“Mining giant Glencore faces human rights complaint over toxic spill in Chad”

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jan/28/mining-giant-glencore-faces-human-rights-complaint-over-toxic-spill-in-chad

28 January 2021

Dozens of villagers, including children, claim they suffered severe burns and sickness after contact with contaminated water

The UK government has accepted a human rights complaint against mining and commodities giant Glencore regarding a toxic wastewater spill in Chad, where dozens of villagers – among them children – claim they suffered severe burns, skin lesions and sickness after contact with contaminated water.

The complaint, brought by three human rights groups on behalf of affected communities, alleges environmental abuses and social engagement failures by the FTSE-100 company in relation to two spillages, the wastewater spill and an alleged oil spill, both in 2018.

Officials at the Department for International Trade, which monitors whether UK-based companies implement OECD guidelines for responsible business, decided the issues raised “merit[ed] further examination”. This case marks the first time that Glencore has faced an OECD complaint in the UK.

In September 2018, a wastewater basin holding a crude oil by-product collapsed at Glencore UK’s operations in Badila, southern Chad. Some 85m litres of runoff – equivalent in volume to 34 Olympic-sized swimming pools – flooded fields and the local river, which local people use for drinking, bathing and washing.

At least 50 people reported burns, skin lesions, sickness and diarrhoea after bathing in or using the contaminated river water in the weeks after the leak. Many of those harmed were children, some of whom were admitted to hospital. One 13-year-old boy was unable to move his body for a year after swimming in the river, which doctors attributed to the “crude oil burns”. Livestock drinking from the river also died, according to the complaint.

“The UK’s decision to accept the complaint provides an opportunity for those harmed at Glencore’s operations to finally be heard and to find remedy for the harms they suffered,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, executive director of the human rights group Rights and Accountability in Development (Raid), which was among the groups that filed the complaint. Raid published a detailed report about the alleged abuses in March last year, https://www.raid-uk.org/sites/default/files/raid_report_glencore_chad.pdf

“For more than a year we have tried, along with organisations in Chad, to get Glencore UK to appropriately investigate these claims and to compensate those affected. And although they’ve made promises, none of them have resulted in any remedy, nor has there been an independent investigation into what happened. This is why we launched the complaint.

“No community, whether they are in a remote area of Chad or elsewhere, should have to wait more than two and a half years for a company to investigate whether its toxic spill caused injury, especially when it involves so many children.”

The National Contact Point (NCP), the UK body which oversees the implementation of OECD guidelines for multinational companies, will now mediate between the parties. If that fails, the NCP will examine whether the violations highlighted by the human rights groups occurred and will publish its findings.

In a statement to the Guardian, Glencore said: “Glencore has participated in the UK NCP’s initial assessment of the complaint and acknowledges their decision that the issues relating to the 2018 wastewater incident merit further examination.

“We also note that UK NCP’s decision to further examine aspects of the complaint is not a finding against Glencore UK or a determination by the UK NCP that Glencore UK has acted inconsistently with the guidelines.

“Glencore is committed to operating in a safe and responsible manner in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. We actively manage and mitigate any impacts our operations may have on local communities and the environment. We recognise that our presence can deliver sustainable benefits to those living around our operations and to the national economy of Chad. We transparently report on our performance and welcome the opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with civil society representatives.”

>>16705462

“Perenco acquires Glencore’s upstream oil interests in Chad”

https://www.energyconnects.com/news/oil-and-gas/2022/june/perenco-acquires-glencore-s-upstream-oil-interests-in-chad/

June 15, 2022

Independent hydrocarbons producer Perenco said on Wednesday it had completed the acquisition of Glencore’s corporate entities holding its entire Chad upstream oil interests, thereby becoming the ultimate sole owner of PetroChad Mangara (PCM).

PCM is the operator of the Mangara, Badila and Krim oil fields in the Doba Basin, southern Chad, and Badila and Mangara fields are two large oil reservoirs where production began in 2014. Both still have significant untapped potential, while Krim is an undeveloped discovery, the company said in a statement.

According to Perenco, operations at PCM will now recommence with an expected return to previous production rates of 16,000 bopd in the near term. Oil production from the Badila and Mangara fields is exported via the Doba oil pipeline to Kribi in Cameroon.

“As we announce our entry into Chad, we are proud to start a new chapter in our history. Perenco has been operating in Central Africa since 1992, a region where our know-how in operating oil and gas fields and developing infrastructure is highly applicable,” Benoît de la Fouchardière, Perenco’s Group General Manager, said in a statement.

“We look forward to working with the Chadian authorities to restart production from these important fields. We believe Perenco is uniquely placed to make a meaningful contribution to the ongoing responsible development of Chad’s hydrocarbon sector for the benefit of all stakeholders and are excited about establishing a long-term partnership with the country,” he added.

As a result of the acquisition, PCM staff will now be integrated into the Perenco Group, joining a network of 6800 professionals in 15 countries.

Founded in 1992, Perenco is involved in the entire life cycle of projects, from exploration to decommissioning.

>>16705462

>>16705467

“IMF chief Georgieva: Creditors of Common Framework countries to meet in July” – Chad owes 1/3 of its external debt to Glencore

https://kdal610.com/2022/07/07/imf-chief-georgieva-creditors-of-common-framework-countries-to-meet-in-july/

July 7, 2022

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Official creditors of Zambia, Chad and Ethiopia are set to meet in July, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva, in a bid to promote efforts to overhaul their debt burdens.

The three African nations have all signed up for debt treatment under the G20 Common Framework – an initiative launched in 2020 and designed to streamline debt restructuring efforts in the wake of poorer countries buckling under the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January 2021, Chad became the first country to request a restructuring of its $3 billion external debt under the Common Framework.

It struck a deal with creditor nations in June 2021, but has struggled to finalise talks with private creditors. Chad owes one third of its external debt burden to commercial creditors, and almost all of that to Glencore in oil-for-cash deals dating back to 2013 and 2014.

“The oil price going up gave reasons for Glencore and others to challenge the debt sustainability analysis, they say ‘Oh well, it is not so bad anymore’,” said Georgieva, adding that the situation still “requires a debt restructuring and we are pressing for that.”

>>16473779 Viktor Vekselberg Bun

“ANALYSIS: Proposed U.S. law seeks to punish African countries for ‘aligning’ with Russia” - Viktor Vekselberg, ANC, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s brother-in-law Patrice Motsepe, Norilsk Nickel

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/531252-analysis-proposed-u-s-law-seeks-to-punish-african-countries-for-aligning-with-russia.html

May 20, 2022

A new law to punish states that back certain Russian actions could have major implications for African countries.

But what about the bill’s intention to thwart Russian efforts to ‘invest in, engage, or otherwise control strategic sectors in Africa, such as mining and other forms of natural resource extraction and exploitation, military basing and other security cooperation agreements, and information and communications technology’? Does that mean any African country where a Russian company invests will fall foul of this legislation? Or will it only apply to investments that advance Putin’s supposedly nefarious ambitions?

Two potentially controversial case studies in South Africa spring to mind. One is the lucrative United Manganese of Kalahari mine in South Africa, owned by Putin’s oligarch chum Viktor Vekselberg – but with 22 per cent held by the ruling African National Congress’s (ANC) own corporation, Chancellor House.

This dodgy investment is probably keeping the cash-strapped ANC financially afloat. And it’s been speculated that that is the real reason for the government’s controversial ‘non-aligned’ stance on the Ukraine war.

Another case study could be the joint venture between African Rainbow Minerals – owned by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s brother-in-law Patrice Motsepe – with Russia’s Norilsk Nickel in the potentially lucrative Nkomati nickel mine.

How the U.S. will see such investments is unclear. However, what is emerging is not so much a picture of the U.S. targeting Africa because it voted the wrong way at the UN. Instead, it seems Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked a new Cold War psychosis – and that all other considerations will henceforth be subordinated to the imperatives of that conflict.

