Judge Henney made the remarks as Bradley Goldblatt was wrapping up his testimony and being cross-examined by Zane Kilian’s counsel, Adv Pieter Nel, in the Western Cape Division of the High Court on Monday, 20 May.

Goldblatt admitted to the court on 16 May that he sold pings illegally, but that he had alerted authorities on 3 September 2020 to a possible threat to the life of the Anti-Gang Unit’s Lt Col Charl Kinnear.

He gave the court a detailed account of Kilian’s purchase of pings and of how Kilian pinged Kinnear, lawyer William Booth and alleged Sexy Boys gang leader, Jerome “Donkie” Booysen.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Hawks were monitoring pinging of Kinnear’s phone when he was assassinated, court hears”

Kilian has admitted to pinging Kinnear’s cellphone to trace his location, and claims he did so at the behest of co-accused Nafiz Modack. 

Kinnear was gunned down in September 2020.

Initially, Kilian was the sole accused, but Modack was added to the charge sheet. Both men have also been charged with attempting to murder Booth.

Modack and Kilian, along with 13 co-accused, are collectively facing 124 charges including murder, attempted murder, corruption, gangsterism, extortion, the illegal interception of communications, money laundering and contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

The other accused are Jacques Cronje, Ziyaad Poole, Moegamat Brown, Riyaat Gesant, Fagmeed Kelly, Mario Petersen, Petrus Visser, Janick Adonis, Amaal Jantjies, former Anti-Gang Unit Sergeant Ashley Tabisher, Yaseen Modack, Mogamat Mukudam and Ricardo Morgan.

Nafiz Modack (left) and Zane Kilian in the Western Cape Division of the High Court, where they and 13 co-accused face a slew of charges, including the murder of the Anti-Gang Unit’s Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear. (Photo: Jaco Marais / Die Burger / Gallo Images)

Pattern of pinging

The court also heard on 16 May that Goldblatt did not have any authorisation under the Rica Act to perform pinging and that he was doing so illegally.

Asked by Nel to explain the process in layman’s terms, Goldblatt replied: “The pattern of movement of the person being pinged showed Kinnear’s work and home addresses, the times he left and arrived, and the car he was driving, all provided by the MarisIT system. The pinging indicates whether a person was going to his home, a shopping mall or to work.”

Henney then told Goldblatt: “You are ultimately responsible for this pinging because you caused it. The LAD system you used was illegal. Kilian interfaced with the MarisIT system, from which he obtained the person’s actual identity and address.

“Once you had the MarisIT system combined with the information from the LAD system, you could trace a person, provided you had an address given to you by MarisIT, which is illegal. You shouldn’t sell the MarisIT system. You put Kilian in a position to ping Kinnear. If Kilian has to go down as a client, you also have to go down.”

Goldblatt replied: “Yes, my Lord, I realise that.”

Nel asked Goldblatt if he was aware that his name was included in the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) report on Kinnear’s murder, and he replied, “Yes, I was aware, and I made a statement to Ipid.”

Leaked Ipid report

A leaked Ipid report compiled by Lt Gen Moeketsi Sempe, divisional commissioner of visible policing and dated 6 October 2020, outlines the investigation into Kinnear’s assassination.

According to the report, statements were obtained from, among others, Kinnear’s widow, former Major General Andre Lincoln, former Major General Jeremy Vearey, Warrant Officer Wynand Olivier, Major General Ebrahim Kadwa and Lt Col Buyani Mabasa.

Vearey, according to the report, stated that Modack could have had a relationship with General Mzwandile Tiyo, then Western Cape head of Crime Intelligence, Major General Patrick Mbotho, and Captain Paul Hendricks from the Hawks.

“During 2018, Vearey redeployed the deceased, Kinnear, to the Anti-Gang Unit, where, soon after, Kinnear informed him about the existence of a rogue unit which had intentions to arrest amongst others, the deceased,” the report reads.

Caryn Dolley, author and investigative reporter for Daily Maverick, also reported in October 2022 that Ipid was grilled in Parliament about why a report on the assassination of Kinnear was suddenly restricted, preventing public access to it. 

Police Committee chairperson Tina Joemat-Pettersson, during a meeting in Parliament on 14 October, accused Ipid of putting Parliament in an unfavourable position via its submission of the restricted report.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Ipid’s ‘secret’ report into top cop Charl Kinnear’s killing has compromised Parliament, police committee hears”

In November 2022, it was reported Parliament was told that the police watchdog report into Kinnear’s assassination was restricted as senior officers were implicated.

At first, the widely leaked Ipid report into the assassination of Kinnear – and critical shortcomings in the SA Police Service – was not res­tricted. 

Daily Maverick and other publications ran several articles on its contents.

However, it later emerged the report had been classified “Top Secret”, meaning only those with special clearance were allowed to see it. No reasons for this were initially provided.

Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘We were lied to’ – The fiasco of ‘Top Secret’ Ipid report into the assassination of senior cop Charl Kinnear

When Nel asked Goldblatt if he was aware that his name and that of Warrant Officer Olivier were mentioned in the Ipid investigation into Kinnear’s shooting, he replied, “I knew what I was getting myself into from the start, and I gave statements to Ipid.”

The State will at a later date call Olivier, Lincoln and Vearey to testify. The matter continues on Tuesday. DM

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In two more twists in the ongoing saga at the University of Fort Hare, the South African Local Government Association has withdrawn its nominee on the university council, and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has peremptorily summoned the entire university council to a meeting in Johannesburg on Thursday, 23 May — even though the university’s vice-chancellor is not in SA at present. 

In 2017, before he became premier, Oscar Mabuyane, then the Eastern Cape chairperson of the ANC, was ostensibly working on a thesis for a master’s degree (an MAdmin) titled A Critical Analysis of the Application of the Inter-Governmental Relations Policy: The Case of Two Eastern Cape Government Departments. 

In 2019, Horizon Forensics started a wide-ranging investigation into the ongoing situation at the University of Fort Hare. Mabuyane was by then the premier of the Eastern Cape.  

In their investigation, the forensic lawyers called Mabuyane “the Big Student”. 

When, in October 2020, a senior manager at the university expressed her concern that Mabuyane was registered for a master’s degree in Public Administration without meeting the minimum academic requirements for entry, namely an honours degree, it raised a flag for the university. This led to his deregistration.   

Horizon Forensics, however, was only commissioned by the university to investigate Mabuyane six months later and played no part in the decision to deregister Mabuyane.  

Horizon Forensics’ director, Sarah Burger, found that Mabuyane had no application for recognition of prior learning on file with the university to bridge the academic gap. 

Mabuyane’s supervisor was Professor Edwin Ijeoma. He resigned from the university after evidence was led against him at his disciplinary hearing that he had effectively defrauded the university of approximately R4.8-million. He was later arrested on a charge that he stole one of the university’s fleet vehicles, but this charge was withdrawn because of insufficient evidence. 

Mabuyane’s proposal 

According to a forensic report on Mabuyane’s thesis, there were allegations that Ijeoma was involved in the irregular registration of students and that the university had awarded them degrees in questionable circumstances. 

In their report, investigators said they found numerous emails and hard-copy documents that suggested serious irregularities in Mabuyane’s registration. Electronic files were subjected to metadata analysis, which allows digital or computer forensic investigators to understand the history of a particular electronic file, including when the file was created, modified and accessed. 

