, who served as minister of finance. The younger Tolbert was believed to be a multimillionaire, a standing he accomplished only after he became minister of finance. Prior to becoming minister of finance, Stephen Tolbert was a successful businessman by Liberian standard. However, he was not sufficiently successful to be regarded a multimillionaire. As a businessman, he got to know and understand how the Ministry of Finance could be used by a powerful minister to build a personal lucrative business empire. The opportunity for him finally came when his brother ascended to the presidency and appointed him the minister of finance in 1971. As a minister, Stephen Tolbert already had the template to use the Ministry of Finance to build a lucrative business empire and, yes, he did and became a multimillionaire. Having served as Stephen Tolbert’s foot soldier and fixer, Shaw knew the template and began to dream of becoming a millionaire also, perhaps, with the assistance of Stephen Tolbert in later years. But, Stephen Tolbert was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1975.

The death of Stephen Tolbert and the appointment of Edwin Williams as minister of finance severed Shaw’s connection to the ministry of finance. Nevertheless, President Tolbert became Shaw’s benefactor. Out of respect for his late brother, President Tolbert appointed Shaw deputy minister of state for economic affairs at the Executive Mansion. This appointment appeared to have derailed the trajectory of Shaw’s plan to use the Ministry of Finance to construct and preside over a lucrative business empire of his own. From this position, Shaw saw the president every other day, if not daily, and became a trusted counselor to him. It also catapulted Shaw to national recognition that he served as the guest speaker for my high school graduating class in 1979 and became a prominent figure in the leadership of the True Whig Party youth wing. Having won the confidence of Tolbert, Shaw began to explore how he could go about the execution of his own plans. Generally, it was known and believed that Stephen Tolbert’s impressive business success was due to the unprecedented government-sanctioned monopoly that prevented other businesses from fairly competing against his businesses. But, Shaw was not sure if the president would allow him unrestricted reigns to use the template of his late mentor to benefit himself. While Shaw was contemplating his next moves, Tolbert was overthrown and brutally killed in a military coup staged by soldiers who selected and installed Samuel Doe as president of Liberia.

>>17427937

“Is That Emmanuel Shaw, Again?” Part 2

http://theperspective.org/2018/0524201801.php

May 24, 2018

Following the coup, Shaw was detained and it appeared that the sun had set on his career in government and association with politically powerful people. However, in less than a month and like Jason, who comes back to life in horror movies, Shaw was resurrected in an introduction of him to Doe by George Boley, who was a minister of state for presidential affairs in the military regime. President Doe promptly embraced Shaw and made him his economic advisor. Mr. Shaw did not take long to conclude from his psychosocial assessment of Doe that they shared a common appreciation of wealth via whichever means it could be accumulated. Using his flamboyant appearance, which Doe had come to admire and wish for himself, Shaw ingratiated himself to Doe and won his trust. But the trust won did not emanate from Shaw giving good economic policy advice to benefit the downtrodden Liberians. Rather, it came from Shaw finding and suggesting avenues of complex thread of reasoning to use the authority of the Executive Mansion to acquire wealth. President Doe, undoubtedly impressed by Shaw’s ingenuity for corruption, appointed him minister of finance, a position that the latter had coveted from the time he served as Stephen Tolbert’s confidant.

At the Ministry of Finance, Shaw did nothing to improve the economy. His main occupation there was to design elaborate criminal schemes to benefit him and Doe financially. He became the front man for Doe and worked persistently on how he could create personal wealth. In 1989, Shaw began by setting up insurance and oil importing companies under the name Liberia National Petroleum Company (LNPC) and made the Liberian government its only customer. Under the cover of this criminal partnership with Doe, Shaw got the government to increase gasoline price. As a result, the government rescinded its subsidy of the price of rice. The promulgation of this policy, according to sources, was contrived to benefit Doe and Shaw financially from the activities of the Liberia National Petroleum Company. Having succeeded in making his company the exclusive supplier of oil and other petroleum products in Liberia, Shaw was convinced that he had hit the jackpot to be a millionaire. But, he was prevented from the collection of the jackpot. He was constrained to flee Liberia by the armed invasion of the country to dislodge Doe from power in 1990. Mr. Shaw, however, was not finished with Liberia. Before he ran away from Liberia, Shaw, according to The Mail & Guardian newspapers based in South Africa, “resigned as finance minister, and then wrote a letter as if he were still finance minister obligating the government to pay his oil company millions of dollars.” Mr. Shaw would use this criminally deceptive claim against Liberia later in court in London, England.

In 1990, as the civil war left Liberia without a government, and people were dying helplessly in the streets from hunger and bullets, Shaw, unscrupulous and without a modicum of rectitude, sued Liberia for $27m he asserted the country owed him for oil importing services that LNPC provided. The calculation of this unscrupulous man was that since there was no central government to represent Liberia in court, the court was legally bound to rule in his favor by default. He took Liberia to court in London, England. In the papers to the court, according to The Mail & Guardian, Shaw successfully hoodwinked the British court to believe that he was a plaintiff, along with the LNPC, in the case against Liberia which, by then in 1990, was a country trapped in the graveyard of history and hopelessness. As Shaw calculated, Liberia was not represented by anyone to defend the claims against it. Therefore, as he asked in his lawsuit in London, according to the newspaper, Liberia was ordered by the court to pay $8.4m to him and the LNPC. To enforce the judgment, the court, as security, ordered the Liberian presidential aircraft grounded in London, where it had taken Doe’s family into exile. The victory in London emboldened Shaw to push for another victory to increase his jackpot earnings. This time, he was seeking $20m in New York.

>>17427937

>>17427940

“Is That Emmanuel Shaw, Again?” Part 3

http://theperspective.org/2018/0524201801.php

May 24, 2018

In New York, he filed his second lawsuit against Liberia. In the suit, he sought an injunction on any assets Liberia had anywhere in America. According to West Africa magazine, Shaw demanded $19m in the lawsuit. The lawsuit, however, turned out to be his Waterloo. Liberia, then run by an interim administration, was able to mount a legal representation in court. In the 1991 U.S. court proceeding, in which the plaintiff was the LNPC, the Liberian representative revealed that the LNPC was founded by Shaw while he was finance minister and owned 60% stake in it. Acting in both capacities, he “negotiated and signed the two guarantee agreements” that LNPC’s lawsuit relied on for its $20m claim against Liberia. Based on this claim by Liberia, Shaw’s lawsuit was thrown out and he disappeared.