“Sasol declares force majeure on petroleum products due to delays in oil shipments” – Other plants have already been shut down

https://www.africaninsider.com/business/sasol-declares-force-majeure-on-petroleum-products-due-to-delays-in-oil-shipments/

Cape Town – South Africa’s largest fuel producer, Sasol has reportedly declared a force majeure on petroleum products.

According to Fin24, this comes after the temporary shutdown of key refinery Natref on Friday due to delays in crude oil shipments.

“Sasol Oil has declared a Force Majeure on petroleum products as a result of delays in the arrival of crude oil shipments which are beyond Sasol Oil’s control. These delays have impacted availability of crude oil feedstock for processing at Natref, which necessitates the shutdown of its Natref refinery.

“In the circumstances, Sasol Oil will not be in a position to fully meet its commitments on the supply of all petroleum products from July 2022,” Sasol said in a statement as quoted by the report.

The oil company did not provide any details on what caused the shipment delay but instead said that it was engaging industry players and affected customers on the matter.

In the same breath, Sasol confirmed that a shipment finally arrived on Saturday, saying that it expected that Natref would be running at full capacity by end-July.

According to Bloomberg, Natref’s closure followed the suspension of production at a number of other facilities over the last two years.

Sapref, the country’s largest plant owned by Shell Plc and BP Plc, ceased operations ahead of a sale and was subsequently damaged by floods while State-owned PetroSA’s gas-to-liquids plant ran out of feedstock, said the report.

Engen oil refinery shut down after it caught fire while Glencore Plc’s Cape Town refinery closed down after an explosion at the facility.

>>16762122 - And then there is sabotage at Eskom. Coincidence?

“Eskom power station sabotaged — fifth time in a year”

https://www.biznews.com/energy/2022/05/20/eskom-power-station-sabotage

20 May 2022

I don’t know what the worker complement is at the five-times sabotaged Tutuka Power Station near Standerton, but with 20 staff suspended and three arrested, I can only wonder how the CEO of a privately owned, similar-sized enterprise would respond. What do you do when you’ve got that many suspected rotten apples threatening your very existence? In this case, it’s all of our business because it contributes to rolling blackouts and diminished quality of life. Dysfunction and a lack of skills is one thing, but outright sabotage to enrich criminal networks or strengthen the hand of labour – or whatever other possible nefarious reason might exist – goes well beyond the pale of anything civilised. Wholesale theft of spare parts, diesel, cables, and stones deliberately tossed into coal crushers … we can only hope our courts send out an unequivocal message if anyone is convicted. This is not power to the people. An injury to one power station is an injury to all. Article republished courtesy of MyBroadband. – Chris Bateman

Eskom has confirmed suspected sabotage was behind delays in returning a unit to service at its Tutuka Power Station near Standerton this past week.

The utility said criminals cut a cable while personnel were in final preparations for returning Tutuka unit 5 to service following an outage.

Earlier on Thursday, News24 reported the cable in question was a warming valve cable that a saboteur had severed using a grinder. “The damage to the cable delayed the unit’s return to service by three days as it took some time to locate the fault,” Eskom said.

“Once discovered, the cable was repaired in a short space of time. The return to service of unit 5 was then resumed.” However, only a few hours later on the same day, the station detected an air pressure drop, and the same unit’s turbine systems, which consume control air for operation were de-energised.

“It was later discovered that the control air pipe supplying the turbine systems had been cut with a power tool and the entire bend removed.”

The air pipe was welded back on and the system charged with control air before being normalised. Eskom said the unit was expected to return to service on Thursday.

The utility believes these incidents were deliberate acts of sabotage by someone who had access to the site where only employees could be and who knew the security features in the area quite well. “Eskom has laid criminal charges with the South African Police Service, and its forensic team is assisting with the investigation,” the utility said.

Fifth incident

This is the fifth incident of sabotage at Tutuka since March 2021. Eskom said it had reported all of the incidents to the police.

Earlier this week, the utility told MyBroadband it had suspended 20 workers from Tutuka for suspected theft and corruption. Three employees were also arrested.

In April 2022, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter revealed that the utility had to write off R1.3bn worth of spares at Tutuka because it could not track them down. Tutuka has a nameplate capacity of 3,654 MW, with each of its six units designed to produce up to 609 MW. However, the power station is Eskom’s worst-performing in its coal fleet, with an EAF of roughly 38%, well below the average of approximately 55%.

The power utility has implemented measures to improve security at all its power stations in general and Tutuka specifically, where additional security personnel and other security systems have been introduced.

These include 400 additional security personnel and the use of drones.

Eskom said while these measures had significantly improved security at Tutuka, including reducing cable theft incidents, incidents such as the latest showed there was an opportunity for further improvements to secure the facility and the supply of electricity.

“Jewish [ABSA] Business Awards Ivor Ichikowitz” - https://youtu.be/GvFsTNMcAZ4

“South Africa’s Ivor Ichikowitz: A ‘philanthropic’ arms dealer?” – Links to Glencore (1 of 3)

https://www.theafricareport.com/200058/mali-gabon-togo-ivor-ichikowitz-philanthropic-arms-dealer/

19 May 2022

Close to the ANC, South African businessman Ivor Ichikowitz, who founded the Paramount group in 1994, has extended his networks to the rest of the continent as he presents himself as a defender of just causes.

The three men who land in Bangui on 22 March 2013 are full of hope. Employees of a large group specialising in the arms and security business have been approached by the entourage of François Bozizé, president of the Central African Republic (CAR). It is a time of suspicion and wild rumours in the capital city.

On 10 December 2012, a motley coalition of rebel groups from the north had launched an offensive with the aim of overthrowing Bozizé’s regime, before an agreement signed in Libreville, Gabon on January 11 halted their advance.

Since then, the rebels have been camped out in the town of Sibut, north of the capital; and they’re still a menace. The head of state thinks he can take advantage of the truce to strengthen his position. It is precisely for this purpose that our three men are in Bangui. The “shopping list” envisaged by Bozizé’s entourage says it all: combat helicopters, armoured vehicles, ammunition. “There were too many requests and the deadline was too short. In the end, no agreement was reached,” says one of the participants in the negotiations.

‘Protection industry’

The day after their arrival, the trio are preparing to leave CAR when they are stopped at Bangui airport. All three men are accused of trying to deliver arms to the rebels and taken to the gendarmerie camp. That evening, the rebels attack Bangui in a lightning strike, forcing Bozizé to flee the country. The gendarmerie camp is deserted. The three men are finally able to leave the country.

The company that employs them is none other than Paramount, one of the continent’s leading arms dealers. It is based in South Africa and headed by Ivor Ichikowitz, a wealthy businessman who, at 56, is one of Africa’s most high-profile arms dealers.

Born in Gauteng province, South Africa, he comes from an Eastern European Jewish family. His grandfather, Charles, came to South Africa from Lithuania in the 1930s and settled there as a timber trader. Ivor’s father, Louis, made his fortune importing cars from Japan.

Very concerned about his image, Ivor Ichikowitz hates being classified as an arms dealer. He considers himself a philanthropist whose arms-selling business serves peace above all. “We are not in the destruction business, but in the protection business,” he likes to say. In addition to Paramount’s 15 global business units, the Ichikowitz Family Foundation funds projects, such as anti-poaching and reconstruction programs, in South Africa, Gabon and elsewhere. Ichikowitz has interests in mining, renewable energy and intermediary oil projects in various African countries.

The businessman only broke into South Africa’s military and aviation scene after the end of apartheid in 1994. This he did through his networks in the African National Congress (ANC), of which he was a financier. He is close to Winnie Mandela and to Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former president Thabo Mbeki.