The evidence against Mabuyane was compiled from documents found in the offices of Ijeoma and his assistant, Candyce Dawes.  

“What we have discovered in assessing the available evidence is deeply tragic and adds further credence to the university’s decision to deregister Mabuyane, albeit from a completely different angle,” the report detailing the “Big Student” investigation reads. 

An email thread that began on 17 April 2018 asked Mabuyane to choose a topic for his MAdmin dissertation from two options provided by Ijeoma, but he could also choose his own topic.

Number two on this list was “An in-depth analysis of the application of the IGR Policy: The case of the Eastern Cape Government ( 2010-2015)”. 

On 17 July 2018, a postdoctoral student in Ijeoma’s department sent Mabuyane a proposal titled “An in-depth analysis of the application of the IGR Policy: The case of two Eastern Cape Government Departments (2010-2015)”.  

In October, Ijeoma asked Mabuyane to “complete” the proposal “as discussed”. 

Many emails followed. 

Horizon owner Bradley Conradie appears in the Dimbaza Magistrates’ Court in the Eastern Cape. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

In her report, Burger said metadata on the proposal sent by Mabuyane showed its origin as the computer of one of the students in Ijeoma’s department.

The only differences were minor changes in the title, some paraphrasing and the addition of information.

Mabuyane presented his proposal to a departmental committee. Beforehand, he requested Ijeoma to point him to the relevant parts of the proposal as he “was in trouble”. After his presentation, Ijeoma congratulated him on a job well done. 

A letter was found to motivate Mabuyane’s late registration for a PhD. This, Burger found, was generated from Dawes’ computer. 

“All indications are that Mabuyane’s master’s proposal was a sham. It was conceived, authored and constantly refined by Ijeoma and his researchers. At most, Mabuyane titivated and paraphrased here and there.

“It is not possible for Mabuyane to claim innocence and argue that he did not know what was being done for him. The evidence against him is too compelling. It is clear … that several university employees were assisting Ijeoma and Mabuyane in their attempts to deceive the university into believing that Mabuyane was doing what was expected of him as a student, not to mention a master’s student. Appropriate action will need to be taken against them,” the forensic report by Horizon reads.

Mabuyane has filed a legal review application against the decision by the university to deregister him and the Horizon forensic report.

Horizon Forensics’ owner, Bradley Conradie, said he and Burger believed their arrests were linked to their handing over evidence relating to Mabuyane to the Hawks.

Other cases 

Conradie said BCHC attorneys and Horizon Forensics were contracted in 2018 to investigate the goings-on at the University of Fort Hare.  

They made a significant impact but were frustrated by the slow pace of law enforcement. 

In an interview last week, Conradie and Burger said it was “incomprehensible” that out of about 20 cases they had referred to the SA Police Service over six years, complete with reports and detailed evidence, no arrests were made.  

“At most, only two individuals were interviewed and arrested this year regarding a case from 2019,” they said. 

Just before this year’s Easter weekend, they themselves were arrested.  

Horizon director Sarah Burger in court. (Photo Deon Ferreira)

Successes at Fort Hare 

Several criminal syndicates that had infiltrated the university, including Nigerian, local business, staff, student and politically connected syndicates, were exposed by Horizon Forensics’ investigations. About 40 employees were dismissed or resigned and 20 cases were sent to the Hawks. 

Horizon Forensics drew up a comprehensive report detailing the corrupt networks operating within the institution, which formed the basis for a submission to the President in support of a proclamation that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) intervene. Horizon Forensics brought the SIU to the university so it could use its powers to take investigations beyond what Horizon Forensics could do, such as accessing bank accounts.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane asks court to exclude him from ‘malicious’ SIU Fort Hare probe

Read more in Daily Maverick: Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane wins interdict forcing SIU to back down, pending judicial review 

As soon as the SIU started probing Mabuyane’s stint under Ijeoma, he approached the court to stop the probe, claiming that it fell outside the mandate given and signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

In February, a senior prosecutor and two captains from the Hawks in East London visited Horizon Forensics’ offices in Cape Town for three days. During this time, Burger provided a statement for a case in which she was to be a witness and assisted with two other high-profile cases. This was not unusual because they had shared information with law enforcement agencies for several years, including the Hawks, the SIU, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the National Task Force. 

Security camera footage of the raid on Horizon’s offices showing heavily armed policemen guarding investigators. (Screengrab: Supplied)

Arrests

In what the pair described as “an unnecessarily dramatic show”, Burger and Conradie were arrested on 28 March by about 24 members of the National Task Force and the National Intervention Unit (NIU). 

They were flown to East London in a private jet. Conradie estimates that the operation cost between R2-million and R3-million.  

“As court officers, we could simply have been summoned to appear in court,” he said. “There was no need for this elaborate arrest.” 

CCTV footage of the raid on Horizon Forensics’ offices shows most of the armed members of the arresting task team sitting on couches and scrolling on their phones.  

Conradie said the search and seizure warrants used during this operation were “patently unlawful” and would be challenged in court. He said investigators spent seven hours seizing electronic devices and information at Horizon Forensics and even searched the fridge. Conradie and Burger believe investigators were looking for evidence in the Mabuyane case. 

Conradie said he received information from an NIU member that the instructions for the extreme measures taken during his arrest originated “from Pretoria”. The team that arrested him was briefed that he was “dangerous, will resist arrest and has armed bodyguards. The officer concerned then commented: ‘Now all I see is a quiet and gentle man,’” Conradie said.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Fort Hare VC says alleged criminal syndicate masterminds were connected before arriving at university 

Burger spent five nights in holding cells before the State agreed to grant her bail. Conradie spent the Easter weekend behind bars and was told his bail application would be opposed. He spent another nine days in prison with people he described as hardened criminals before he was granted bail.

Conradie said that after the Easter weekend, his attorney, William Booth, offered R100,000 in bail. This was rejected on the basis that bail was opposed. Then, nine days later when the bail hearing took place, the State indicated that it did not oppose his bail and agreed to an amount of R50,000. This meant that he spent nine additional days in prison for no reason, Conradie said.

Now he and Burger are sharing the dock with former employees and associates of the University of Fort Hare on an allegation that they had “all run and were part of a criminal enterprise”. 

But they only knew a few of their co-accused and had investigated some of them.  

Some charges against them, formulated in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, were dropped because the prosecutor did not obtain permission from the National Director of Public Prosecutions as required by law. 

Warnings 

Burger said that towards the end of 2023, Conradie, in her presence, received a telephonic warning from senior law enforcement officials that he was being targeted politically and a decision had been made to “deal with him”. 

Conradie consulted the lawyer John Riley, who advised him to take the threat seriously, given his and Burger’s work at Fort Hare. The Hawks, the SIU and the NPA also warned them, on separate occasions, that their lives were in danger given the evidence they had gathered against a diverse range of people.  

“You know,” Conradie said, “our position after the assassination of Mr Petrus Roets was that we would meet with law enforcement anywhere but in East London.” At the time of his murder, Roets — who was the fleet manager at the university — was working with Horizon Forensics to identify corrupt employees in his department at the university.  

In 2022, Conradie and Burger were urged to attend a meeting at the SIU’s offices in East London and reluctantly agreed. At a traffic light, their car was rushed by four men, one of whom brandished a pistol. They managed to speed off unharmed. The incident was later described as “a robbery that had gone wrong”. 

Discredit 

Conradie and Burger believe their arrests are an attempt to discredit them.  