In 1997, however, after Charles Taylor was elected president and Liberia was gradually returning to normality, Shaw returned to Liberia. As he has always done in the past, he managed to work his way into the inner circle of Taylor’s trusted counselors and became an economic adviser to him. This time, Shaw did not need to work hard to secure Taylor’s appreciation of him. Both are flamboyant, corrupt and like money, which they are always prepared to acquire via calculated criminal schemes. However, the life of Taylor’s administration was truncated and he went into exile in Nigeria. Mr. Shaw, too, left Liberia and took up residence in South Africa, where, according to The Mail & Guardian, Don Mkhwanazi, the South African oil chief, appointed him to advise the country's state oil company on its “restructuring and privatization.” But this appointment was so controversial because of Shaw’s rotten character that a “three-day commission of inquiry” was held by the country’s Department of Minerals and Energy. The outcome of the inquiry forced Shaw to leave the country for Ghana. While living abroad, Shaw, nevertheless, kept his eyes on the political development that was taking place in Liberia. In the 2005 general elections, George Weah, an internationally known retired footballer, but ignorant politically, came close to winning the presidency. This remarkable performance convinced Shaw of the certainty of Weah winning the presidency in later years. According to a source, Shaw, therefore, began to befriend Weah in Ghana, where they spent considerable time together. Having no doubts about Weah becoming president, Shaw became a surreptitious but prominent financial benefactor for Weah’s presidential campaign. But Shaw’s financial support was not a random act of benevolence. Rather, it was an act driven by his commitment to the pricinple of financial quid pro quo.

As we see now with his appointment as a trusted counselor to the president, Shaw has come home to collect from his investment.

Emmanuel Shaw, as an economist or accountant, has no professional accomplishments in the public interests. He has no commitment to probity in public service or personal relationships. He has always been instructed by a selfish determination to be a millionaire however he can. Through Stephen Tolbert, the Tolbert family cared for Shaw. The family’s generosity benefitted Shaw, ensuring his education and standing in society. President Tolbert appointed him as his counselor, a position from which he saw the president daily. But after the president was brutally killed at the Executive Mansion, Shaw felt at home there with those who committed it. Just before Tolbert’s blood had the chance to dry from the floors of the Executive Mansion, Shaw walked through it and found comfort in the arms of those who ended the president’s life. Commitment to personal integrity did not matter to him because embracing Doe presented his best opportunity to make money.

>>17427937

>>17427940

>>17427949

“Is That Emmanuel Shaw, Again?” Part 4

http://theperspective.org/2018/0524201801.php

May 24, 2018

Liberia is a country where official corruption goes unpunished. If it is punished, it is done selectively to settle political disagreements. Liberia, currently, is also a country recovering from more than a decade of destructive civil war. This makes it a country where reconstruction projects are needed. This means that private construction companies will be required to carry on any of the infrastructure development projects. This atmosphere presents countless opportunities for Shaw to excel criminally. As he did in Doe’s regime, his close proximity to President Weah will give birth to one or two or, even three, companies that will have the monopoly over construction projects. For Shaw, now more than 70 years old, this is the last hurrah and President Weah appears to be an enabling partner. If the president is not, why did he appoint Shaw, a man whose reputation is associated with corruption and stealing, as his confidant? If not, why did the president appoint Shaw, a man who took Liberia to court at a time the country was on the brink of destruction? If not, why did the president appoint Shaw, who is known to be notorious for shady financial deals, to be his trusted counselor? If not, why did the president appoint Shaw, whose reputation has descended into the swamp beyond redemption because of corruption, as his counselor? Why is it not Wilson Tarpeh at the Executive Mansion, whose professional resume is far better than Shaw’s and has defended candidate Weah in the past when allegations were made against him? The answers lie between Weah and Shaw while we wait for time to tell us.

>>17427852

>>17427855

“Dutch Arms Dealer Who Fueled Liberian Civil War Convicted” - https://youtu.be/80Hq3D_uldo

Andrew Feinstein, the author of The Shadow World, recounts the background of Guus Kouwenhoven's involvement in arms dealing for Liberia's civil war (April 26, 2017)

“Judge ridicules claim that Guus Kouwenhoven’s arrest was ‘undignified’, saying Dutch war criminal even showed cops around his five-storey home” – South Africa (Criminal’s paradise) Part 1

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-08-27-judge-ridicules-undignified-arrest-of-guus-kouwenhoven-saying-dutch-war-criminal-even-showed-cops-around-his-five-storey-home/

27 August 2021

Guus Kouwenhoven was dealt a legal blow in December when a Western Cape High Court ruling exposed the Dutch war criminal to possible extradition, but he has now taken his fight against several actions carried out against him in South Africa to an even higher court.

Heated discussions about action taken against Dutch war criminal Guus Kouwenhoven in South Africa developed during a Supreme Court of Appeal hearing on Friday.

Kouwenhoven, who was arrested in Cape Town in December 2017 because the Netherlands wants him extradited there, has approached the court to take on, among others, the Western Cape’s Director of Public Prosecutions and the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services.

His legal problems, which link to both the Netherlands and South Africa, stretch back to 2017.

On Friday, during the Supreme Court of Appeal hearing, among several intricate legal issues discussed was whether the Netherlands could have him extradited from South Africa for crimes not committed there, and his arrest in Cape Town on 8 December 2017.

Michael Bishop, who is on the legal team representing Kouwenhoven, explained: “We are not saying that war criminals should have impunity in South Africa.”

He elaborated on the legalities relating to extradition and interpretation of the act.

Darryl Cooke, who is also on Kouwenhoven’s legal team, focused on his arrest.

He said a provisional request for Kouwenhoven’s arrest was issued and he was subsequently detained during a “dawn raid” involving 12 police officers.

However, Judge Malcolm Wallis was scathing about this description, saying: “Unless the climate of Cape Town has undergone a drastic change, 7.30am is hardly a dawn raid in the middle of summer.”

He went further, telling Cooke that “this is just ridiculous”.

Wallis also referred to Kouwenhoven having shown officers around the five storeys of his home – it was previously reported that an investigator involved in the case said in an affidavit: “He gave a guided tour of his five-storey house when the elevator didn’t work.”

Kouwenhoven had stayed in the upmarket suburb of Bantry Bay.

During Friday’s proceedings Cooke argued that Kouwenhoven’s arrest had not been dignified.

Asked by Wallis what had been undignified about it, Cooke said neighbours had congregated on the street outside (presumably of Kouwenhoven’s luxury home), Kouwenhoven had been transported to a police station in a police van and his electronic devices had been seized.

Cooke said it could have instead been arranged that Kouwenhoven go to a police station or a magistrates’ court on his own steam where the arrest could have been carried out.

>>17427992

“Judge ridicules claim that Guus Kouwenhoven’s arrest was ‘undignified’, saying Dutch war criminal even showed cops around his five-storey home” – South Africa (Criminal’s paradise) Part 2

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-08-27-judge-ridicules-undignified-arrest-of-guus-kouwenhoven-saying-dutch-war-criminal-even-showed-cops-around-his-five-storey-home/

27 August 2021

Again, Wallis was critical, saying that “giving the police a tour of your home is not undignified”.

Cooke also focused on the granting of Kouwenhoven’s arrest warrant, saying the magistrate who did so should have “forthwith” supplied particulars relating to this to the Minister of Justice for consideration.

“There was complete non-compliance,” Cooke said.