>>16934957

“Ivor Ichikowitz discusses the significance of Xi's trip to South Africa” - https://youtu.be/ly490sZ74UQ

“South Africa’s Ivor Ichikowitz: A ‘philanthropic’ arms dealer?” – Links to Glencore (2 of 3)

https://www.theafricareport.com/200058/mali-gabon-togo-ivor-ichikowitz-philanthropic-arms-dealer/

19 May 2022

Gabon, a major source of support

Ichikowitz began establishing his connections with various leaders in the 1980s and 1990s, when he was one of the African representatives of Glencore, the Anglo-Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company based in Baar, Switzerland. At the same time, Ichikowitz and one of his colleagues opened the luxurious Molori Safari Lodge in the Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa.

The lodge hosted prestigious guests, such as former presidents Nelson Mandela and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, as well as former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Ichikowitz admitted contributing $405,600 to the election campaign of Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president from 2009 to 2018, and during his tenure, Paramount established itself as a leading military and aviation company.

The businessman is also close to former Malawian President Joyce Banda. In 2013, Paramount’s naval subsidiary, Nautic Africa, signed an arms contract to supply patrol boats, among other things. Worth $145m, the deal was eventually cancelled by Banda’s successor, Peter Mutharika.

More recently, Ichikowitz has become a major supplier of military equipment, weapons, armoured vehicles and aircraft to the Mozambican government, which is facing a jihadist insurgency in its northern province of Cabo Delgado. Some Mozambican soldiers were even trained by Paramount contractors in South Africa. Ichikowitz sold Mozambique some old Gazelle helicopters, which had been demilitarised and resold by Britain and France after they refreshed their own inventory.

According to our information, Paramount has also been supplying the army of the DRC since last year. However, one of Paramount’s major sources of support in Francophone Africa is Gabon, whose president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, the South African businessman has known for almost 20 years.

The latter was minister of defence under his father, Omar, when Paramount delivered its first two Mirage F1s to Libreville in 2006. He became head of state three years later and continued to work with Ichikowitz, even visiting the group’s facilities in Johannesburg in 2010. New Mirage aircraft were purchased from Paramount, which also supplied 10 mine-resistant armoured vehicles in 2011.

In Gabon, Ichikowitz also got close to Maixent Accrombessi (Ali Bongo Ondimba’s former chief of staff) and Richard Attias (founder of Richard Attias & Associates). Both Ichikowitz and Bongo spoke at the New York Forum Africa, which was held in August 2015 in Libreville. A year earlier, the publicist and the businessman had attended the military parade organised for the national holiday.

Delivery delays

To develop his activities in French-speaking Africa, Ivor Ichikowitz was able to rely on the networks of an old friend, Frenchman Jean-Yves Ollivier, a commodities trader adept at parallel diplomacy. A sign of their close relationship is Plot for Peace, a film recounting Ollivier’s life and which was produced in 2013 by the South African businessman’s foundation. The two men met during the years of struggle against apartheid.

Through Ollivier, Ichikowitz met Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, to whom, in 2010, he sold 1980s-era French Mirage jets that came from the South African Air Force’s stockpile. “Today, they are used mainly to decorate military parades on national holidays. The pilots and fuel are paid for by Paramount,” says a group executive.

In Gabon, as in Congo-Brazzaville, Ichikowitz has had difficulty ensuring payments. This is a constant in the arms industry, where relationships between buyers and suppliers can be strained.

In November 2015, Paramount signed a huge contract, worth $60m, with the Malian government. Some 40 armoured vehicles were to be delivered. The authorities in Bamako paid an advance. The remainder was to be paid in instalments, with each delivery. The problem was that years passed and the promised vehicles were slow to arrive in Mali. Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) opened up about his problem to United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyane as well as South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.

A dozen vehicles were finally delivered in 2019. Since then, nothing. In total, Mali has paid $30m, but has only received a quarter of the promised equipment. The instability in Bamako, where IBK was overthrown in August 2020, has not helped.

>>16934957

>>16934964

“Ivor Ichikowitz, Founder & Executive Chairman, TransAfrica Group, South Africa” - https://youtu.be/TyU05Ckn99c

“MONTE CARLO, MONACO – (July 2, 2021) – The most powerful and influential investors representing elite family offices travelled from around the world to convene in Monaco at Sir Anthony Ritossa's 15th Global Family Office Investment Summit under the High Patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco.”

“South Africa’s Ivor Ichikowitz: A ‘philanthropic’ arms dealer?” – Links to Glencore (3 of 3)

https://www.theafricareport.com/200058/mali-gabon-togo-ivor-ichikowitz-philanthropic-arms-dealer/

19 May 2022

The problem is relatively similar in Togo. Introduced once again by Jean-Yves Ollivier, Ichikowitz sold armoured vehicles to the army there for the first time in 2016. A new contract was signed in 2019 for the same type of vehicles: Marauders, Mbombe 4s and Mavericks. Again, deliveries have been slow. Officially, Paramount says it is waiting for the Togolese authorities to respect the schedule negotiated when the contract was signed. Even so, other sources say the South African group has accepted delivery terms that it was not in a position to honour financially.

Name in the Panama Papers

These hitches have largely contributed to tarnishing Paramount’s reputation in the arms industry. Unhappy with management, several of its close associates left the group with a bang. In early 2018, Paramount Combat Systems – the only South African entity manufacturing armoured vehicles – was declared insolvent and went into receivership.

“He’s a trader at heart. It’s in his blood. Ivor is always trying to find a new deal to make money. He’s not really bothered by the merchandise and the people involved, nor does he worry about who he might step on to make the best deal possible,” one former employee tells us.

Another source, highly critical of the group’s financial management, explains that “Ichikowitz uses money from new contracts to cover the shortfalls of those he is already behind on”. This, he says, is the reason for the regular delivery delays.

In 2015, the businessman’s name appeared in the Panama Papers, a series of leaked documents created by (and taken from) Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, detailing the business information of more than 200,000 offshore entities.

Two years later, Barclays Bank, through which nearly $430m linked to Ichikowitz passed, warned the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) of potential “suspicious” transactions. Among other things, the British bank was concerned about “the source of Ichikowitz’s wealth and his companies, and his possible involvement in the payment of bribes”. In its own defence, Paramount noted that if Barclays believed the transaction was suspicious, “they would have been within their rights to block it and their compliance team would have done so.”

>>16934957

>>16934964

>>16934972

“SA arms dealer Ichikovitz exposed in Malawi’s $144m arms deal” (1 of 3)

https://www.faceofmalawi.com/2014/09/12/sa-arms-dealer-ichikovitz-exposed-in-malawis-144m-arms-deal/

September 12, 2014

South African arms dealer Ivor Ichikowitz’s formerly friendly relationship with the Malawian government has run into stiff headwinds since the election of a new administration under President Peter ¬Mutharika.

Last week two government ministers told the media that a $145-million defence contract signed by former president Joyce Banda and Ichikowitz’s Paramount Group had been partly cancelled and placed under investigation.

But Ichikowitz appears to be fighting back.

This week, after amaBhungane put questions to the company, a joint statement between it and the Malawi government was released, denying that the contract was illegal or had been terminated.

Daniel Jenya, a personal assistant to Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe, said the company had asked the government to endorse what had originally been a Paramount communiqué.

Mutharika’s Democratic Pro¬gressive Party toppled Banda’s People’s Party in disputed elections in May this year.

In a phone interview last week, Gondwe said that the government had cancelled Paramount’s $145-million flagship arms deal with the Malawi Defence Force, calling it “illegal, expensive and unsustainable”.

Denials

The office of the director of public procurement, which must approve all procurement activities in Malawi, said that it knew of no contracts between the government and the group.

In an interview Malawi Information Minister Kondwani Nankhumwa appeared to imply that Banda had handed out the deal to supply patrol boats and other military equipment. “Government procedures and legislations do not allow the president to dispose of national assets or award contracts. It was wrong and illegal,” he said.

Nankhumwa, as the government spokesperson, added that the government was reviewing all Paramount’s contracts, including lucrative deals in fuel and agriculture it received last year.