“In any functioning democracy, the university could go to their local police station and complain about possible fraud and corruption. The police would do what is necessary — investigate and arrest after following due process. 

“Not in South Africa. This work has to be done by private forensic companies and even after it is done, the police do not follow it up despite all the evidence already gathered and prepared for trial,” Conradie said. 

A few weeks before Burger and Conradie were arrested, former University of Fort Hare residence manager Thobeka Portia Heshula (68), her son Ngcwengo Collin Uhuru Heshula (41) and his company, Heshula Solutions, appeared in the Alice Magistrates’ Court facing 53 counts of fraud, amounting to more than R1.5-million, and forgery and uttering.

The charges related to the awarding of tenders to the son’s company by the mother as the official responsible for appointing service providers and authorising payments to those service providers.  

They were each released on bail of R1,000. 

Conradie said that before their arrest, he and Burger were in a civil court helping the SIU to reclaim the money the university lost in the Heshula matter.   

Burger was supposed to be a witness in the civil and criminal cases. 

It is alleged that Thobeka Heshula, who has since retired from Fort Hare, had firsthand knowledge of tenders and contracts that the university needed to procure. Ngcwengo Heshula allegedly generated three quotations on his mother’s advice, creating the misrepresentation that they were from three separate entities. These quotations were allegedly issued under fictitious or fronting entities’ names. 

This scheme ensured that Heshula Solutions, or entities with ties to it, would be appointed as the university’s favoured service provider. The two accused also allegedly authorised payments of invoices submitted by alleged entities for services not rendered. An internal investigation by the university uncovered the alleged scheme and the Heshulas have, after civil proceedings in the Makhanda High Court, paid back the money with interest, totalling R2-million.   

Burger said that after Isaac Plaatjies, the axed senior director at Fort Hare, was arrested this year on fraud and corruption charges, they decided to no longer work for the university.

Read more in Daily Maverick: University of Fort Hare’s head of investigations arrested for murder and attempted murder 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Criminal enterprise at Fort Hare created an atmosphere of terror for kick-backs

“The university is rotten to the core. We wanted to give up on them several times before. They were just draining us,” Conradie said. 

 “I also want to point out that we benefited nothing from this. The university did not pay us on time. We committed our lives to this and are now treated like dirt.” 

Discussing his relationship with Plaatjies, Conradie said: “Before 2020, I had never met or heard of Isaac Plaatjies. Till today, I do not know any personal details about him. I do not know where he lives, the name of his wife and how many children he has. When I met him, he was a contractor at the university on a month-to-month basis. He had no position and no budget. By then, we had been providing services to the university since 2018.

“In December 2020, my previous partner of seven years, who ran the day-to-day operations at Horizon Forensics, suddenly announced he was leaving the country. An urgent replacement was required and Isaac Plaatjies, given his go-getter skills, was a consideration, among several other people in the forensic industry.

Heavily armed agents entering Horizon’s offices. (Sreengrab: Supplied)

“In the end, I offered Isaac Plaatjies my former partner’s shareholding (49%) and salary, which he accepted.

“I subsequently reneged on the agreement for reasons I won’t go into now, and we reached a financial settlement. That he was joining me was known to the university in January 2021 and subsequent disclosures were made.

“Had the police followed the most basic step of investigating a matter, they would have approached me and asked me for an explanation about my relationship with Isaac Plaatjies and any payments to him. I would have explained it to them with supporting evidence. They did not do so, and till today, they have not asked me for an explanation.”   

Also, read in Daily Maverick: University of Fort Hare VC’s roller-coaster ride for justice in face of murder and criminal syndicates 

Conradie and Burger appeared along with their co-accused in the Dimbaza Magistrates’ Court last month. The matter was adjourned to September “for further investigation”.

Mabuyane’s response 

Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Yanga Funani, promised to provide us with answers to a wide range of questions but has not yet done so.  

However, Mabuyane did share some information in court papers when he interdicted the SIU from questioning him and searching his office and house. 

In his affidavit, he said he “supports an investigation into corruption and maladministration at the university”. He added, “There seems to be a malicious plan to cause me damage.”  

Mabuyane objected to the investigations being run in the media and the use of “draconian” and “unfairly oppressive” measures. 

“I never claimed that I have an honours academic qualification or its equivalence,” Mabuyane said. 

One of the documents that the SIU sought from Mabuyane was “an original copy of your proposal which is a requirement for study towards a master’s degree by research”. 

Mabuyane claimed he “intends to produce this in a lawful investigation”.  

The court ordered a halt to the SIU investigation into Mabuyane but said the proclamation that mandated its Fort Hare investigation could be amended. In April, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said this amended proclamation had been submitted in July 2023 but was still being “processed”.

Mabuyane also instituted a review of the decision to deregister him from the MAdmin course and of the Horizon Forensics report into his thesis. In these court documents, he denied using ghostwriters to write his thesis. 

Vice-chancellor’s affidavit

In an affidavit, Fort Hare Vice-Chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu supported the university’s opposition to Mabuyane’s review applications. 

He stated that the Horizon Forensics report was never submitted to the university’s Senate and played no role in the decision to deregister Mabuyane. He said Mabuyane should not have registered in the first place as he was “in flagrant breach” of admission requirements for an MAdmin degree (he didn’t have an honours degree).

The university’s counsel, Ncumisa Mayosi and Eshed Cohen, wrote in their heads of argument filed at the court that Mabuyane took so long to review the decision to deregister him that his case should fail on those grounds alone. They argued that the fact that he did not have the requisite qualifications to register for an MAdmin degree should be the end of the matter. 

NPA comment 

The spokesperson for the Eastern Cape NPA, Luxolo Tyali, said the case against Conradie and Burger was in court because the NPA had evidence linking them to crimes.  

“If they have evidence of political motivation, they can make representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions or escalate it to the National Director of Public Prosecutions. The separate case being investigated by the Hawks on allegations against Oscar Mabuyane can be best answered by the Hawks.”  

Tyali said the case of theft against Ijeoma was withdrawn due to a lack of credible evidence. “I am not aware of the fraud/corruption case. Maybe it is still with the Hawks.” 

The Hawks have not yet responded to a request for comment.

Salga withdraws from Fort Hare Council

Last week, the South African Local Government Association (Salga), which nominates a council member for the University of Fort Hare, “temporarily withdrew” its council member.

In a letter written by Salga’s Eastern Cape chairperson, Mesuli Ngqondwana, the organisation stated that while it remained committed “to continuing to play a meaningful role in enhancing the developmental mandate of the university, after careful consideration, the provincial leadership of Salga has decided to suspend its participation from the university council [to give] the institution an opportunity to address both its council and administrative challenges and significantly reduce prospects of finding our organisation being involved in the intricacies of the foregoing.

“As the leadership of Salga, we wish to reiterate our commitment to continue playing this important role and therefore look forward to lifting this suspension as soon as both leadership and administrative stability prevail within the university.” 

Buhlungu denied that there was a governance crisis at the university.

Compulsory in-person meeting

On 14 May, Nzimande sent a letter to the chairperson of the Fort Hare Council, Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza, ordering an “in-person” meeting with the full council on Thursday, 23 May at the Southern Sun Hotel at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. 

The minister stipulated that no virtual attendance would be allowed.

He expressed his “deep concern” about the university’s stability, functionality, accountability and reputation. 

