FirstRand clients spill the beans

news you’re not supposed to know R2990 (including VAT)noseweek

NOVEM

BER2007

The wizard of fraud SAB leaves bottle store owners crying in their beers Unhappy in Hermanus Pondo uprising

97FirstRandclients spillthe beans

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4 Letters Jolly Rogering for FirstRand pirates n Too kind to Absa n Sad decline of

Educor n Damelin shall set you free n Mandela ‘art’ n Web language virus n Roth

wrong on Esperanto n Ombudsman alert n Dragon scam n Will they be back for

Christmas? n Wormin’ talk

18 Mr Nose Our Old Mutual friend Glorious Serobe

20 Castles in the air When SAB ran its Rugby World Cup Scrum Pack promotion, only

its favoured outlets were given a slurp at the lucrative trough

22 When property is theft Standard Bank and the sheriff of Fort Beaufort have been

implicated in wrongfully separating a home-buyer from his house

26 Pondo uprising Ignored, dismissed and lied to, Wild Coast residents are

fighting back

28 Must view What looked like a charming des. res. on Pam Golding’s website turned

out to be a lemon, says UK buyer

30 Unhappy in Hermanus A developer in SA’s whale-watching capital claims his

proposal for a sports village was poached by vested interests on the council

34 The hero and the rogues Two different takes on Dan Rather vs. CBS

36 Web Dreams Writers without a clue

37 Media24 Educor sell-off not quite a done deal

38 Bites and pieces South Africans, the Chateau Sallandrouze and France

40 Wine Self-supporting wine packs

41 Last Word Carbon footprint

www.noseweek.co.za

noseweek online gives you 14 years of

great news you’re not supposed to know – easily searchable for thousands of names

some

7–17 The ones that got awayIn an in-depth investigation into FirstRand’s offshore dealings, noseweek talks to some of

the clients whose names appear on the list and discovers some notable

omissions

“

“

Jolly Rogering for FirstRand piratesWell done Mr Nose. FirstRand battle won, may it also signify the war will be won too.

Don Pearceby email

n Congratulations on your investigation into those FirstRand pirates.

Theuns DelportTiger Brands, Germiston

n Please do not be tempted to accept any offers to buy out noseweek before you’ve pub-

lished that list; they’re sure to be from some tax-dodgers’ consortium. No matter that the offer may be overly-gen-erous, bank-guaranteed and payable offshore in a tax-free haven; simply laugh it off.

JS MagillKnysna

Do we absolutely have to? Oh, alright then. – Ed.

n Congratulations Mr Nose, on having FirstRand’s urgent interdict applica-tion dismissed, with costs. We look forward to reading

another riveting exposé in the next noseweek.

Your dogged persistence should serve as inspiration to those who still believe in a free press, and a wake-up call to those who harbour skeletons in their closets.

It is through your inimi-table style of investigative journalism that we are able to identify and pour appro-priate scorn on those skelms that might otherwise escape detection.

Bob BroomBedfordview

n I loved your battle with FNB. Another issue that reveals them for the unethi-cal scoundrels they really are – their practice of forbidding lawyers who accept convey-ancing work from them to act for anyone against them.

This creates an ethical dilemma, as FNB has the money to tie all the decent lawyers in the country to their services, and effectively force other parties to use less than proper legal representa-tion – as you were.

You had the skills to state

your case, but most people don’t have those skills.

I see Mr Nose’s stick poised to stir up yet another hor-net’s nest.

Nicoby emailAbsolutely. See pages 7,8,9,10

etc – Ed.

n Heartiest congratulations! May your list of subscribers double.

Brian UttersonMonzi,

Zululand

n Congratulations on a great result re FirstRand; sorry about your not print-ing the names right away – I was so looking forward to Thursday! The two pri*ks Adrian Gore and Barry Swartzberg are responsible for wrecking the medical aid schemes as we knew them.

Patrick Masobe seems to be getting things back under control but it’s a pity they were legally allowed to enrich themselves at the expense of the older members of the other schemes.

They need to go to prison for a while; that may sober them up and make them realise they aren’t immortal.

Len PalmerJoburg

Thursday has arrived! See page 7 and beyond. – Ed.

n Heartiest congratulations on taking on the Goliath of FirstRand in Court – and triumphing. This is heady stuff indeed.

Ranjit Purshotam

n Cheers!Henry ToursMorningside

n More than a month after noseweek exposed FirstRand’s “Duisberg” tax fraud, and two weeks after your suc-cessful court battle with the

bank, the Financial Mail carries a huge article on the FNB/Ansbacher/Duisberg saga – with no mention of noseweek.