The joint statement takes a notably different tack. Denying that the defence contract had been terminated, it said Paramount was “engaged in ongoing constructive dialogue to replace the old contract, in order to meet the government’s requirements”.

It said the contract “was concluded according to Malawian governmental processes and was signed by both the former minister of finance and the former minister of defence”.

“At the time of signing, a legal opinion was secured from the Malawian attorney general confirming both the legality of the agreement and its validity under Malawian law.”

Paramount also downplayed the government investigation, saying it was normal for an incoming administration to review the policies and programmes of its predecessor, including procurement contracts.

“No alleged irregularities have been brought to our attention, nor do we anticipate that there will be any. We support the review … and have written to the president of Malawi offering our full co-operation,” said the group’s director for global marketing, Nico de Klerk.

Gondwe could not be contacted this week for an explanation of the government’s apparent volte-face.

>>16941445

“SA arms dealer Ichikovitz exposed in Malawi’s $144m arms deal” (2 of 3) - Bell Pottinger

https://www.faceofmalawi.com/2014/09/12/sa-arms-dealer-ichikovitz-exposed-in-malawis-144m-arms-deal/

September 12, 2014

Patrol boats supplied

Last year Paramount supplied seven armed interceptor boats for use in patrolling Lake Malawi amid heightened border tensions with Malawi’s northern neighbour, Tanzania.

It was also commissioned to provide training for soldiers and maintain the boats for five years.

In the same year, the group, through another South African company, Canvas and Tent, allegedly supplied equipment to Malawian peacekeeping troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In his statement last week, De Klerk said Banda’s government had approached the company, but declined to give details.

“It is not appropriate … to comment on the procurement details and procedures followed by a sovereign and democratically elected government,” he said.

Banda reportedly agreed in a supplier credit agreement that Malawi would pay Paramount $5-million quarterly for eight years, meaning the government would eventually have shelled out $160-million.

Contractual obligations

In last week’s interview, Gondwe agreed that the new government remained legally bound to meet its contractual obligations, but it would accept no further arms deliveries and would pay Paramount just $16-million – $31-million for equipment that had been delivered, less the price of a presidential jet Banda sold to the company.

“Paramount has acknowledged our concerns regarding the deal. Malawi will now pay only $16-million because we bartered the jet,” Gondwe said.

Banda allegedly “bartered” the French-made Dassault Falcon 900EX jet, which her predecessor, the late Bingu wa Mutharika, had bought with $22-million of donor money. The jet was sold in 2012 to Bohnox Enterprises Limited, a Paramount subsidiary, for $15-million to settle part of the arms debt.

The sale of the jet allegedly flouted section 172 of the Constitution, which makes it illegal to spend government money not deposited in the consolidated fund of Malawi’s Reserve Bank.

The British Telegraph newspaper revealed last year that the Ichikowitz Family Foundation paid for a campaign by the London-based PR company Bell Pottinger to rebuild Banda’s standing among foreign donors following a corruption scandal.

Ichikowitz’s brother, Paramount executive director Eric Ichikowitz, confirmed to the Telegraph that he had paid Bell Pottinger.

“The family foundation believes that President Banda is a force for good in Malawi and that she is striving to improve the lives of all Malawians,” he said.

“It is keen for her efforts to be duly recognised by the international community and fairly represented in the international media.”

>>16941445

>>16941446

“SA arms dealer Ichikovitz exposed in Malawi’s $144m arms deal” (3 of 3)

https://www.faceofmalawi.com/2014/09/12/sa-arms-dealer-ichikovitz-exposed-in-malawis-144m-arms-deal/

September 12, 2014

No connection

He added that “there is absolutely no connection between contracts undertaken by Paramount Group and its companies and any charitable work undertaken by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation.”

In the run-up to the elections, Malawi’s opposition parties claimed that Ichikowitz money had served to bolster Banda’s well-resourced campaign.

De Klerk said Paramount’s support for Malawi “is a matter of public record. It became one of the issues of political debate in Malawi, among Malawian parties, and not with the group itself”.

Paramount also sponsored the United Kingdom-Malawi Trade and Investment forum in London last year. Ivor Ichikowitz was part of the Malawi delegation and a panellist during a session on infrastructure investment.

Through another subsidiary called Trans Africa Capital, the company signed fuel and agricultural contracts with the government, including a lucrative deal to supply fertiliser under the government’s farm input subsidy programme.

Mutharika’s government has overturned Banda’s decision to award South Africa’s Legacy Hotels a contract to run the government-owned, multibillion-kwacha Umodzi Park complex in Lilongwe, comprising the Bingu wa Mutharika Conference Centre, the Presidential Hotel and the Presidential Village.

Aid money for arms

Ichikowitz’s main purpose was reportedly to make an impassioned plea to the United States government to allow African leaders to use aid money to strengthen security institutions to deal with threats to Africa’s security (See “The road to peace is paved with military interventions”).

“In the normal course of business it is our policy to engage with the head of state in countries in which we have on-going relationships,” said De Klerk. “No formal request was made for any meeting in the US, and as such no request was denied.”

Banda’s spokesperson, Andekuche Chanthunya, said at the time: “As far as we know there is no official investigation. But Mrs Banda is ready to co-operate with the government should there be one.”

Chanthunya said there was no possibility that the defence and other contracts won by Paramount were illegal. The government was merely revising the contracts, and was not scrapping them.

He also dismissed any suggestion that the company was awarded the deals because of its relationship with Banda.

Banda has previously defended the defence contract, arguing that Malawi is vulnerable to many security threats, ranging from transnational organised crime to terrorism.

“Buying of equipment for the army to us is a must and a priority … our army is vulnerable and not well equipped to face anything and protect Malawians,” she told the Telegraph.

>>16941448

>Ichikowitz’s main purpose was reportedly to make an impassioned plea to the United States government to allow African leaders to use aid money to strengthen security institutions to deal with threats to Africa’s security (See “The road to peace is paved with military interventions”).

“The road to peace is paved with military interventions” (1 of 2)

https://www.faceofmalawi.com/2014/09/12/sa-arms-dealer-ichikovitz-exposed-in-malawis-144m-arms-deal/

“Africanarms-maker to Obama: Give war a chance!” The Daily Beast’s sarcastic headline referred to Ivor Ichikowitz’s presence at the United States-Africa Leaders Summit in May this year to plead for Africa to be sold more advanced weapons.

The US should provide aid to help African leaders to combat the continent’s insurgents and fanatics, the news website reported the Paramount boss as saying.

“Human rights groups are not exactly thrilled about the proposal, which just so happens to dovetail rather nicely with Ichikowitz’s business interests,” it added.

The chairperson of Africa’s largest defence contractor presents a paradox: an unapologetic, media-savvy arms dealer who says his aim is to bring peace and security to a continent already awash in arms.

He told South Africa’s Sunday Times he had never broken arms control laws or sold weapons to dictators. “I never went to the army; I was never interested in military issues,” he told the ¬digital publisher George Media Network.

Origins

Founded by Ichikowitz in 1994 [the year Apartheid “ended” and ANC took over], Paramount manufactures a wide range of armoured vehicles and deals in ¬surplus South African military equipment, including fighter aircraft.

His fortune is based in particular on the sale of surplus South African armoured vehicles to the rest of Africa and the Middle East.

The business has grown exponentially: last year it was widely reported that he was poised to buy the ailing tech arms manufacturer Advanced Technologies and Engineering, making him Africa’s “most influential supplier of combat and peacekeeping hardware”.

Founded in 1994, Paramount has footprints in many African states, including Gabon, Mali, Zambia and Guinea-Conakry. In March this year, it opened an office in Ghana as an apparent springboard for expansion into West African countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Togo.

Ichikowitz maintains a philanthropic organisation called the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, launched in 2010 and described as “concerned with improving education, the environment and human rights in Southern Africa”.