He asked for information about the vetting procedure followed before the appointment of Plaatjies as the university’s director of vetting and investigation. He also asked for an explanation of how those arrested in the corruption case worked under the vice-chancellor’s watch.

Another of the accused in the corruption case is Paul Tladi, the university’s human resources director, and the minister asked what impact his arrest and subsequent dismissal would have on disciplinary action taken at the university. 

“It is clear to me that the minister wants to get rid of me,” Buhlungu said. He said there were no administrative challenges at the university.

Sources at the university said Nzimande had asked a former professor at the institution to take over as administrator.

Buhlungu said he was in Sweden at a global vice-chancellors’ conference and it would be extremely difficult for the council members to attend a meeting on such short notice. “It will also come at a huge expense for the university,” he said.  

Nzimande’s spokesperson, Ishmael Mnisi, has not yet responded to a request for comment. DM

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Bandile Tshabalala (33) died on Sunday, 19 May after allegedly being locked in a cold room at Shoprite in Heidelberg for about 11 hours for allegedly stealing a chocolate from the supermarket in Ratanda Mall, some 70km from Johannesburg.

His sister Simangele Tshabalala said that on Sunday night, “I was sleeping, then I heard a loud knock. At first, I assumed my brother was back home only to be told that he had died.

Bandile Tshabalala died on Sunday 19 May 2024 after allegedly being locked in a cold room for about 11 hours, after he allegedly stole two slabs of chocolate at a Shoprite Supermarket in Ratanda Mall. (Photo: Supplied)

“I didn’t believe it, and wanted to see for myself.”

A barefoot Tshabalala and her brother’s friends rushed to the mall, where they saw his lifeless body. It had allegedly been removed from the cold room and placed outside Shoprite.

“What I saw broke my heart. His body was frozen, he could not move or anything; it’s like he died while trying to keep himself warm — with hands wrapped around his upper body,” she said.

Simangele Tshabalala, elder sister to Bandile Tshabalala who died at a Shoprite supermarket in Ratanda Mall. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Shoprite did not respond to questions sent by Daily Maverick but confirmed it had instituted an investigation into the incident.

“The supermarket chain extends its condolences to the family following their loss. The allegations are seen in an extremely serious light and the necessary steps will be taken pending the outcome of a full investigation.

Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘I know I’m sinning, but it’s for my kids’ – hunger and poverty driving the spike in shoplifting in SA

“We cannot comment on the details of the incident as it is a police matter, and the local South African Police Service (SAPS) should be contacted for more information. We always give our full cooperation and provide all available information to the SAPS to assist their investigation,” Shoprite said.

The Heidelberg police referred queries to the provincial office, which could not be reached for comment by the time of publishing.

Private security evacuated residents at Shoprite supermarket in Ratanda Mall. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Community unrest  

On Monday, a crowd of more than 100 people gathered near Shoprite in the Ratanda Mall and was met by a heavy private security presence. Tensions were high, with Shoprite management apparently refusing to address the angry crowd.

A man who identified himself as a centre manager told Daily Maverick journalists, “Get out, or you’ll have serious problems”.

Moments later, rubber bullets were fired and the crowd fled, with some stopping to throw stones at the guards. Daily Maverick‘s journalist and photographer also had to shelter from the flying rubber bullets.

The shots continued after the crowd left the premises, forcing bystanders to seek shelter behind trees and cars. A woman walking with her primary school son screamed, “Why are they killing us?”

Residents and shoppers hiding behind cars and fleeing while private security open fire outside Shoprite Supermarket in Ratanda Mall. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Shoppers flee as private security shoot at them outside Shoprite at Ratanda Mall. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

At least two police vehicles simply drove past the scene of mayhem.

Resident Mooi Macingwane said, “We are being shot at because we want justice and answers. How can they do this when one of us is no more? Nobody deserves to die like that, regardless of what they have done.”

Residents and TV crew hiding behind cars while private security shoot rubber bullets outside Shoprite Supermarket in Ratanda Mall. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Another resident, Thokoza Dlamini, said that last year, her niece had stolen a packet of cheese from Shoprite and was locked in its cold room.

“They confirmed to me that because police cannot arrest young children, they lock them in the cold room for two hours. It is a normal thing here, we are used to it.”

Thokoza Dlaminini was angered by the death of Bandile Tshabalala. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Shoprite did not respond to the claim.

Bandile Tshabalala’s neighbour Mzwandile Skhosana said, “He was smoking, like the other youth, but we have never heard of a single complaint about him stealing or doing wrong things in the community.  Whenever he was hungry, he would ask for food and we would share as neighbours.”

His sister Simangele said, “I am not saying that he didn’t do the crime, but I doubt it. Even if he did, he didn’t deserve to die like a dog.”

Hours after the incident, Gauteng’s MEC for safety, Faith Mazibuko, addressed a crime imbizo and outlined measures to tackle the scourge of criminality in Ratanda and surrounding areas. These include the deployment of wardens and patrollers, the use of e-panic buttons, and the installation of six CCTV cameras. DM

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Funds from a huge City of Tshwane (CoT) transport project, coupled with proceeds from the Passenger Rail Agency of SA’s (Prasa) botched locomotives tender, in effect sponsored a R10-million donation the ANC pocketed in 2014.

Bank statements and other financial records allowed us to trace funds from the two contracts to a shadowy ANC “fundraiser”. This person ultimately paid the generous donation into the governing party’s fundraising account.

Our two-part series raises pertinent questions regarding the ANC’s fundraising machinery. Do the donations flagged in our reports constitute arm’s-length contributions from generous businesspeople? Or do they underpin something much more sinister? Is the ANC in effect pocketing alleged kickbacks from government contracts?

Today’s investigation examines financial dealings between Gauteng businessman Auswell Mashaba and Angolan national Maria Gomes, two key figures in Prasa’s corrupt R3.5-billion locomotives contract.

Gomes, one of the alleged fundraisers linked to the Prasa deal, has long been identified as a recipient of monies from Mashaba. However, the ANC’s gain from these dealings has never been illustrated in forensic detail.

Until today, that is.

Swifambo Rail Leasing and Swifambo Rail Holdings, the front companies Mashaba had set up specifically for the Prasa contract, banked R2.65-billion from the state-owned rail operator, before the transaction dramatically collapsed in 2015.

This wasn’t the only public transport project Mashaba had been involved in.

By the time the Prasa deal came about, one of Mashaba’s other companies was already earning huge fees from the CoT. At the time, the metro was controlled by the ANC.

A-M Consulting Engineers, or AMCE, was first appointed in 2011 to run the project management unit for the metro’s Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN). One of AMCE’s core tasks was to help deliver Tshwane’s A Re Yeng bus service. Between 2011 and 2017, AMCE earned R1.4-billion in fees from the CoT.

The Tshwane tender may warrant every bit as much scrutiny as Swifambo’s Prasa deal. Here, we detail how the metro lifted the cap on AMCE’s contract, paving the way for a colossal increase in the fees AMCE ended up pocketing.

Our investigation reveals how some of Swifambo’s proceeds from the Prasa contract got mixed up with AMCE’s earnings from the Tshwane project. We’ll illustrate how AMCE diverted some of these co-mingled funds to one of Gomes’ companies. Crucially, we’ll illustrate how Gomes ultimately used these very funds to forward R10-million to the ANC. This chain of transactions leaves very little doubt as to whether the governing party had been gifted a boon that consisted purely of public monies.