His point was that even though an arrest warrant may have been lawfully issued for Kouwenhoven, the magistrate’s failure to forthwith provide provisions to the minister meant it became unlawful.

Details about Kouwenhoven’s past legal issues in this country are contained in a December 2020 Western Cape High Court judgment relating to him.

It said that in April 2017 a Dutch court convicted him “of the illegal supply of weapons to the regime of Charles Taylor in Liberia and Guinea and of participating in war crimes in those countries”.

“The crimes of which he was convicted were not committed within the territory of the Netherlands. They were, though, crimes in respect of which the Netherlands under its law exercised extraterritorial jurisdiction,” the judgment said.

“Mr Kouwenhoven continues to maintain his innocence and complains that the proceedings pursuant to which he was convicted were unfair.”

Kouwenhoven was in Cape Town by the time he was sentenced to 19 years in jail in the Netherlands.

He was arrested in the city in December 2017 because the Netherlands wanted him extradited there.

In February 2020, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court found in Kouwenhoven’s favour, ruling that he could not be extradited because South Africa’s Extradition Act only allowed for someone to be extradited if the alleged offences were committed within the state wanting the extradition approved.

This basically meant that the Netherlands could not have him extradited because crimes he was previously convicted of had occurred in Liberia.

In November, Home Affairs withdrew Kouwenhoven’s visa and declared him an undesirable person in South Africa. This was after the Southern African Litigation Centre approached the Western Cape High Court in 2019 to challenge the granting of his visa.

Then, in December 2020, things swung further against Kouwenhoven, with the Western Cape High Court setting aside the magistrate’s court decision that he should not be sent to the Netherlands.

This led to issues surrounding Kouwenhoven being heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The hearing was continuing on Friday afternoon.

>>17427852

>>17427871

>>17427937

“CDCians, Beware of Emmanuel Shaw: A Hint to the Wise is Quite Sufficient”

https://frontpageafricaonline.com/opinion/cdcians-beware-of-emmanuel-shaw-a-hint-to-the-wise-is-quite-sufficient/

June 6, 2018

Today, the Emmanuel Shaw who was an unacceptable political commodity in the eyes of the CDC and many Liberians, including this writer, is now the Senior Economic Adviser to President George Manneh Weah. Unlike this writer and some other conscious Liberians, CDCians are ceaselessly hailing Emmanuel Shaw. Probably to them, he has passed through a political refinery or a Pauline Conversion. For us, it would take something superstitious to make us share such thought with overzealous CDCians who run with the belief that President Weah doesn’t do wrong!

It is not even six months, we have started seen the poisonous handiwork of Emmanuel Shaw. The US536.4 million dollars loan agreement with the struck off (closed down) Singaporean Eton Finance Limited is indeed a signature trademark of the man Shaw. It is being reported by individuals in the inner cycle of the Weah regime that Shaw headed the Liberian delegates as the deal was negotiated with Eton in Hong Kong. The deal could not be negotiated in Singapore because Eton Finance Limited, a company with no website, no history of loaning a dime to any country, was struck off in 2017 and will require after six years to be reactivated in Singapore through a Singaporean court order. It was just recently in March that the company was established in Hong Kong presumably for the sole purpose of the US 536.4million loan agreement with the Liberian government.

As if the controversial 536.4million loan is not enough, Shaw is on record for arranging a US$ 420.8million pre-financing road contract between the government of Liberia and Group EBOMAF- a company owned by Mr. Mohamadou Bonkounguo, the Burkinabe business man who gifted our President with a private jet to facilitate his foreign travels. Thanks to Emmanuel Shaw who introduced President Weah to Mr. Bonkounguo in Mali during the 2017 electoral campaign. So in exchange for the private jet and campaign finances, Mr. Bonkounguo will be given a sovereign guarantee backed by state’s assets to go anywhere in the world and use the sovereign guarantee as a collateral for a US$ 420.8million. Afterward when the money is being found, EBOMAF will then construct over 260 kilometers of road in Liberia.

CDCians, blinded by the government of Liberia’s propaganda of road construction are all over the place condemning citizens who rightfully oppose the bogus agreements that are being orchestrated by Emmanuel Shaw. Some CDCIANS are even saying they don’t care where the money is coming from, once it is geared towards road construction, President Weah should take more loans even from Lucifer. No Liberian, knowing full well the challenges the citizens go through as the result of bad road network, would be against the government taking loans to construct roads. What we frown on is not only the history of the chief architect of the present loan agreements but also the terms and conditions of these agreements.

There are reputable multilateral and bilateral institutions that the government can engage to get loans for the implementation of its infrastructural program. China is one of those bilateral partners that is willing to loan Liberia any amount for road projects. The Chinese Ambassador to Liberia recently asserted that the Chinese are willing to give loans to our country were the government to carve plans outlining the productive use of the money that would ensure repayment. For Emmanuel Shaw and his likes who surround President Weah, going to China is a taboo. Because the loan will be given in a way that officials of government like Emmanuel Shaw will not have the opportunity to get 10-25percent share of the funds. Therefore, going to bogus companies that would assure such is the last scene in the tragic drama.

Liberia is not the personal property of the CDC. This country belongs to all and sundry. Each and every Liberian has a stake in thisrepublic. If it gets plunged into the abyss, we all will bear the full weight of the consequences thereof. And like he did to Tolbert, Doe and Taylor, Emmanuel Shaw, with millions in his oversea accounts, will dump President Weah and the poor mass of the Liberian people and wait abroad for another opportunity to prey on the republic. CDCians, Liberians, beware of Emmanuel Shaw! A hint to the wise is quite sufficient!

“Golden Arrow buses suspended in Nyanga and Philippi” “after four of its buses were petrol bombed”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/golden-arrow-bus-nyanga-philippi-latest-26-august-2022/

26 August 2022

Golden Arrow Bus Service will not be operating in Nyanga and Philippi after four buses were petrol bombed on Thursday 25 August.

Three buses were petrol bombed in Nyanga and one in Philippi and six passengers were reportedly injured in Philippi and the driver suffered a serious head injury.

GOLDEN ARROW BUSES SUSPENDED IN NYANGA/PHILIPPI

Golden Arrow Bus Service spokesperson Bronwen Dyke-Beyer said they are not able to operate in the area and will be starting and terminating all Nyanga services from Borcherds Quarry.

“We condemn these senseless acts of violence and call on the authorities to fulfil their mandate of keeping our employees and passengers safe and ensuring that the perpetrators face the full might of the law,” she said.

CITY OF CAPE TOWN WEIGHS IN ON ATTACKS

City of Cape Town MayCo Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith condemned the attack on Golden Arrow buses.

Smith said officers impounded 21 vehicles in terms of the National Land Transport Act – 19 ‘amaphela’ taxis and two minibus taxis, for operating without a valid permit or operating in contravention of the conditions set out in their permit.

Smith said the violence that followed is no coincidence and this appears to be the modus operandi every time that enforcement services move into this area in particular, to do their jobs.