Britain’s Telegraph newspaper revealed that the foundation paid for former Malawi president Joyce Banda’s PR campaign to win back foreign donors following a corruption scandal.

Central to Ichikowitz’s business method is forging links with political power brokers. In 2009, he laid out his personal jet to ferry Nelson Mandela to a Jacob Zuma election rally.

The luxuriously converted Boeing 727 was also used to convey Zuma to Lebanon and Kazakhstan for alleged ANC fundraising and business meetings, and to the UN General Assembly in New York.

Ichikowitz said that he went on the Kazakhstan flight to test upgrades to the jet and did not attend the meetings. In October 2012, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe used the Boeing to travel to Italy with his companion Gugu Mtshali.

>>16941451

“The road to peace is paved with military interventions” (2 of 2)

https://www.faceofmalawi.com/2014/09/12/sa-arms-dealer-ichikovitz-exposed-in-malawis-144m-arms-deal/

Well connected

Ichikowitz’s business partners have included Moeletsi Mbeki, the brother of former president Thabo Mbeki, and former ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa.

The latter accompanied him on a trip to meet the president of Nigeria’s People’s Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, with an eye to strengthening trade relations.

He was the business associate of the empowerment tycoon Robert Gumede, pledging R6-million at a Zuma fundraiser Gumede organised in October 2008.

He told the Sunday Times there was nothing untoward about being “a vocal supporter” and funder of the ANC.

A defence department-commissioned inquiry in 2005 accused Ichikowitz’s companies, the Virlean Initiative and Mechanology Design Bureau, of the unauthorised stripping of parts from army vehicles and of selling arms to countries, including Angola, in breach of arms control regulations.

The report, by First Consulting, recommended that Paramount be investigated. No action was taken, and a parallel Armscor investigation apparently cleared all parties.

>>16941455

>The report, by First Consulting, recommended that Paramount be investigated. No action was taken, and a parallel Armscor investigation apparently cleared all parties.

Armscor

https://www.armscor.co.za/

Armscor is the acquisition agency for the Department of Defence (DOD). Renowned for its acquisition expertise, Armscor has enhanced and expanded its service offering to the DOD as well as to stakeholders across the African Continent in line with its vision to be the premier defence technology and acquisition service provider for the South African Government and our allies on the African continent and the world.

Armscor’s capability in acquisition spans over six decades, its technology know-how ranges from technology development, development and upgrading of products as well as maintenance and disposal of products. Buoyed by its own operational research institutes, test and evaluation facilities and industry capabilities, Armscor is extending its services beyond its primary client – DOD to further support the entire continent in their peace keeping missions.

“South Africa's Arms Trade: Further Progress Needed” - Armscor

https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/10/29/south-africas-arms-trade-further-progress-needed

October 29, 2000

South Africa is not living up to its own high standards with respect to arms exports, Human Rights Watch charged. In a 45-page report, "A Question of Principle: Arms Trade and Human Rights," Human Rights Watch charged the South African government with selling weapons to countries with serious human rights problems, where an influx of weaponry could significantly worsen ongoing abuses.

In a 45-page report released today, "A Question of Principle: Arms Trade and Human Rights," Human Rights Watch charged the South African government with selling weapons to countries with serious human rights problems, where an influx of weaponry could significantly worsen ongoing abuses.

Human Rights Watch noted that after 1994, South Africa announced more restrictive policies on arms transfers. But the report charges that those policies are not always being followed. In 1994, a scandal erupted involving the sale by Armscor, the apartheid-era governmental arms export agency, of weapons to Yemen for probable on-shipment to the former Yugoslavia, then under U.N. embargo.

"South Africa has come a long way in overturning apartheid's awful legacy," said Joost Hiltermann, Executive Director of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch. "In the arms trade, the country has committed to some very good human rights principles. But these principles are not consistently applied and are now under real threat."

The Human Rights Watch report cited examples of weapons sales since 1994 to governments engaging in repression against their own people or to countries involved in their own or others' civil wars. These sales clearly violated South Africa's own stated policies. Purchasers of South African arms include Algeria, Angola, Colombia, the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), India, Namibia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/safrica/

>>16569283 Tony Hollingsworth Bun | Trafigura Bun

>>16698270

>Glencore and its main "rivals" Vitol, Trafigura and Cargill, make their money finding customers for raw materials and selling them at a mark-up, using complex hedges to reduce the risk of bad weather, market swings, piracy or regime change.

>>16794981

>Companies run by the Rich Boys span the globe. Consider Netherlands-based Trafigura Group, one of the world's top trading companies. According to industry experts and investigators, it was founded in 1993 by former Rich traders with money from [Marc] Rich. Experts say he invested in companies like Trafigura to expand his empire

>>16794986

>companies set up by the Rich Boys, including Trafigura and Glencore

>>16941455

>No action was taken, and a parallel Armscor investigation apparently cleared all parties.

>>16941466

> In 1994, a scandal erupted involving the sale by Armscor, the apartheid-era governmental arms export agency, of weapons to Yemen for probable on-shipment to the former Yugoslavia, then under U.N. embargo.

“Bribe scandal man to head Armscor” - Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF), Trafigura (1 of 2)

https://mg.co.za/article/2001-08-17-bribe-scandal-man-to-head-armscor/

17 August 2001

ONE of the men implicated in a bribe scandal that rocked the state oil industry was this week made chairperson of Armscor.

Seth Phalatse has admitted he took a $20_ 000 (about R165_000) cash bribe in May last year. He subsequently returned the money and, months later, helped blow the whistle, assisting prosecutors prepare what is likely to be the first high-profile corruption prosecution since 1994.

Phalatse was the chairperson of the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF), the state oil storage and trading company, until he and his board were axed by the Ministry of Minerals and Energy last December.

Phalatse, as state witness, is likely to be indemnified from prosecution.

But serious questions remain over his judgement: he did initially accept the bribe, and on his own version he waited three months before alerting authorities.

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.

In an affidavit dated February 5 this year, Phalatse first sets the scene for the oil deal. He tells how Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka directed the SFF to sell off stored oil and replace it with higher-grade oil, but that she ordered it be an in-house transaction.

Phalatse then details how Kunene, as chairperson of the CEF, then went against Mlambo-Ngcuka’s instructions to negotiate a deal with Trafigura in London. On May 13 last year, Phalatse, as head of the SFF, a subsidiary of CEF, signed the deal. “I did not read the agreement, and I did not understand what it contained. I depended entirely on the advice of the people who were assigned to negotiate and conclude this contract,” he says.

Not long after, according to Phalatse’s affidavit, Kunene asked him to a private meeting at the home of SFF procurement committee head Dukes Zondi.

“Present at the meeting was Kunene, Zondi and myself. Kunene informed me that after the signing of the agency agreement [with High Beam/Trafigura], SFF’s new partners had given him cash for himself, Zondi and myself in the amount of US$20 000 each, as an initial token of appreciation of the awarding of the contract …

>>16941522

“Bribe scandal man to head Armscor” - Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF), Trafigura, BMW (2 of 2)

https://mg.co.za/article/2001-08-17-bribe-scandal-man-to-head-armscor/

17 August 2001

“Kunene placed a white envelope of cash on my lap. Kunene further mentioned that there was an additional R12-million to be shared between the three of us that would be deposited in a foreign bank account for us once the dust had settled … Kunene and Zondi convinced me to take the envelope of money, which I did. Inside the envelope was US$20 000 in brand new US$100 bills.”

Phalatse further describes how his doubts got the better of him, and how, in June last year, he eventually returned the envelope to Kunene. In August he informed the minister, who by then had already got wind of the bribes and had ordered an investigation. Following the raids on Kunene and Moloele, the national prosecuting authority has continued its investigations. It is unclear when the matter will reach court.

Phalatse is also the director of government affairs and Africa sales at BMW South Africa. His “abbreviated curriculum vitae”, released by Armscor this week, fails to make any reference to his stint in the state oil sector.