Mashaba could not be reached for comment. He ignored multiple emails and text messages offering him a right of reply.

“The ANC is at this stage unable to provide information as to the circumstances or nature of the purported donations,” the governing party said in a written statement.

It added: “In its submission to the State Capture Commission, the ANC acknowledged evidence presented to the [Zondo] Commission ‘that suggests that the ANC may have been the recipient of donations from individuals and companies that received contracts from the state, including in instances where the awarding of those contracts are alleged to have been unlawful’.”

“The ANC stands ready to provide whatever assistance may be sought from law enforcement agencies in the investigation of these purported donations or any other alleged criminal activity.” Here is the ANC’s full response.

Money trail

Our trek through the Swifambo and AMCE accounts takes us back to 2013. On 5 April of that year, a Friday, Swifambo Rail Holdings received an eye-watering R460.5-million in its Standard Bank current account.

Swifambo’s first huge payment from Prasa.

This was Swifambo’s very first payment from Prasa.

On the Monday, 8 April, Mashaba began to divert large chunks of the Prasa payment to other accounts. This included payments to his own trust. These transactions had absolutely nothing to do with sourcing locomotives for Prasa. In just two weeks’ time, Mashaba drained R138.8-million from the Swifambo account. This was money that should have gone to Vossloh Espana, the Spanish manufacturer that Swifambo had subcontracted to deliver the trains. Mashaba’s actions left too little funds in the Swifambo account to fully settle Vossloh Espana’s bills. Mashaba had therefore in effect scuppered the deal at the very outset.

In the below letter, recently retrieved from ongoing liquidation proceedings, Vossloh informed Swifambo that it would suspend the manufacturing process. In the end, Vossloh only delivered 13 of the 70 locomotives that Prasa had ordered through Swifambo. They were found to be too tall for the country’s rail specifications.

One of the entities that received bits of the first Prasa payment was Mashaba’s engineering firm, A-M Consulting Engineers, or AMCE.

Directly after Swifambo was paid by Prasa, Mashaba began moving funds to other accounts. Some of the money went to AMCE, his engineering firm.

On the Monday following the big Prasa payment, Mashaba moved R5-million from Swifambo Rail Holdings to AMCE’s business current account, referencing the transaction as a “loan”. The next day, he transferred a R3-million “loan” from Swifambo to AMCE. None of these “loans” was ever repaid.

Meanwhile, AMCE was also getting money from the Tshwane metro. On that very same Monday, a payment of R9.8-million from the metro arrived in AMCE’s business current account. As a result, funds from the Tshwane bus project and the Prasa trains deal were in effect blended together in the AMCE account.

R5m from Swifambo arrives in AMCE’s business current account. On the same day, AMCE received R9.8m from the City of Tshwane.

The next day, 9 April, Mashaba moved R9.8-million from AMCE’s business account to AMCE’s Standard Bank investment account. The money remained in the investment account only for a very brief period of time. Later that same day, Mashaba moved the R9.8-million from the investment account to an AMCE savings account, also held at Standard Bank.

The R9.8m from the City of Tshwane arrives in AMCE’s savings account, via a Standard Bank investment account.

Whether Mashaba’s intentions were to separate the Tshwane monies from the Prasa funds is unclear. If this were indeed what he’d hoped to achieve, the effect would have been temporary. In August 2013, Mashaba again moved some of Swifambo’s locomotives funds to AMCE. This time, he paid R4-million directly into the AMCE savings account. He referenced the transaction as a so-called refund. Again, funds from the trains deal and the Tshwane project were now mixed together in the AMCE savings account.

The R4m ‘refund’ exits the AMCE business current account. . .

. . . and hops into the AMCE savings account.

Meanwhile, AMCE was receiving a steady stream of payments from the Tshwane metro. Between April and December, the city transferred R227-million to AMCE’s current account. Mashaba moved much of this money — at least R100-million — to the savings account, using the Standard Bank investment account as a pipeline.

A series of transactions from December 2013 illustrates this flow of funds. On 18 December, the metro paid R31.8-million into AMCE’s business current account. Mashaba subsequently moved R20-million to the AMCE investment account. Finally, on 31 December, he transferred R20-million from the investment account into the AMCE savings account.

Funds from the Tshwane transport project went from AMCE’s business current account to the company’s savings account. The funds took a detour through AMCE’s investment account.

By the end of the year, AMCE’s savings account showed a healthy balance of roughly R70-million. This was largely made up of funds from the Tshwane transport project, mixed with whatever would have been left over from the Swifambo deposit.

Gomes the ‘fundraiser’

How Mashaba got mixed up with Gomes has been a matter of some contention.

When the Prasa scandal first broke in 2015, Mashaba allegedly confessed to then Prasa chairperson Popo Molefe that the Angolan businesswoman had approached him to demand a cut of the trains deal.

Mashaba later denied that those had been his words to Molefe. But his affidavit in the Swifambo review application is telling. Mashaba claimed he’d been introduced to Gomes by lawyer George Sabelo, a business partner of then president Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward. Crucially, Mashaba stated that both Sabelo and Gomes presented themselves as “fundraisers for the ANC”.

Sabelo would later deny these claims. In testimony filed in ongoing liquidation proceedings, he stated: “I have never been a fundraiser for the ANC … I have never, at any stage, introduced Mrs Gomes to Mr Mashaba.” Sabelo claimed that Gomes had been his client, and that he’d been helping her set up businesses in South Africa. However, there is a strong political flavour to Sabelo’s involvement in the saga. His law firm, Nkosi Sabelo, received nearly R30-million from Swifambo. We’ve previously detailed how some of this money was used to purchase a Mercedes SUV. Jacob Zuma’s PA at Luthuli House once posted a picture of the car on her Facebook page.

R10m to the ANC

Sabelo may deny that he’d acted as an ANC “fundraiser”, but the bank records we’ll now unpack prove that his “client”, Gomes, funnelled funds to the governing party.

In early January 2014, Gomes’ company, Similex, sent two invoices to Mashaba’s AMCE. The first invoice, dated 1 January, was for R14.1-million. A second invoice, for R16.45-million, was sent to Mashaba on 5 January.

One of the invoices Gomes’ company, Similex, had sent to Mashaba’s AMCE.

On both invoices, Similex claimed that it had done “planning, development and implementation” work for the IRPTN, Tshwane’s transport project.

On 10 January 2014, Mashaba transferred exactly R14.1-million from AMCE’s savings account to an FNB account belonging to Gomes’ Similex, thereby settling the first invoice. On 20 January, AMCE transferred R14.5-million to Similex. It is not clear why this figure differs from the one on the second invoice.

From the AMCE savings account, Mashaba transferred R28.6m to Similex. He did so in two tranches.

Whatever the case, Similex now held in its account R28.6-million from AMCE, monies that purely derived from funds that AMCE had amassed on the back of the Tshwane and Prasa contracts.

On 10 January 2014, a payment of R14.1m from AMCE arrived in Similex’s FNB account.

On 24 January 2014, four days after Similex had received the second payment from AMCE, Gomes moved R15-million from her company’s FNB account into her personal cheque account. She did so by way of three transfers of R5-million each.

The second transfer from AMCE was cleared into the Similex account on 20 January 2014. Similex now held R28.6m from AMCE. Four days later, Gomes moved R15m to her personal FNB account.