“The last such incident was recorded in March this year, and just over a year ago, we witnessed similar violence in the Nyanga area. This level of lawlessness is unacceptable and we will not be deterred.

‘It cannot be the case that a small group of instigators want to hold us hostage and escape accountability for their actions each and every time. Enforcement occurs throughout the city, and the law has to be applied equally to all.”

Alderman JP Smith

“‘Possible link to murder of Babita Deokaran’: Gauteng Health CFO and Tembisa Hospital CEO suspended”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-gauteng-officials-suspended-lerato-madyo-ashley-mthunzi-tembisa-hospital-babita-deokaran-siu-corruption-26-august-2022/

26 August 2022

The Gauteng officials were suspended to ensure their presence does not interfere with the investigation into allegations of improper procurement and payment of service providers at Tembisa Hospital.

The Gauteng Provincial Government temporarily suspended Lerato Madyo, the provincial health department’s chief financial officer (CFO), and Ashley Mthunzi, Tembisa Hospital’s head, with immediate effect on Friday, 26 August.

TOP GAUTENG HEALTH OFFICIALS SUSPENDED

The Gauteng government said the two officials were suspended to ensure their presence in the office does not hamper an investigation into allegations of improper procurement and payment of service providers at Tembisa Hospital.

“Given the seriousness of the allegations and the possible link to the murder case of Babita Deokaran – former chief director of finance, exemplary public servant and courageous whistleblower who was brutally killed a year ago – the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been appointed to investigate these allegations with urgency,” read the statement.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura welcomed the precautionary suspensions and confirmed the allegations have been referred to the SIU for an urgent forensic investigation.

According to a News24 investigation, which was published around the anniversary date of Deokaran’s murder, the late whistleblower discovered a surge in spending at Tembisa Hospital and called for a stop to the payments and an urgent investigation, which never materialised.

According to News24, Deokaran told Madyo she believed her life was in danger just days before her murder, however, the CFO allegedly did nothing about the concerns raised.

ANOTHER OFFICIAL THREATENED

Five suspects – alleged hitmen – were arrested for Deokaran’s murder and they are currently in the process of applying for bail, which the State is opposing.

“We want all those responsible for plotting and carrying out the killing of Babita Deokaran to be brought to book. We want the corrupt in government and their cahoots in the private sector to face the consequences of their evil deeds,” said the Gauteng Premier.

Makhura went further and said another official, Department of Health Head of Department, Dr Nomonde Nolutshungu, recently received threats from anonymous sources via email.

Nolutshungu opened a criminal case with the police. Makhura said he told the provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela, to address the threats and find those responsible.

Earlier this year, another government official received a threat related to the Deokaran case. A bullet with a letter was inserted in Phindile Baleni’s letterbox – she is the Director-General of the Presidency.

The letter warned her to advise “the justice” to release the suspects in the Deokaran case and advise the President to put a halt to State Capture investigations.

“The State has a duty to protect whistle blowers and upright public servants. We will never surrender to the crooks and corrupt elements and will do everything in our power to fight corruption and state capture with every iota of our being,” said Makhura.

“Afriforum loses Dubula iBhunu case to EFF & Nyanga a warzone after illegal taxi’s impounded | VN |23”

https://youtu.be/hryuccXrypU

“SA’s faux meat saga: a reprieve after High Court interdict” – “successful in halting product seizures”

https://www.foodstuffsa.co.za/sas-faux-meat-saga-a-reprieve-after-high-court-interdict/

20 August 2022

The plant-based food sector is celebrating a temporary win after urgent legal efforts on behalf of the industry at the Johannesburg High Court proved successful in halting product seizures.

Familiar plant-based foods like vegan biltong and vegetarian sausages had been due to disappear from shelves from Monday 22 August – if not voluntarily, then through seizure by agents of South Africa’s Food Safety Agency.

But on Friday 20 August, “mince” that contains no part of any animal and “patties” with no meat received a reprieve, as manufacturers and retailers fought back.

Last week government said it would push ahead with its controversial war [https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/make-peas-not-war-veggie-product-makers-cry-foul-as-govt-cracks-down-on-fake-meat-20220630] on plant-based foods that use product names associated with processed meats. The order, issued by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) was due to see “vegan biltong”, “plant-based meatballs”, and “chorizo and red pepper vegetarian sausages”, among others, removed from shelves.

The DALRRD, in late June, reaffirmed that “meat analogues must not use the product names prescribed and reserved for processed meat products”, adding that these plant-based products were in violation of regulations promulgated in 2019.

The dept also warned producers that the Food Safety Agency was empowered to seize any and all plant-based products with meaty names from shelves. The only way to avoid a government-led seizure of goods would be for products to be relabelled or recalled by the producers or retailers themselves.

The Food Safety Agency, in a notice issued last Tuesday, confirmed that it would “seize any meat analogue products presented for sale in the Republic of South Africa which are using the product names prescribed for processed meat products in terms of section 8 of the Agricultural Product Standards Act 119 of 1990 (the Act) at all points of sale, i.e., facilities, premises (retail and wholesale), conveyances, etc.”

These products will be seized, said the Agency, from Monday 22 August.

But on Friday, the Consumer Goods Council of SA (CGCSA) obtained a temporary interdict in the JHB High Court against seizures, BusinessLive first reported [https://www.businessinsider.co.za/But%20on%20Friday,%20the%20Consumer%20Goods%20Council%20of%20SA%20(CGCSA)%20obtained%20a%20temporary%20interdict%20against%20seizures,%20BusinessLive%20first%20reported.].

The council represents thousands of businesses, and its services include advice on how to comply with product labelling requirements.

The interdict halts the forceable removal of products from shelves at least until a court can decide on the merits of arguments from producers and retailers that the government’s stance is illogical, and harmful to consumers.

The action on behalf of the plant-based food industry is supported by local food awareness organisation ProVeg South Africa, the local branch of ProVeg International, and several of its stakeholders in the plant-based food sector. ProVeg has also been in discussion with their legal support at Lawtons Attorneys, who have also offered assistance to the movement.

“Although we welcome the decision by the court, we would like to reiterate our call for further dialogue as we still believe that this matter should be settled through discussion between the plant-based food industry, DALLRD and the meat industry.” Donovan Will, ProVeg South Africa Country Director, said.

Source: BusinessInsider SA, ProVeg SA

>>17381757

>The key strategist for the Zimbabwean branch of the elite network is the Speaker of the Parliament and former National Security Minister, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa [Now Zimbabwean President since 2017]. Mr. Mnangagwa has won strong support from senior military and intelligence officers for an aggressive policy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“Immigration Debate | Zimbabwe activists say SA was warned years ago”

https://youtu.be/smTO64eWwCg

September 4, 2022

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition says it warned South Africa years ago of the looming migrant crisis. It says it comes as no surprise now that the health system is being overburdened. eNCA's Pindai Dube has more details. Courtesy #DStv403

0:49 – “We warned the South African authorities a long time ago about their quiet diplomacy and the way they were babysitting Zanu-pf under the umbrella of former liberation movements. Citizens have been complaining bitterly. We’ve seen atrocities being perpetrated against Zimbabweans by Zanu-pf government and the South African government has always been defending them.”