Ministry of Defence representative Sam Mkhwanazi this week commented: “We are aware of the allegations the Mail & Guardian is referring to. But we are convinced that when the said trial shall have run its course it will become clear that this was a correct appointment.”

Phalatse is abroad and could not be reached for comment.

>>16941466

>In 1994, a scandal erupted involving the sale by Armscor, the apartheid-era governmental arms export agency, of weapons to Yemen for probable on-shipment to the former Yugoslavia, then under U.N. embargo.

>>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.

Atrocities in Yemen continues…

“LETTER: Dodgy Denel must be shut down” – “Armscor’s offspring, Denel” - 2019

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/letters/2019-07-09-letter-dodgy-denel-must-be-shut-down/

9 July 2019

The cash-strapped arms manufacturer is in bed with a dubious German munitions firm and is complicit in the Yemen humanitarian crisis

During the late 1980s the late Oliver Tambo rightly described Armscor as a “Frankstein monster that cannot be reformed and must be destroyed”.

The Cameron commission of inquiry in 1994/1995 likewise found that Armscor was both incredibly corrupt and managerially incompetent. Armscor’s offspring, Denel, continues to go from one corruption scandal to the next…

CEF Group of Companies owned by the South African government (1 of 2)

https://www.cefgroup.co.za/

CEF also manages the operation and development of the oil and gas assets and operations of the South African government.

https://www.cefgroup.co.za/about-cef/cef-overview

CEF is a Schedule 2 state owned diversified energy company reporting to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. The Mandate of CEF is to contribute to the security of energy supply of South Africa and the Region through exploration, acquisition, development, marketing and strategic partnership. It is derived from the CEF Act (No 38 of 1977) and the Ministerial directives issued thereafter.

Established in the 1950s, CEF has played a central role in ensuring South Africa’s energy security supply, and making a significant contribution to the South African economy and being a strategic partner to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy providing insights in support of policy development and regulation.

The Role of CEF

• Contribute to security of energy supply. Provide affordable, accessible, diverse use of primary energy resources

• Be a strategic partner to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy: Provide insights in support of policy development and regulation and implementation of key projects.

• Be a financially sustainable company: Commercially strong SOE that can be relied upon to support the implementation of policies and programmes of the Department.

• Reduce the country’s overdependence on multinationals. Operate across the entire energy value chain & minimise market failures.

• Align with government’s broad objectives (NDP): Act as a vehicle for economic growth, poverty alleviation and economic transformation.

• Provide thought leadership in energy policy development and other energy initiatives; and

• Contribute to security of energy supply (in liquid fuels and gas) and support the deployment of new energy technologies in the country.

This will be done through the acquisition, exploitation and manufacture of appropriate energy solutions [from coal, oil, gas and renewable energy resources] to meet the future energy needs of South Africa, the SADC and the sub-Saharan African regions.

Composition of the CEF Group

The CEF Group operates right across the Energy Sector Value Chain. The subsidiaries are wholly owned by CEF SOC Ltd and it holds minority interests in two small renewable energy ventures (Associates). In addition to this the CEF Group manages the Equalisation Fund.

Renewable energy activities of the holding company are managed through the Energy Projects Division (previously the Clean Energy Division). These include the identification of new joint venture investments in renewable and clean energy projects, and the management of existing joint ventures with other parties.

Wholly owned subsidiaries operating under CEF are namely:

• AEMFC – which mines coal in Mpumalanga for supply to Eskom.

• iGAS – which is a shareholder in the Mozambique-to-South Africa gas pipeline and is involved in the development of other gas delivery projects.

• PASA – which is the national petroleum and gas promotion and licensing agency

• PetroSA – which is the largest subsidiary in the Group and operates a gas-to-liquids refinery that uses indigenous gas as feedstock. It is also a partner in a producing oil field in Ghana.

• SFF – which manages strategic crude oil infrastructure, strategic crude oil stocks, and provides oil pollution control services in Saldanha Bay.

>>16941655

CEF Group of Companies owned by the South African government (2 of 2)

https://www.cefgroup.co.za/about-cef/cef-overview

Global Footprint

The Group business operations, investments and strategic partnerships spanned two continents and four countries. These activities are in oil and gas, technology and gas infrastructure, mining and renewables, and represent a diversified portfolio in line with our Group strategy. These countries are:

• South African Operations – Mining, offshore production, refining, renewables investment

• Mozambique Operations – Mozambique to Secunda Pipeline (MSP); 865 km long gas transmission pipeline from Temane gas field near Vilanculos in Mozambique to Secunda in South Africa

• Ghanaian Operations – 3% stake in the Jubilee oilfield off the coast of Ghana. Oilfield currently produces 100k to 120k bpd

Legislative Environment

The following legislative frameworks drive the organisational strategic thrust of the CEF Group and define the parameters for its operational effectiveness.

• CEF Act, No 38 of 1977

• Petroleum Products Act, 1977

• Electricity Act, 1987

• Public Finance Management Act, 1999

• Gas Act, 2001

• Petroleum Pipelines Act, 2003

• The National Energy Regulator Act of 2004

• National Energy Act, 2008

• Regulations Companies Act, 2008

• National Environmental Management Act of 2009

• Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill, 2013

• International Financial Reporting standards (IFRS)

• Energy Security Master Plan, 2007

• Integrated Resource Plan for Energy, 2010

• Key Acts Energy Sector Planning with Petrol and Diesel, 2012

• Draft Strategic Stocks Petroleum Policy and

• Draft Strategic Stocks Implementation Plan

• Integrated Energy Plan

• Liquid Fuels Master Plan

• Gas Utilisation Master Plan

>>16934485

>>16934493

>>16934514 - one wonders who is behind his murder… No honour among thieves.

>>16938118

>>16938131

>>16941655

>>16941660

Below are excerpts from a lawsuit which discusses South Africa’s involvement in the Oil-for-Food Programme

“The Public Protector v Mail & Guardian Ltd and Others (422 of 2010) [2011] ZASCA 108 (01 June 2011)” – Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa – CEF, PetroSA, SFF, Imvume, Sandi Majali, Glencore (1 of 4)

https://lawlibrary.org.za/za/judgment/supreme-court-appeal-south-africa/2011/108

[34] The second is The Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (Pty) Ltd (PetroSA). The report of the Public Protector records that ‘PetroSA was formed in July 2000 out of a merger of the business of Mossgas and Soekor as well as parts of the business undertaken by the Strategic Oil Fund, in order

to effectively explore, develop, manufacture and trade the crude oil and gaseous hydrocarbon resources of South Africa’. It was wholly owned by CEF (Pty) Ltd,11 which was a ‘Major Public Entity’

listed in schedule 2 of the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999.

[35] The third protagonist is the SFF12 Association, an incorporated association that is described in one of the documents as a subsidiary of CEF (Pty) Ltd.

[58] On 30 July 2001 Mr Majali wrote a letter on behalf of ‘Imvume SAOE’ to SFF offering to supply about 6 million barrels of Basrah Light (a category of crude oil that emanates from Iraq) for delivery between August and September 2001. The letter recorded that if required by SFF, Imvume was ‘in a position to facilitate a direct crude oil Purchase Agreement between SFF and SOMO’. What happened to that offer is not disclosed in the documentation.

[65] In the same month Mr Majali travelled to Iraq in the company of the Director-General of the Department of Minerals and Energy (Adv S Nogxina), the International Liaison Officer of that department (Mr T Mafoko), the Assistant to the Minister of Minerals and Energy (Mr A Nkuhlu), and a member of the board of directors of SFF (Mr R Jawooden). The visit was approved by the Minister and the expenses of the government officials were paid by the department. I think it is clear that the proposal I have referred to was prepared for presentation in the course of that visit.