Finally, directly after Gomes had received the R15-million from Similex, she transferred R10-million to the ANC. This was done through two transfers of R5-million apiece. Gomes entered “Anc Fundraising” and “Friends Da Cruz” as references for the transfers. (Her full name is Maria Caetano Da Cruz Gomes.)

The R15m from Similex enters Gomes’ person FNB account. She then swiftly forwards R10m to the ANC.

We were able to confirm that the two R5-million transfers from Gomes indeed ended up in an ANC account. The Nedbank account, called the ‘ANC Fundraising’ account, was listed by the party in this 2021 statement regarding a crowdfunding campaign.

Prasa boon or bus bonanza?

One might be tempted to ascribe the ANC’s boon to the Tshwane transport project. After all, the metro made one of its payments to AMCE shortly before Gomes submitted her invoices to Mashaba. What’s more, the Similex invoices specifically referenced the IRPTN project.

But there are just too many factors suggesting that Gomes had come into the picture as a result of the Prasa deal, not the Tshwane project.

We can’t discount the possibility that the IRPTN invoices were merely a means to move funds from AMCE to Gomes’ company.

A former AMCE employee, who was directly involved in the Tshwane bus project, told us he had no recollection of a company called Similex doing work for AMCE.

Gomes herself once told this reporter that Similex was paid for work it had supposedly done on the locomotives contract.

Then there is the R2.5-million that Sabelo’s law firm had passed on to Similex. Nkosi Sabelo paid the money to Gomes’ company in June 2013, two months after the firm had received nearly R30-million from Swifambo. In other words, Similex had pocketed some of the locomotives money long before it received the IRPTN payments from AMCE.

Another clue surfaced when investigators searched Prasa’s computer servers. This was after the Prasa scandal had broken. They found email exchanges between Gomes and none other than Lucky Montana, the parastatal’s then CEO. In the emails, Montana and Gomes discussed some of Prasa’s projects and contracts.

Finally, there is Montana’s startling testimony at the Zondo Commission. The former Prasa boss said he had visited Gomes at her Sandton home, accompanied by then ANC treasurer-general Dr Zweli Mkhize. ‘‘We discussed ANC finances and all of those things there,” the former Prasa boss told the commission. In fact, Montana went as far as alleging that Mkhize had given Gomes the details for the ANC’s donations account.

The boundaries between AMCE’s Tshwane revenues and Swifambo’s Prasa earnings were further blurred after AMCE had paid Similex. In February 2014, Mashaba began moving more monies from Swifambo to AMCE. Come September 2015, he had transferred a further R18-million in locomotives money to his engineering firm’s accounts.

So, did the ANC benefit from the Prasa deal, or from the Tshwane tender? A bit of both, it seems. The Prasa deal appears to have brought Gomes into the picture, while AMCE’s metro tender seemingly accounts for the larger portion of the funds.

But perhaps we needn’t be all that pedantic.

In the end, Gomes proved herself a most proficient fundraiser, channelling to the governing party a welcome chunk of Mashaba’s tender riches. DM

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Businessman Auswell Mashaba gained tender infamy due to Swifambo’s R3.5-billion Prasa contract.

Much less is known about the projects Mashaba’s other companies had been involved in.

We’ve done some digging into a major tender Mashaba’s A-M Consulting Engineers, or AMCE, had clinched from the City of Tshwane (CoT). The CoT tender largely provided the funds for a R10-million donation to the ANC, as detailed in this investigation.

Based on what we’ve found, it seems fair to say that Mashaba’s other activities deserve as much scrutiny as the corrupt trains deal.

Documents in our possession detail how the CoT hiked the value of one of AMCE’s tenders. The increase in AMCE’s fees was nothing short of gobsmacking — after CoT officials had motived for the tender’s “cap” to be “lifted”, the contract’s value swelled from R88.5-million to nearly R800-million.

One source, a CoT official who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, didn’t hold back in his assessment of the development: “This was an obvious, elaborate scheme to loot and fleece the coffers of the city.”

We made several efforts to contact Mashaba, but he could not be reached for comment. He did not answer his cellphone, nor did he respond to multiple text messages and emails.

AMCE did not respond to emailed queries.

The City of Tshwane stated: “If there was any wrongdoing on the matter, the city will not hesitate to institute an investigation and take appropriate action against those involved, including those that have left the institution.

“The city was candid with your media enquiry and cooperated fully because we have nothing to hide. We pride ourselves in openness and transparency.”

AMCE was first appointed in 2011 to oversee a project management unit (PMU) for the city’s Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN), which included Tshwane’s A Re Yeng bus service.

This was a three-year contract. In February 2014, the CoT advertised a new tender to appoint someone to run the PMU for another three years.  Initially, the city entertained nine acceptable bids. After further evaluation, only two companies remained in the race. Mashaba’s AMCE, with a bid price of R29.5-million per annum (R88.5-million over three years) was pitted against multinational engineering group Aurecon, which had a bid offering of R30-million per year.

AMCE won the tender. The CoT’s letter of appointment confirmed that the new contract period was to start on 1 June 2014.

AMCE’s website lists the Tshwane IRPTN as one of its flagship projects. (Photo: amce.co.za)

No sooner had the second contract period started when things turned strange. AMCE’s billings for a single month grew larger than the fees it should have earned in an entire year.

In July 2014 alone, AMCE submitted invoices to the city for payments totalling R57.5-million — nearly double the capped annual fee of R29.5-million. And the invoices kept rolling in. By the end of August, AMCE’s billings had climbed to over a R100-million. By all indications, the metro didn’t flinch. Instead, it simply settled each invoice.

Evidently, someone within the metro realised that there might be some sort of a reckoning for this overspending. A request was therefore directed to the city’s Executive Acquisition Committee (EAC) to summarily “lift the cap on the tender amount”.

But the EAC didn’t like the idea. Minutes from a EAC meeting on 4 September 2014 confirm as much. “During the discussion on this matter . . . the Committee did not agree with the recommendation … with regards to the lift of the capped amount. The Committee noted the [bid] evaluation done and was of the view that approval be granted per the rates (as evaluated) to a maximum amount of R29,502,190.08 per annum,” reads the document.

AMCE should have earned no more than R29.5m per annum. In the end, it earned nearly R800-million.

The EAC’s decision clearly didn’t hold much weight. In the end, those city officials who had pushed for lifting the cap clearly had the final say.

On 19 September 2014, the CoT sent a new appointment letter to AMCE, one that in effect scrapped the earlier appointment letter.

According to the document, AMCE was now free to bill the metro in accordance with hourly rates, without the limitations of a pesky annual cap.

By the end of 2014, AMCE’s billings stood at R188-million. The CoT paid every single invoice.

In 2015, AMCE submitted invoices totalling R248-million. The city settled each invoice.

In the last two years of the contract period — 2016 and 2017 — AMCE’s billings were a combined R360-million. Again, the CoT paid every last invoice.

By the time the contract period came to an end, AMCE had earned R796-million from a contract that should have cost the city no more than R88.5-million.

Together with the roughly R665-million that AMCE had pocketed in the first three-year contract, the company ultimately banked R1.46-billion in fees from the city. DM

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Judge David Unterhalter has been rejected by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on four occasions for ascension to the two highest courts in the land: the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.

But this week, Unterhalter — widely regarded as one of the finest legal minds in South Africa — finally got his JSC nod for the appellate court. And all it took, seemingly, were two factors: the absence of commissioner Julius Malema from the SCA hearings and Unterhalter’s eventual capitulation in terms of eating some humble pie.