He seems very nervous.

“WATCH | Parliament might not be able to prevent state capture in future because of MPs' behaviour” - Chief Justice Raymond Zondo

https://youtu.be/02_7sZhE0t0

Parliament is "concerned" about Chief Justice Raymond Zondo's remarks that Parliament might not be able to prevent state capture in the future because of ANC MPs' behaviour. Zondo expressed his doubts at News24's On the Record Summit last week. Parliament's presiding officers said they would engage with Zondo at an "appropriate time".

>>17446271

>Notice, the people do not live in their own prisons like the rest of South Africa.

“South Africa: Increase in crime rates; housebreaking, robbery, murder on the rise | Latest | WION”

https://youtu.be/NGv9-Uam-oM

September 12, 2022

Households in South Africa are witnessing an exponential increase in crime rates. Incidents of housebreaking, home robbery, assault and murder have been on the rise. Housebreaking has been listed as the most common one. Over two million households across South Africa have experienced house breaking or burglary.

#SouthAfrica #crimes #housebreaking

>>17521598

>>17521603

“Mines forced to shut down due to intimidation by criminal syndicates” - zama zamas

https://youtu.be/tmD7dgYTjIY

Sep 13, 2022

Some mines have been forced to shut down operations due to intimidation and attacks by alleged criminal syndicates. This was uncovered by a Sunday Times investigation, where mines such as Sibanye Stillwater revealed that they had to close down some of their goldmines following assaults on their staff, some of which resulted in deaths.

The investigation also uncovered the shocking amount of children trafficked into illegal mining syndicates.

One of the journalists who worked on this story, Aron Hyman elaborates.

Tune into Newzroom Afrika, DSTV channel 405, for more details.

>>17521598

>>17521603

>>17523615

>One of the journalists who worked on this story, Aron Hyman elaborates.

“Aron Hyman’s Tweets with images and videos concerning the zama zamas” 1 of 5

https://twitter.com/aron_hyman/status/1567891150870020096

>>17523637

“Aron Hyman’s Tweets with images and videos concerning the zama zamas” 2 of 5

https://twitter.com/aron_hyman/status/1567891150870020096

>>17523637

>>17523642

“Aron Hyman’s Tweets with images and videos concerning the zama zamas” 3 of 5

https://twitter.com/aron_hyman/status/1567891150870020096

>>17523637

>>17523642

>>17523648

“Aron Hyman’s Tweets with images and videos concerning the zama zamas” 4 of 5

https://twitter.com/aron_hyman/status/1567891150870020096

>>17523637

>>17523642

>>17523648

>>17523661

“Aron Hyman’s Tweets with images and videos concerning the zama zamas” 5 of 5

https://twitter.com/aron_hyman/status/1567891150870020096

“Immigrants in Plettenberg bay extorted for ‘protection money’”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/immigrants-in-plettenberg-bay-extorted-for-protection-money-breaking-south-africa-19-september-2022/

19-09-2022 15:38

There was a weekend of calm in Plettenberg Bay after week filled with violence, but “a solution will not be reached soon”.

• Early last week, immigrants in Plettenberg Bay were attacked and driven out of their homes.

• After calm was restored the South African Human Rights Commission held a community meeting.

• Immigrants say the drive to remove them is a smokescreen for a turf battle over drugs and an attempt to launch a lucrative protection racket.

“I wish this peaceful weekend we experienced can last forever in Kwanokuthula. Even some of the shops that were closed … were opened for business,”

says Ishmael Tanje, an immigrant in the Plettenberg Bay township.

This comes after dozens of immigrants were forced to leave their homes last week by South Africans conducting house-to-house searches for foreign nationals. Immigrant-owned shops were shut down, and two homes of immigrants were torched.

After the violence, landlords of immigrants and community leaders who wish to drive immigrants out of the community met with the South African Human Rights Commission representatives on 15 September for five hours.

Mayor Dave Swart, ward councillors and Bitou municipality officials also attended the meeting, as did members of Kwanokuthula Crime Prevention.

WHAT ARE IMMIGRANTS IN SOUTH AFRICA TO DO?

Alfread Sishuba, representing the landlords, said the leaders of the drive to chase out immigrants were engaged in a turf battle to get control of the drug trade. He also alleged that a person in law enforcement was involved. He said that saying immigrants take away jobs was only a smoke screen.

Weeks before the violence, threats had been building. A shop owner, originally from Ethiopia, said he received a letter three weeks ago from a South African woman directing him to close his shops. He and others then received another letter demanding R1 200 a month for protection.

The first letter said immigrants who failed to vacate and close their businesses “will be forcefully removed and your shop will be vandalised”.

The second letter said that starting from the month end of August 2022, every shop owner in Kwanokuthula will be required to pay a protection fee. It stated that the business will be protected in return.

“If your shop is robbed by anyone whilst you are under our protection all you do is call us and tell us what you want done to the person who robbed you. If you want us to bring his head or hand that can be done,”

it said.

The letter goes on to say if this “peaceful offer” is declined one will not be protected.

With nearly 70 immigrant shops in the township area, Tanje says whoever was running the protection racket planned to rake in over R80 000 a month.

He said he and other spaza shop owners had informed the police about the threatening letters.

Tanje said that if the concern was “illegal immigrants” then this should be reported to Home Affairs and people should not be hounded like animals.

“Kwanokuthula needs to form a structure where immigrants can teach skills to South Africans, instead of chasing them away, so that we can leave a legacy in South Africa,”

said Tanje.

Tanya Salitz, research advisor for SAHRC commissioner Chris Nissen, said at last week’s meeting, “A solution will not be reached soon.”

“We need to get the community buy-in on the plan formed, because it is the community that is involved and the community that is affected.”

Mayor Swart said,

“Joburg water supply ‘under threat’ – due to Stage 6 load shedding”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-joburg-water-supply-stage-6-load-shedding-monday-19-september/

19-09-2022 10:03

Having no power is bad enough – but some parts of Joburg may soon be cut-off from their water supply, as a result of Stage 6 power cuts.

Perhaps the biggest problem with Eskom’s continued failures is that they are never self-contained. Stage 6 blackouts, sadly, create collateral damage further down the line. The latest victim appears to be Joburg and its water supply, which is now feeling the strain.

HOW STAGE 6 LOAD SHEDDING THREATENS THE WATER SUPPLY

Water and electricity indeed do not mix. So, what’s the connection?

The pump stations in Joburg, which run on electricity, supply water in specially-built infrastructure towers. These are ‘isolated’ during times of load shedding, however – and the longer the lights stay off, the worse the situation gets.

With the pump stations limited in their supply, it leads to a chronic shortage of water. For some, taps will run completely dry. Others will be affected by low water pressure. Make no mistake, suffering at the hands of Stage 6 outages goes way beyond an issue of electricity.