[77] A further article by Mr Brümmer and Mr Sole appeared in the issue of the M&G that was published on 22 July 2005. The article related to a tender that had been awarded to Imvume by SFF. The

headings were ‘Oilgate: The next instalment’ and ‘R1bn tender was “fixed”’. I quote again the opening

paragraphs:

‘A R1-billion crude oil tender – one of South Africa’s largest ever – went to African National Congress-linked company Imvume Management after an extraordinary series of interventions that suggest the tender was rigged.

This emerges from a Mail & Guardian investigation of the 2001/02 tender process, which resulted in Imvume supplying the Strategic Fuel Fund Association (SFF) with four billion [sic] barrels of Iraqi oil. The SFF was the state agency that managed the country’s strategic stocks.’

[78] Once again I relate what that article was about with reference to documents that are disclosed in the affidavits. The story that they tell is that on 5 December 2001 the SFF invited tenders for the supply of 4 million barrels of Basrah Light, in two cargoes of 2 million barrels each to be delivered to Saldanha Bay from January 2002. The invitation to tender required the FOB price to be reflected as ‘either a discount or a premium of Dated Brent price’ Dated Brent price was described as the ‘mean of dated Brent quotations as published in Platts crude oil marketwire’.

[79] Tenders were opened at a meeting held on 3 January 2002. There was an evaluation team of six and Mr Jawooden (who had accompanied Mr Majali to Iraq) was one of the members. The minute of the meeting reflects that there were 14 tenders, one of which was from Imvume. Of nine bidders who quoted prices in accordance with the tender,17 Imvume’s was the second highest, and a ‘first short list’ placed it eighth in line. The minute records that the bidders were invited to re-submit their prices, on this occasion relative to SOMO prices. A document emanating from SFF reflects that bidders were then invited to submit a ‘Revised or a Reconfirmation’ of prices relative to Dated Brent. At the end of the process a company referred to as Leokoane Oil topped the list and it was resolved that it be awarded the contract, subject to it furnishing a performance bond, and the satisfactory outcome of a due diligence review.

>>16941717

“The Public Protector v Mail & Guardian Ltd and Others (422 of 2010) [2011] ZASCA 108 (01 June 2011)” – Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa – CEF, PetroSA, SFF, Imvume, Sandi Majali, Glencore (2 of 4)

https://lawlibrary.org.za/za/judgment/supreme-court-appeal-south-africa/2011/108

[80] The minute of a board meeting of SFF held on 18 January 2002 reflects that Leokoane Oil had not been able to furnish the guarantee, and that the diligence review disclosed that it was a company of no substance, and it was accordingly disqualified. The contract was then awarded to Imvume on the same conditions.

[81] On the same day the Chief Executive Officer of SFF, Dr R. Mokate, addressed a letter to Mr M Mandela of ‘Imvume Resources’, in which she advised that it had been selected as the preferred bidder, subject to it furnishing a performance bond for US$1 million, and to the outcome of a due diligence review. On 28 January 2002 she wrote to him advising that the failure to submit a performance

bond complying with the terms of the tender by 25 January 2002 had ‘led to an automatic disqualification to the crude oil procurement process’. Mr Majali must have contested the

disqualification because the following day Dr Mokate wrote to him and dealt extensively with various issues that had been raised, particularly in relation to the performance bond. Whether the

required performance bond was ultimately furnished by Imvume is not clear.

[82] Dr Mokate was subsequently suspended, and then dismissed, from SFF on unrelated grounds. She wrote an article that was published in Business Day on 30 October 2002 in defence of the conduct that led to her dismissal, in which she also said that ‘when I would not sign an agreement between the SFF and Imvume Management Resources until all the conditions stipulated in the contract had been met, [Mr Damane, the chairman of SFF] accused me of being obstructionist and threatened to fire me’.

__[83] Included in the record of the investigation is a report of a limited due diligence review of Imvume that was conducted by Deloitte & Touche in January 2002. I think it can be inferred that the review was conducted for purposes of evaluating whether the contract should be awarded to Imvume. The report records that the information that it contained was obtained from attorneys Bell Dewar and Hall, and at a meeting attended by two attorneys from that firm, and by Mr Majali (who was described as the chairman of Imvume) and a representative of an entity referred to as SOPAK. SOPAK was described

as a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore.__

[84] The review revealed that the sole shareholders of Imvume were the trusts that I referred to earlier, and that the trusts had no assets or financial ability, and ‘no ability to assist Imvume in its contractual obligations’. Imvume had no employees or existing infrastructure, it had no management structure (Deloitte & Touche was told that it had ‘a full management team in waiting’ but no details were furnished), and it was being financed by SOPAK on an undefined ‘grant basis’. It had four directors, of whom Mr Majali was one,18 and was said to have a ‘strategic relationship’ with SOPAK but the details were not disclosed.

[85] Imvume was awarded the contract. It seems that it fulfilled its obligations to supply, at least partly, because a document addressed to Imvume by Glencore records a contract between them under which Glencore sold to Imvume 2 million barrels of Basrah Light for delivery to SFF on 6 March 2002.

>>16941717

>>16941722

“The Public Protector v Mail & Guardian Ltd and Others (422 of 2010) [2011] ZASCA 108 (01 June 2011)” – Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa – CEF, PetroSA, SFF, Imvume, Sandi Majali, Glencore (3 of 4)

https://lawlibrary.org.za/za/judgment/supreme-court-appeal-south-africa/2011/108

[37] In the issue of the M&G published on 20 May 2005 an article appeared that had been written jointly by Mr Brümmer, Mr Sole and Mr Wisani wa ka Ngobeni under the heading ‘The ANC’s Oilgate’. The tenor of the article appears from its opening paragraphs, which are expanded on in the remainder of the article:

‘A Mail and Guardian investigation into covert party funding has revealed how R11-million of public

money was diverted to African National Congress coffers ahead of the 2004 election.

In what may be the biggest political funding scandal since 1994 the M&G has established that South Africa’s state oil company, PetroSA, irregularly paid R15-million to Imvume Management – a company closely tied to the ANC – at a time when the party was desperate for funds to fight elections.

The M&G possesses bank statements and has seen other forensic evidence proving that Imvume transferred the lion’s share of this to the ANC within days. PetroSA this week said it was unaware of this. The ANC denied impropriety and said it was not obliged to discuss its funders’

[39] The articles reveal and expand upon facts that are to be found in various documents that are disclosed in the affidavits, more particularly a report of the Auditor General, documents submitted to the Public Protector by PetroSA, and various original documents. I will relate those facts with reference to the documents rather than with reference to the article itself.

[40] That material discloses that in about October 2002 a written contract was concluded between Imvume and PetroSA under which Imvume undertook to deliver to PetroSA cargoes of oil condensate from time to time. The condensate was to be sourced by Imvume from Glencore International AG (Glencore), a Swiss based commodity trader. The contract provided that PetroSA would pay the price of each cargo direct to the bank account of Glencore within 30 days of the date of the bill of lading. The inference from the evidence is that Imvume would receive a fee from Glencore for each cargo.

[41] Cargoes were duly acquired by Imvume from Glencore and delivered to PetroSA from time to time. On 6 December 2003 the ninth cargo of 314 598 barrels of condensate was loaded for delivery. The cost of the cargo was approximately US$10.2 million. The ordinary terms of payment required the full price to be paid to Glencore by no later than 5 January 2004.

[42] On 18 December 2003 Imvume asked PetroSA to make an ‘advance’ payment to it of R15 million (approximately US$2.3 million) and it gave PetroSA an invoice to that effect. The invoice recorded that the payment was to constitute ‘advance payment invoice of North West Shelf condensate (light crude) loaded per vessel Selendang Sari at Dampier, Australia, Bill of Lading dated 06 December 2003’. According to PetroSA the advance was paid to Imvume on the same day.