In his past appearances, Unterhalter’s legal chops have never been in question.

Instead, he has been grilled on white male privilege; his membership of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies; a dubious track record in briefing black women to act alongside him; and a failure to recuse himself from a matter he had previously ruled on at the SCA while acting at the Constitutional Court.

But perhaps more than any of these individual issues, what has previously hamstrung Unterhalter has been an unwillingness to take responsibility for personal shortcomings or blind spots. The JSC likes to see some humility on display; the body seems to demand it, particularly from white male candidates.

In Unterhalter’s last appearance before the commission, in October, he torpedoed his interview through his refusal to admit that he had erred on the recusal matter.

This time around, although there was a certain sense of teeth-gritting accompanying it, Unterhalter seemed more ready to give the JSC what it wanted.

Asked by commissioner China Dodovu whether anything had changed since his last interview, the judge cited the recusal issue and said: “I made an error. I would much have wanted not to have made that error… This is a learning process, and I’ve certainly learnt some things along the way.”

Hey presto: Judge David Unterhalter made it on to the JSC’s list of the three candidates recommended to President Cyril Ramaphosa to fill three SCA vacancies.

No Malema, no trouble

It would be hyperbolic to say that the absence of Malema from Monday’s proceedings clearly made itself felt in the nature of the list being sent to Ramaphosa, because the days when Malema seemed to wield extraordinary influence over the JSC — alongside fellow commissioner Dali Mpofu and a few others — are long gone.

Indeed, Malema’s interest in the JSC has seemed to wane in recent years. With the general election happening next week, his non-attendance at this round of SCA interviews was not unexpected. But even at previous sittings of the commission, his participation was far more limited than it was in the inglorious days of 2021 and 2022 when the JSC hit its dysfunctional nadir.

Absent Malema, and with some other commissioners seemingly much less engaged than normal, Monday’s interviews did, however, proceed with unusual speed and smoothness — even though some judges seemed to receive a less-than-thorough hearing.

The JSC took barely 45 minutes to question the final candidate of the day, Judge Leonie Windell, for example.

Judge questioned over Zuma case recusal

The only candidate who seemed to receive a thorough grilling was Judge Piet Koen of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court, who has had a torrid run at the JSC in recent years.

Most infamously, in the April 2021 set of interviews, Koen was accused by the then Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, of extraordinary rudeness in a session held by Mogoeng for KZN judges. It subsequently emerged that Mogoeng had been thinking of another judge. More than 80 advocates from the province released a statement defending Koen, but the damage had been done.

On this occasion, the critique directed at Koen was more substantive. Commissioner Carol Steinberg expressed concern that Koen had recused himself as the judge in former president Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial in January 2023. Koen said at the time that this was to avoid the perception of bias because he had already expressed “strong views” on a different aspect of the case.

Steinberg, subsequently echoed by commissioner Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, suggested that Koen had a duty to sit in the matter and that his grounds for recusal were flimsy.

In addition, said Steinberg, the recusal “of course set back the timelines [on the case] quite significantly again” — in other words, playing into Zuma’s Stalingrad strategy.

Koen denied that his move had delayed matters, saying that appeal processes were still ongoing and the trial could not proceed in any event.

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo also weighed in, remarking to Koen: “A judge shouldn’t just recuse himself because there are some reservations.”

Koen responded: “I can assure you that I agonised over this issue for quite some time.”

Judges Keightley and Smith join Unterhalter

Ultimately, the JSC resolved to add the names of Judge Raylene Keightley of the Gauteng High Court and Judge John Smith of the Eastern Cape High Court to the list of SCA nominees.

Keightley, who has a background spanning academia, civil society and work as a State advocate, gave arguably the most impressive interview of the day — with sharp, comprehensive answers throughout.

Smith will become one of the few permanent coloured judges in the highest courts: a fact which may be salient to mention because numerous commentators on social media appear to be labouring under the misapprehension that all three nominated candidates are white.

On Tuesday, the JSC will hear from the sole candidate to be interviewed for the most important judicial post in the land. Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, Ramaphosa’s sole nominee for the next Chief Justice, is expected to have a relatively easy ride. DM

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Singapore Airlines did not say how many people were injured. Multiple Thai media reports said there were 30 injuries.

The Boeing 777-300ER plane with 211 passengers and 18 crew was headed to Singapore when it made the emergency landing, the airline said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport said that medical team was on standby.

“Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft,” the airline said.

“We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance.”

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty)

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Forty rhinos, formerly part of the world’s largest privately owned rhino population, are among nearly 2,000 southern white rhinos bought last year by the African Parks group as part of an ambitious plan to rescue and then “rewild” the animals in game reserves across the continent.

The new home for this first batch of animals to be translocated is the 30,000-hectare Munywana Conservancy in northern KwaZulu-Natal, a Big Five reserve owned collectively by local communities and private landowners that includes the Makhasa Community Trust, the Mnqobokazi Community Trust, &Beyond Phinda and Zuka private game reserves

The rhinos were part of a massive private herd that multiplied over decades at a game ranch in North West owned by the entrepreneur John Hume, who planned to harvest and sell their horns legally to buyers in the Far East.

However, with no indication that the 1974 international ban on the trade in rhino horns would be lifted any time soon, Hume announced last year that he had run out of funds to keep his project going and put them all up for sale.

Game capture staff use ropes and muscle power to coax a rhino to its transport crate. (Photo:© Wiki West from WeWild)

Some of the first 40 rhinos are loaded into crates for translocation to Munywana Conservancy. (Photo: Marcus Westberg)

A convoy of game capture trucks loaded with 40 rhinos arrive at the Munywana Conservancy. (Photo: Marcus Westberg)

After the auction flopped, they were later purchased for an undisclosed sum by African Parks. The Johannesburg-based non-profit conservation organisation has long-term agreements to manage and rehabilitate 22 protected areas in 12 African countries. 

Significantly, the rescued rhinos are descended from parent animals purchased at auctions over several decades in KwaZulu-Natal from the provincial nature conservation agency, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

Before the massive surge in rhino poaching in South Africa that began in around 2008, Ezemvelo considered that it had too many rhinos in some of its reserves and put up scores of surplus animals for sale every year.

Relentless poaching

That’s all changed, however. Ezemvelo’s flagship, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve, is now under relentless attack by gangs of armed poachers. Last year, poaching of KZN’s rhino population reached its worst levels yet, with the province accounting for 65% of all rhinos killed nationwide in 2023.

In desperation, Ezemvelo began a major operation last month to reduce poaching by immobilising and dehorning rhinos in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi and other Zululand reserves to.

A rhino, with a tracking device fitted to its foot, begins to explore its new home. (Photo Marcus Westberg)

Though Munywana is barely 40km from the killing fields of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, African Parks is confident that the first new home for Hume’s rhinos is a more secure refuge.

“The crux of the solution, and the ultimate success for rewilding these 2,000 rhinos, lies in the existence of safe, well-protected and effectively managed areas across Africa, of which the Munywana Conservancy is an excellent example,” said Peter Fearnhead, the CEO of African Parks.

The Munywana Conservancy dates back to 2007 and includes 9,085 hectares of land returned to its ancestral owners, the Makhasa and Mnqobokazi communities, as part of the national land restitution process.