When Stage 6 will come to an end is anyone’s guess. Eskom have forecast a ‘high level of load shedding’ for the rest of the week. A series of tripped units are wreaking havoc across the grid, with some fearing that the much-fabled STAGE 8 could be deployed at some point.

JOBURG FEELS THE STRAIN AS ESKOM FLAILS

As South Africans make plans to live in the dark, some of those based in Gauteng could have their misery compounded. In a statement published on Sunday, Johannesburg Water explained that it will do ‘whatever it can’ to restore supplies, as and when needed.

“Stage 6 load shedding impacts Johannesburg Water Infrastructure Towers, in various parts of the City of Johannesburg are affected by load shedding. The pump stations which supply water into the towers, are isolated during the electricity outage.”

“It eventually results in no water supply into the towers during the duration of load shedding. Customers in the various tower zones are affected by no water or poor pressure. We are monitoring affected infrastructure, ensuring that supply is restored as soon as possible.” | Johannesburg Water

“WATCH: Twist at Queen Is Dead party as SPCA, SAPS seize sheep which was to be slaughtered”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/watch-twist-at-queen-is-dead-party-as-spca-saps-seize-sheep-which-was-to-be-slaughtered-9c669132-36d9-4555-8ced-596ea5ce305e

September 19, 2022

Joburg - The Black People’s National Crisis Committee “Queen is Dead”-themed party in Khayelitsha which was aimed at celebrating the death of Queen Elizabeth II took an unexpected turn after a sheep which was to be slaughtered to mark the occasion was seized by the SPCA and SAPS on Monday afternoon.

The committee had advertised the event with much enthusiasm and boldly said it would not be celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s death as she was a coloniser.

Millions around the world watched the funeral of the British Monarch and mourned her death, while her death was celebrated in some pockets around the world, including by the organisation BPNCC in Khayelitsha.

The organisation was not the only to revel in the Queen’s death, as abroad, some have chanted slogans such as “Lizzy’s in a box” during football matches.

A rather disappointed member of the committee, Mbulelo Dwane, described the confiscation of the sheep as a “crisis”.

He said the sheep was seized when they failed to produce proof of purchase when they were stopped by officers on their way to the Queen Is Dead Party.

“We have a crisis, this afternoon after buying the sheep, on our way here the sheep was apprehended by law-enforcement together with the SPCA because we had no proof of payment.”

This happened as celebrations were well under way and people had arrived at the venue in Khayelitsha for the feast and festivities.

“We are trying to deal with the matter but SPCA refuses to release the sheep though there is proof of payment, there is a receipt.”

“We are not shocked because they have done this to us before,” he said.

The group which describes Queen Elizabeth as a coloniser said there was nothing to mourn after her death and proclaimed it would be holding celebrations for its freedom and escaping colonisation.

They had planned to slaughter a sheep, eat meat and celebrate on Monday – the day of the queen’s funeral.

“There are unbranded police vehicles here so you can tell that they were ready for us but we don’t know why they are minding us because there is too much crime in Khayelitsha for them to be minding us,” said Dwane.

The committee and its members and supporters are optimistic that regardless of this obstacle they will still celebrate and slaughter (a sheep) as they had planned.

>>17544953

This is a stark contrast to the below.

“From the archives: 3 000 packed the Cape Town City Hall in 1947 for Queen Elizabeth II’s 21st ball”

https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/from-the-archives-3-000-packed-the-cape-town-city-hall-in-1947-for-queen-elizabeth-iis-21st-ball-8aa2a375-d601-4bd5-a287-1f58b65bb545

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

Ahead of the State Funeral Service of Queen Elizabeth II, which is expected to be one of the biggest gatherings of royalty and politicians hosted in the UK for decades, the Cape Argus retrieved articles from its archives detailing the visit of the royal family back in 1947.

The article below was published on the front page of the Cape Argus, dated Cape Town, Tuesday, April 22, 1947.

3 000 AT CIVIC BALL

“Cape Town must be the envy of every town, village and hamlet in the British Empire,” said the mayor of Cape Town Mr. A Bloomberg. M.P., in welcoming Princess Elizabeth to the civic hall at the City hall last night.

Her Royal Highness arrived at the City Hall at about 10.15, attended by Lady Margaret Egerton and Mayor T.C. Harvey.

Over 3 000 guests thronged the bays, corridors, dance floor and the gallery. As 10 o’clock approached a rumour spread that Princess Elizabeth had arrived, and the packed dance floor became a seething mass as more and more people surged into the hall all eyes focusing on the Mayor’s bay.

The pent-up emotions of the well-behaved crowd were given vent a mighty as Princess Elizabeth, accompanied by the Mayor and Mayoress, stepped into the white-and-gold bay. Before taking her seat the Princess graciously acknowledged the cheers and greetings of the people.

“DEEPLY GRATEFUL”

After the Mayor had presented to Princess Elizabeth a golden key – “a token of Cape Town’s enduring loyalty and the freedom to the hearts which Her Royal Highness has already captured” – and the happy crowds had sung “Happy Birthday, Dear Princess” and “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow”, the Princess stepped to the microphone

“I am deeply grateful for this token of welcome from the City of Cape Town, and for a very happy birthday spent among you,” she said.

Major-Gen R.J Palmer, commissioner of Police, spent some anxious moments when his royal charge left the Mayor’s bay to join the dancers.

HEMMED IN

Although space on the floor was made for her to enter the dance hall, the crowd as soon as they realised that Her Royal Highness was to grace the dance hemmed her in from every side. So dense was the crowd that the Princess could not be seen. Realising that it was impossible for the Princess to continue the dance Major General Palmer arranged for her to return to the Mayor’s bay. She was partnered by LT-Comm M.G McLeod liaison officer for H.M.S. Vanguard.

On her way to the dance floor, Princess Elizabeth stopped to talk to Rear-Admiral W.G. Agnew captain of Vanguard. The Princess stayed at the civic ball for about an hour. Her poise, charm and gracious dignity enraptured the people. After waving to the crowds who had gathered on the Parade and in Darling-street she departed for Government House.

Royal Programme To-morrow

Princess Elizabeth who is Chief Ranger of the British Empire will attend a Girl Guides rally with Princess Margaret at noon to-morrow.

In the afternoon the Royal Family will attend a garden party given by the Administrator and Mrs. Carinus at Leeuwenhof. The King will take the salute at a parade of ex-servicemen and women on the Grand Parade at 5.45 p.m.

“On This Day: 21 April 1947 - Princess Elizabeth's Incredibly Powerful 21st Birthday Message” - https://youtu.be/6yDDqO4dH3c

“From the archive: The solemn vow Queen Elizabeth II made before her reign” – Cape Town, April 21, 1947 – Part 1

https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/from-the-archive-the-solemn-vow-queen-elizabeth-ii-made-before-her-reign-4e985b3b-0b52-4608-9e45-dd242ccad6de

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

Ahead of the State Funeral Service of Queen Elizabeth II, which is expected to be one of the biggest gatherings of royalty and politicians hosted in the UK for decades, the Cape Argus retrieved articles from its archives detailing the visit of the royal family back in 1947.