>>16941717

>>16941722

>>16941730

“The Public Protector v Mail & Guardian Ltd and Others (422 of 2010) [2011] ZASCA 108 (01 June 2011)” – Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa – CEF, PetroSA, SFF, Imvume, Sandi Majali, Glencore (4 of 4)

https://lawlibrary.org.za/za/judgment/supreme-court-appeal-south-africa/2011/108

[43] I pause for a moment to say that it seems odd on the face of it that Imvume asked for an ‘advance’ on the price of the cargo, bearing in mind that its supply contract provided that PetroSA would pay Glencore direct. I have found no explanation for that in the documents but it is a question that the Public Protector might have asked.

[44] The cargo was received by PetroSA on 22 December 2003. On 5 January 2004 – the date that the price of the cargo became payable to Glencore – PetroSA paid to Imvume the balance of the price, which amounted to US$7.9 million. For reasons that are not explained Imvume returned the sum of US$7.4 million to PetroSA on 15 January 2004, retaining the sum of $500 000. On 2 February 2004 PetroSA again paid to Imvume the sum of US$7.4 million, which Imvume paid to Glencore. That left a shortfall that was owing to Glencore of $2.8 million. The shortfall had by then already been paid by PetroSA to Imvume (the advance of $2.3 million plus $500 000 that had been incorporated in the first payment to Imvume of $7.9 million and had not been returned).

[45] The cargo was discharged on 22 December 2003. On 28 January 2004 Glencore invoiced PetroSA for the full amount of the cargo. Glencore told PetroSA that the shortfall had not been paid to it by Imvume, which Imvume admitted to PetroSA. At that stage the next cargo was in transit and Glencore threatened to withhold delivery unless it was paid the shortfall. PetroSA then paid to Glencore the outstanding amount of $2.8 million. The explanation that was given by PetroSA to the Public Protector for paying the debt was that production at its refinery would have been interrupted at substantial cost had the subsequent cargo been withheld.

[47] The ‘scandal’ that was referred to in the article concerned the fate of part of the advance of R15 million that had been paid to Imvume. It was alleged in the article that within days of the R15 million advance having been made to Imvume, Imvume paid R11 million to the governing political party, the African National Congress (ANC). The documents do not disclose the fate of the balance of R4 million that remained in the hands of Imvume, nor the fate of the $500 000 that was retained, but that is not directly relevant to the present case.

[48] The payments that were the subject of the second article were two payments that were alleged to have been made by Imvume on 19 December 2003 (the day after the advance had been received from PetroSA). One was a payment of R50 000 to a company called Uluntu Investments, which was owned by Mr B Mlambo, the brother of the then Minister of Minerals and Energy, Ms P Mlambo-Ngcuka. The other was a payment of R65 000 to Hartkon Construction as part of its price for renovating the private residence of Mr Z Skweyiya, then the Minister of Social Development, and his wife.

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>>16934964

>>16934972

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>>16941722

>Mr Majali (who was described as the chairman of Imvume) and a representative of an entity referred to as SOPAK. SOPAK was described as a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore.

>The review revealed that the sole shareholders of Imvume were the trusts that I referred to earlier, and that the trusts had no assets or financial ability, and ‘no ability to assist Imvume in its contractual obligations’. Imvume had no employees or existing infrastructure, it had no management structure (Deloitte & Touche was told that it had ‘a full management team in waiting’ but no details were furnished), and it was being financed by SOPAK on an undefined ‘grant basis’. It had four directors, of whom Mr Majali was one,18 and was said to have a ‘strategic relationship’ with SOPAK but the details were not disclosed.

“How the ANC fell for Saddam’s oil” – “Sopak is a Glencore associate company active in Africa, and is led by Ivor Ichikowitz”

https://mg.co.za/article/2004-02-06-how-the-anc-fell-for-saddams-oil/

6 February 2004

But the partnership between Majali, Sopak and Glencore grew. Glencore is a major international commodity trader. Sopak is a Glencore associate company active in Africa, and is led by Ivor Ichikowitz, a South African whose business activities have taken him close to the ANC and to individual ruling party luminaries including Mathews Phosa and Tony Yengeni.

Ivor Ichikowits’s Glencore Ties

https://www.intelligenceonline.com/insiders/africa_central-asia_middle-east/2016/09/07/ivor-ichikowitz-the-worldwide-connections-of-the-south-african-arms-magnate/108179801-beg

In reality, however, Ichikowitz built up his contacts network well before he went into the defence industry. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was one of the African representatives of raw materials trader Glencore. Subsequently, he became a key confidant of the powerful by opening luxurious lodges in southern Africa. With his former Glencore colleague Kirk Lazarus, he set up the Molori Safari Lodge in South Africa's Madikwe Game Reserve, where guests included such prestigious and influential figures as Nelson Mandela, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, former Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga and American boxing star Floyd Mayweather.

>>16942282

Ivor Ichikowitz “also owns Molori Safari Lodge in the Madikwe Game Reserve bordering Botswana, dubbed the Camp David of Africa”

https://ivorichikowitz.com/industrialist/

Ivor Ichikowitz is a South African-born industrialist, social entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He began his career during South Africa’s political transition in the early 1990s, working to support Nelson Mandela’s programme of democratisation, national reconciliation, economic and industrial normalisation and integration into the African Continent and the global economy.

For more than two decades he has built a number of successful businesses on four continents in oil and gas, aviation, mining, agriculture, retail, tourism, ICT, aerospace and defence manufacturing; and via his family foundation he has invested substantially in environmental and wildlife conservation, education initiatives, responsible citizenship, and charitable activities.

In keeping with his diversified business empire, Ichikowitz has a portfolio of mining interests, prospecting for concessions in Tantalite, Cassiterite (tin), Wolframite, Gold, Tungsten, Niobium, Phosphate and Graphite, processing and trading. Hand in glove with this, is his interest in renewable energy and mid-stream oil, sourcing and supplying large volumes of crude and refined petroleum in selected African sites, including being Malawi’s largest private petroleum importer, while in Kenya, Ichikowitz has invested in an ethanol plant that produces both biofuel and the highest quality potable alcohol and industrial ethanol, which can be used in beverage, medical and industrial applications. In Gabon, his green economy project has funded renewable energy projects to sustain his other indigenous corporate interests.

Finance plays a major role both in sustaining this and in investing elsewhere in Africa, and to facilitate this Ichikowitz is executive chair of TransAfrica Capital (Pty) Ltd, which actively funds scientific research and development projects in a bid to find innovative solutions for the continent, while incubating new businesses and reinvigorating legacy operations as well as developing infrastructure in the continent.

One of the keys to his global aerospace and technology business, Paramount Group, success has been its strategic partnerships with companies like Singapore’s ST Engineering, Leonardo in Italy, Boeing, Airbus, Bae Systems, Augusta Westland Helicopters, Spirit AeroSystems, Turkey’s Aselsan and the UK’s Qinetiq. The other has been its portable manufacturing model which has helped industrialise client countries, providing brand new jobs and laying the foundations for sustainable indigenous defence manufacturing sectors notably in South East Asia, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and soon several African countries too.

Aerosud, which Paramount has a major stake in, has become an internationally acclaimed aviation business, manufacturing vital high-tech components for Boeing and Airbus, Augusta Westland Helicopters, BAE Systems and Spirit AeroSystems.

Ichikowitz also owns Molori Safari Lodge in the Madikwe Game Reserve bordering Botswana, dubbed the Camp David of Africa because of its popularity among statesmen and A-list celebrities alike, as well as the ultra-exclusive cliff top Moledi Gorge retreat in the Magaliesberg. He has also invested heavily in creating a green economy in Gabon – a first for Africa – on a 700 000-hectare site strategically placed in the Congo basin, which includes eco-tourism, sustainable forestry, and agri-business in partnership with land management company SFM Africa, which will create a carbon offset market for Gabon.

Ichikowitz’s business interests exist both to create jobs and wealth for Africans in Africa, transforming formerly race based economies to include those who were once excluded, while providing perfect partnering opportunities for foreign domiciled investors and manufacturers looking for African partners with a proven track record.