Both communities have kept much of this land under conservation and dropped fences with neighbouring properties to establish the 29,866-hectare Munywana reserve.

Thokozani Mlambo, the chairperson of the Makhasa Trust — one of the four primary shareholders of the Munywana Conservancy — was among a group of local leaders who gathered at the reserve on 9 May to witness the arrival of the first rhino convoy.

“We are extremely pleased to receive these rhinos from African Parks to supplement the current population of white rhinos at our community conservancy,” he said.

“We see this as recognition of the important role that community-owned land plays in conservation, and we are proud to be collaborating in such a significant partnership to rewild rhinos across our continent.”

Barbara Creecy, the minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment, welcomed the rewilding drive’s first part.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Two out of three SA white rhinos now in private hands while poachers decimate KZN herds

“I am especially pleased to see that the very first translocation of some of the 2,000 white rhinos is going to this important landscape within South Africa, which is a flagship partnership in which communities are making a significant contribution to the conservation of our natural heritage,” she said.

“On behalf of the government of South Africa, we were very supportive of African Parks’ plan to purchase and rewild these rhinos and remain a key partner in providing technical and scientific advice and the support needed to carry out this conservation solution in South Africa and on the African continent.”

Thokozani Mlambo, chairperson of the Makhasa Trust, watches the unloading of the 40 new arrivals. (Photo: Marcus Westberg)

The new arrivals will be closely monitored as they adjust to their new environment. Previously, the Hume herds were kept in large “camps” in a relatively dry and desolate landscape in North West, where they were fed with supplemental feed during winter.

The Munywana Conservancy said it would implement “intensive security measures” to ensure the safety of the 40 rhinos, which will all be dehorned regularly to discourage poaching.

The translocation was carried out by African Parks, &Beyond Phinda, Conservation Solutions and WeWild Africa with the financial support for the move provided by the Aspinall Foundation and the Wildlife Emergency Fund.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Rewilding Africa the tough way — lessons from Majete in Malawi

“We recognise the magnitude and logistical feat of moving 2,000 rhinos. This is just the beginning of a long-term partnership with African Parks where we can play our part in making a tangible contribution to the future of the southern white rhino in Africa,” said Damian Aspinall, the chairperson of WeWild Africa.

A wildlife manager collects evidence from the carcass of a dehorned rhino in Ezemvelo’s Weenen Nature Reserve. (Photo: Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife)

Fearnhead said the “Rhino Rewild” operation was “one of our most ambitious undertakings to date, where together with a multitude of governmental, conservation and community organisations, and key funders, we have the rare opportunity to help derisk a species, and in the process to help secure some of the most critical conservation areas not just in Africa, but in the world.”

The initial funders of Rhino Rewild include the Rob Walton Foundation, the Pershing Square Foundation, WeWild Africa, the Aspinall Foundation and the Wildlife Emergency Fund. DM

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There have been very few cases in which the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had its credibility tested in the way it was over the last few weeks.

Never before had a former president won an Electoral Court ruling overturning a decision of the IEC.

It is also extremely rare for one of its commissioners to be accused of bias in public and in court, in the way in which former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party made claims against Janet Love.

The finding by the Constitutional Court, that her comments that a person who had been sentenced in the last five years to a term of more than 12 months in prison, were not directly about Zuma, must surely allow her to remain in her job.

If the court had found against Love, there would have been intense pressure on both her and the IEC. Some parties (including MK) might well have argued that all of the decisions in which she was involved would have to be revisited.

It would have been the first time a commissioner on the IEC had suffered a finding against them of bias (Pansy Tlakula did resign from the IEC after a scandal around a tender for office equipment, but not because of bias).

However, the IEC and the Constitutional Court will not be immune from further political attacks.

Two-thirds majority

Already MK has said this ruling was proof it needed a two-thirds majority in Parliament, which “will enable us to transition from a constitutional democracy to a parliamentary system, where the majority will determine the nation’s direction, as opposed to the often, 10 highly compromised and conflicted individuals [the judges of the Constitutional Court].”

This will feed into the longer-term agenda of claiming the legal system and the establishment (including the IEC) are biased against them.

Of course, there is little evidence on which to base this argument (for example, the IEC argued in favour of MK’s registration and against the ANC; judges have ruled in favour of MK against the ANC in both the registration case and the trademark case — and Zuma’s party was happy to accept both rulings).

But it is also part of MK’s longer strategy to implement its manifesto promise to do away with the Constitution altogether.

Meanwhile, the five judges of the Electoral Court may now have to ponder their three separate rulings which all agreed that Zuma can be an MP.

As legal commentators have argued, the Electoral Court’s reasoning was hard to follow.

While time should not have been a factor in the Electoral Court decision, it did have to issue an order, and thus make a decision, less than a day after hearing the case.

This was because of how the electoral timetable had been gazetted through the IEC and Parliament. This led to a long wait (with much speculation) for the reasons underpinning the judgment.

Frankly, no ruling with such high stakes should have to be made this way. And while orders are often handed down with their reasons following later, it would surely be better in Electoral Court cases for this to be avoided.

Also, as Judges Matter has pointed out, the Electoral Court is not properly resourced. Its judges do not have proper support (in fact, as Judges Matter says, a registrar from the Supreme Court of Appeal is “essentially moonlighting as the registrar of the Electoral Court”), and there are not enough of them to deliver properly on their mandate.

Both the election timetable and the lack of resources at the Electoral Court are issues the government should resolve before the 2029 election, if only to reduce the pressure on judges, and to produce better outcomes.

MK now has to face the fact that Zuma will not be going to Parliament (although he does remain the face of the party on the ballot paper when people vote), which could have other consequences.

Complete mystery

This is a party which has never had a conference or any kind of gathering at which its leaders have been elected.

The process the party used to select those on its list of parliamentary candidates is a complete mystery.

This may lead to surprising results. For example, News24 has reported that Ace Magashule’s African Congress for Transformation held its manifesto launch in a building owned by the religious leader Bishop Bafana Zondo — who is a parliamentary candidate for MK.

Considering that well-established parties with clear criteria to select candidates for Parliament have had to deal with several disputes, it is likely that MK will have similar problems after the election.

It will have to appoint people to lead its caucuses in Parliament and provincial legislatures.

Without Zuma in Parliament, there may be no clear leader — and no established process for appointing one.

MK has already had several internal disputes, and its founder, Jabulani Khumalo, has been expelled, surely signs of troubles to come.

Any party wishing to cooperate with MK in a coalition will find it difficult to know who to work with. If Zuma is unavailable for a meeting, who is empowered to make decisions that the party’s MPs will obey?

While MK may say that it has such people, the lack of transparency could make it impossible for anyone to negotiate with them, because there will be no certainty that their decisions will stick.

Bad scenarios averted

The Constitutional Court ruling has prevented a few bad scenarios from occurring.

For example, Zuma’s legal team had argued that Parliament should decide whether he was eligible to be an MP. There was also an argument that the IEC was not the correct body to determine whether he could be a candidate for Parliament.

This could have led to MPs deciding whether someone could be an MP.

Both of these scenarios would have led to chaos in the days after the election, at the first sitting of the National Assembly, and now neither will come to pass.

This ruling was presumably the last chance for MK to use legal proceedings as a legal tool before the elections. For the next few days, like other parties, it will have to focus on simple campaigning.

The true character of the party may emerge in the days after the election results are announced. DM

Read more in Daily Maverick: Elections 2024

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