The article below was published on the front page of the Cape Argus, dated Cape Town, Tuesday, April 22, 1947.

Princess Elizabeth’s Solemn Vow

Life Dedicated to Service of the People

Princess Elizabeth’s 21st birthday broadcast message to the people of the British Commonwealth and Empire last night is destined to take its place among the great utterances in history.

With the world listening, Her Royal Highness, in simple moving words, dedicated her life to the service of the people and invited youth of the Commonwealth to support her in her vow.

“ON my 21st birthday I welcome the opportunity to speak to all the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire, wherever they live, whatever race they come from and whatever language they speak. Let me begin by saying ‘Thank you’ to all the thousands of kind people who have sent me messages of goodwill.

This is a happy day for me, but it is also one that brings serious thoughts – thoughts of life looming ahead with all its challenges and with all opportunity.

At such a time it is a great help to know that there are multitudes of friends all round the world who are thinking of me and who wish me well. I am grateful and I am deeply moved.

MADE TO FEEL AT HOME

As I speak to you today from Cape Town I am 6 000 miles from the country where I was born. But I am certainly not 6 000 miles from home. Everywhere I have travelled in these lovely lands of South Africa and Rhodesia my parents, my sister and I have been taken to the heart of their people and made to feel that we are just as much at home here as if we had lived among them all our lives.

That is the great privilege belonging to our place in the worldwide Commonwealth that there are homes ready to welcome us in every continent of the earth. Before I am much older I hope I shall come to know many of them.

REPRESENTATIVE OF YOUTH

ALTHOUGH there is none of my father’s subjects from the oldest to the youngest whom I do not wish to greet I am thinking especially today of all the young men and women who were born about the same time as myself and have grown up like me in the terrible and glorious years of the Second World War.

Will you, the youth of the British family of nations let me speak on my birthday as your representative? Now that we are coming to manhood and womanhood it is surely a great joy to us all to think we shall be able to take some of the burden off the shoulders of our elders who have fought and worked and suffered to protect our childhood.

WE must not be daunted by the anxieties and hardships that the war has left behind for every nation of our Commonwealth. We know that these things are the price we cheerfully undertook to pay for the high honour of standing alone seven years ago in defence of the liberty of the world.

Let us say with Rupert Brooke, ‘Now God be thanked who has matched us with this hour.’

I am sure that you will see our difficulties in the light that I see them as the great opportunity for you and me.

MOST of you have read in the history books the proud saying of William Pitt that England had saved herself by her exertions and would save Europe by her example.

But in our time we may say that the British Empire has saved the world first and has now to save itself after the battle is won.

I think that is an even finer thing than was done in the days of Pitt and it is for us who have grown up in these years of danger and glory to see that it is accomplished in the long years of peace that we all hope stretch ahead.

>>17545099

“From the archive: The solemn vow Queen Elizabeth II made before her reign” – Cape Town, April 21, 1947 – Part 2

https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/from-the-archive-the-solemn-vow-queen-elizabeth-ii-made-before-her-reign-4e985b3b-0b52-4608-9e45-dd242ccad6de

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

“I Serve”

IF we all go forward together with an unwavering faith, a high courage and quiet heart we shall be able to make of this ancient Commonwealth, which we all love so dearly, an even grander thing – more free, more prosperous, more happy and a more powerful influence for good in the world than it has been in the greatest days of our forefathers.

To accomplish that we must give nothing less than the whole of ourselves. There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors – a noble motto – ‘I serve.’

Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood.

Dedication

I CANNOT do quite as they did. But through the inventions of science, I can do what was not possible for any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening, I should like to make that dedications now. It is very simple.

I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great Imperial family to which we all belong.

But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me as I now invite you to do: I know that your support will be unfailingly given.

God help me to make good my vow; and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.“

ICYMI – Have you seen the KIDNAPPED Anichka Penev [Ukrainian National]?

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/icymi-have-you-seen-kidnapped-anichka-penev-breaking-news-2-october-2022/

02-10-2022 05:57

Have you seen Anichka Penev? She was kidnapped outside Nioro Plastics in Blackheath/Kuils River on Thursday. Watch the video HERE.

Police are still looking for Anichka Penev (35), who was kidnapped outside Nioro Plastics in Blackheath/Kuils River on Thursday.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE 35-YEAR-OLD ANICHKA PENEV?

CCTV footage shared on social media shows Penev – a Ukrainian national – being forced out of a yellow Audi R8 after being boxed in between two getaway vehicles. Her husband, Simeon Penev, is the owner of Nioro Plastics.

According to police spokesperson Captain Frederick Van Wyk, the case is under investigation by the Provincial Organised Crime Kidnapping team.

It is believed cases of kidnapping and attempted murder are being investigated after two shots were fired at the scene. According to reports on social media a ransom is being demanded but police could not yet confirm this.

The alleged kidnapping took place at approximately 10:05 in Ipswich Road, near Saxdown Road and the Stellenbosch Arterial, in Blue Downs.

SHE WAS KIDNAPPED IN BROAD DAYLIGHT ON THURSDAY

“A 35-year-old woman was kidnapped. At the time of the incident, she was alone in the car,” said van Wyk.

Members of the public with information about the incident are encouraged to contact crime Stop at 08600-10111 or Rohan Burger on 078 889 7269, as per Honouring All Angels.

Meanwhile, a family friend of the woman kidnapped in Cape Town on Thursday told News24 she suffers from ill health and that her husband is “terribly worried” about her wellbeing.

IN CCTV FOOTAGE HER YELLOW AUDI R8 IS BOXED IN

In the video, a white vehicle drives toward Anichka in her yellow Audi R8 on the wrong side of the road, which stops her completely.

A white hatchback is seen boxing her in from behind before two people approach the driver’s side.

Anichka jumps out of the passenger side and tries to run, but another man catches her.

She is seen trying to fight them off, but they force her into the vehicle behind her car.

Earlier this month, the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, revealed there have been 32 kidnapping cases investigated in the Western Cape between 1 March and September 2022.

On the same day, Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, described the crime as a crisis in the city and called for action from Cele.

Cele said 32 cases are under investigation, and 15 suspects have been arrested.

“It remains encouraging that the SAPS in the province continue to make inroads regarding kidnapping cases,” said the Minister.

Do you still want to visit South Africa? – murdered Brit couple “thrown to crocodiles” and “Hijacking horror: German tourist MURDERED”

“Brit couple brutally murdered, bodies thrown to crocodiles in SA”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/brit-couple-brutally-murdered-bodies-thrown-crocodiles-sa-crime-breaking-news-4-october-2022/

04-10-2022 12:15

The couple was beaten to death and thrown into a crocodile-infested river. Their badly decomposed bodies had been eaten when they were pulled out.

These brutal murders shook the world in 2018, and the gruesome details are only now being disclosed as the trial started in the Durban High Court.

“Hijacking horror: German tourist MURDERED in Mpumalanga”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-german-tourist-killed-hijacking-mpumalanga-tuesday-4-october/

04-10-2022 09:23

A German tourist was fatally wounded while holidaying in Mpumalanga on Monday, after a hijacking attempt went wrong…

A German tourist has been shot dead in White River, Mpumalanga overnight. The travelling party of four was making its way to Numbi Gate [Kruger National Park], before they were targeted by a group of hijacking suspects. Sadly, the altercation would prove to be a fatal one.

>>17708320

“How concerned should SA be following possible terrorist attack” - https://youtu.be/iHBzy3Tgyf0

“‘Stay away from Sandton’: UK follows US to issue terror warning”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-sandton-terror-uk-issues-warning-johannesburg-embassy-thursday-27-october/

27-10-2022 10:03

Although the SA Government remains unconvinced, another foreign country has issued a terror warning for Greater Sandton this weekend.

Despite the doubts of the South African Government, international intelligence agencies are taking the terror threat in Sandton very seriously. The UK has become the latest nation to warn its citizens about a possible attack in this part of Johannesburg.

UK ISSUES SAFETY ADVICE IN WAKE OF SANDTON TERROR ALERT

On Wednesday, the US Embassy took the unusual step of issuing an alert for a specific region of South Africa. The Greater Sandton area, it is reported, could be the target of a high-profile terrorist attack over the weekend of 29-30 October. https://za.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-possible-attack/

The American delegation has warned its citizens to avoid large crowds and gatherings in Sandton, on both Saturday and Sunday. The Johannesburg Pride event was due to take place over the weekend, but there are doubts that this will now go ahead as planned.

WHAT HAS THE US EMBASSY SAID ABOUT A POSSIBLE TERROR ATTACK?

The US Embassy says its intel is credible. A terror attack on South Africa is not beyond the realms of possibility, either. In 2020, ISIS vowed to take revenge, after SANDF sent troops to battle Islamic insurgents in Mozambique. The infamous group are thought to be the source of this new threat.

Last night, the SA Government and The Presidency both noted the terrorism alert, but also played down its significance. According to South African intelligence, they are yet to see any evidence of plot to wreak destruction across Sandton. Previous warnings have passed without incident.

UK ISSUES ‘STAY AWAY’ WARNING FOR SANDTON

However, the UK is firmly behind its long-term ally. In a statement shared by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Thursday, Britain urged its citizens to ‘stay away from crowds in Sandton’ over the upcoming weekend. Officials here are refusing to take ANY chances.

“The US Government has issued a security alert on 26 October. There is no further information regarding the timing, method, or target of the potential attack. The US Embassy advised staff to avoid crowds and other large public gatherings in the greater Sandton area of Johannesburg.”

“You should stay away from crowds of people and other large public gatherings in the greater Sandton area of Johannesburg during the weekend of 29-30 October 2022… British citizens must remain vigilant” | UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Posting with the TOTP being emailed to an email address is touch and go. I had plenty of time to dig and not sure how much of it I can post with this new requirement… Well here it goes!

>>17696921 - I found more information which can tie into the below series of posts;

>>17694298, >>17694300, >>17694317, >>17694319, >>17694321, >>17694325, >>17694328, >>17694331, >>17694335, >>17694338, >>17694345, >>17694348, >>17694353, >>17694360, >>17694364, >>17694366, >>17694370, >>17694374, >>17694376, >>17694378, >>17694382

Unleashing Communism/Socialism into the World; Case Study of South Africa [Q Research General #21647: Lies, Damned Lies, and the Jan.]

>>17694298

>This rabbit trail started with the first article I will post below. Take note; the former South African President, Jacob Zuma was an intelligence operative in the ANC when they were still regarded as terrorists. “'Zuma's self-survival rooted in being ex-ANC intelligence operative'”, https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/zumas-self-survival-rooted-in-being-ex-anc-intelligence-operative-11636924

>>17696921

>This rabbit trail started with the first article I will post below. Take note; the former South African President, Jacob Zuma was an intelligence operative in the ANC when they were still regarded as terrorists. “'Zuma's self-survival rooted in being ex-ANC intelligence operative'”, https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/zumas-self-survival-rooted-in-being-ex-anc-intelligence-operative-11636924

“FULL SPEECH: Former president Jacob Zuma's address” – “Gloves are off” [Worth Watching] – Part 1

https://youtu.be/fW2Wh6TgatQ

Below are excerpts

Former president Jacob Zuma spoke on various issues including the allegations against President Cyril Ramaphosa, his relationship with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and the commission of inquiry into state capture.

2:59 – “Therefore while I am relieved about the ending of my prison sentence, I still remain exposed to the injustice visited upon me by the justice system of this country. When we fought to liberate this country from the unjust laws of Apartheid, we did not know those who supported and defended Apartheid would infiltrate the justice system to continue the agenda of their colonial ancestors against the leaders of the people. People have, in recent years, been blinded by the fact that we now have democracy and democratically elected black governments from seeing that are elected governments are still expected to serve the commercial interests of colonial powers ahead of those of the people who elect them.”

7:26 – “My imprisonment came as part of a long campaign aimed at removing me as president and punishing me for having not been a darling of the commercial interests that seek to profit at the expense of our poor people.”

9:00 – “I know, I’m correct in my resolve to fight such injustices and the abuse of power. If I should be imprisoned for these beliefs, so be it.”

11:02 – “I must say, it remains a shock that a democratic state arrest and imprison his own system without a trial. [Referring to himself]… This action made me to remember the old Apartheid days where people were arrested and kept in prison without a trial.”

13:21 – “The irony is that during my 90 day detention [in 1963], I was arrested for fighting for my rights. In the democratic South Africa, I was imprisoned without a trial for defending my rights which is enshrined in the Constitution. What a coincidence.”

18:30 – “The State Capture Commission was never about uncovering the truth about the commercial interests that have been influencing government policies and decisions ever since the establishment of our democracy in 1994. It had no interests on how some former leaders and their families, spouses have amassed billions in wealth from being give shares for free in big companies. It was not interested in understanding why and how so many leaders of the liberation movement became super wealthy overnight through the few wealthy families who control the economy of this country.”

20:05 - “Instead, the Commission was only interested in pursuing targeted individuals that had been pronounced guilty of State Capture by the media. Certain leaders were declared saints in the media and the State Capture Commission was not interested in anything that implicated them.”

*22:58 – “We see more and more of how our constitution is being manipulated to advance colonial interests at the expense of the ambitions of the democracy and the need for an equal society.”

==Plenty of posts in "QR Bunker South Africa #1: Old Friends in New Lands Edition" at

https://endchancxfbnrfgauuxlztwlckytq7rgeo5v6pc2zd4nyqo3khfam4ad.onion.autos/qrbunker/res/73076.html==