The burning question is: would they have carried the story if the whole business had been discreetly dealt with behind closed doors, with maybe a few greased palms, as is the norm in SA today?

I am sure you must often feel that you are up against a brick wall, but you surely must smile when, a few weeks/months after you’ve done an exposé, the main-stream media run with it and you are vindicated.

I salute you.Tony Ball

Glenwood, DurbanYes, we smile. Especially

when they then cover their backs by describing us as “scurrilous”. – Ed.

n Congrats. Again! The case had my son at the court house in Cape Town, me with two radios on different sta-tions, and my daughter, at a large finance house in Jersey where she works, on Skype. What a day. Lots of bigwigs shivering in their boots till your copy hits the street.

Duncan GohlRoodepoort

n Congratulations. First again! Look after yourselves: this country – the world – needs people like you lot at noseweek. I’m nominating you for the Star of Africa, Order of the Southern Cross (first class and with knobs on).

NokwenzaCeres

PS: How soon do you think Cecil John’s statue will be replaced by Thabo Mbeki look-ing North?

Just as soon as we get our gong (with knobs). – Ed.

n Dear Mr Dippenaar,You and I have had a

cordial relationship since our first meeting at a report-back at St Andrews School in Bedfordview some years back, so I am sure that you will not take offence at my asking you a few questions through the medium of this

Your dogged persistence should serve as a wake-up call to all with skeletons in their closets

Letters

Gus

noseweek November 20074

“My mom’s had so many facelifts that she pretends I’m adopted”

fine magazine.I notice that FirstRand

Bank took noseweek and Martin Welz to court to prevent them from publish-ing a list of clients that benefited from one of your business arrangements. I was astounded that the bank were advised to pursue this risky course of action. Who gave you such terrible advice?

Were your public relations department on leave as this fiasco was unfolding?

You once informed me that you had summarily fired much of the deadwood when you took over as FNB head honcho (it’s one of the few times I have seen you smile).

Do you plan to fire/chas-tise/discipline/demote any/all of the parties involved in this action? The amount of free publicity noseweek has been given is truly stupendous, and I thank you. It was even on Sky News this morning.

I know that secretly, or maybe not so secretly, you are an admirer of the plucky stance taken by this last bastion of press freedom and fearless investigative journal-ism. I hope Mr Welz has the grace to thank you in the next edition. Have you thought of founding an award for good investigative journalism?

Mr Welz would I am sure be a worthy first recipient.

One last thing, my father always advised me never to pick a fight with men who buy ink by the barrel.

Any chance of a preferential rate on my overdraft?

Yours until my overdraft is cleared,

David KlatzowCape Town

PS: I noted with admiration your attempts to fight crime, which collapsed recently after

the murder of David Rattray. It is so wrong of the lower orders of government to put pressure on those of us who wish to make a difference. Anyway, the printer who printed all the pamphlets made a few bob out of the exercise, so, as the Bard put it: All’s well that ends well.

n Following your report on Ansbacher’s R200m loan “structure” for Jens Montanana: Is it potentially newsworthy that David Pfaff, financial director of Datatec [Montanana’s company], is brother to Rand Merchant Bank CEO Mike Pfaff?

JoeJo’burg

n My computer spell-check renders Ansbacher as Ambusher.

What do they know we don’t?Henry Tours

By email

Too kind to AbsaYour articles on how Absa bank screws its clients are written in a tone that’s too kind.

In all my years as a con-sultant fixing businesses, one of the biggest causes of the predicament has been Absa. They promise “today”, pull the plug “tomorrow” and discount the client’s assets with their attorney friends “together”.

Albertus ZiervogelCape Town

Damelin shall set you free I read your recent exposé of Damelin’s educational courses with interest. Today I have received in the mail (as part of the Old Mutual’s Rewards programme) a voucher from Damelin which “entitles the

bearer to a FREE Damelin career assessment to the value of R500”. I am 66 years old but young at heart. Do you think I should take up the offer?

Arthur G ClarkeTokai

It could provide an hour’s break from the tedium of the Seniors Club; it might even finally explain what went wrong in your career 50 years ago. – Ed.

Mandela “art”I had just read your article on Mandela art in the US (nose96) when, walking in the Rocks, a tourist area in Sydney, I saw a huge poster with Mandela’s photograph at the entrance to one of the art galleries in the same street as the Australian Museum of Contemporary Art. It is presented as an exhibition of Mandela’s (prison) art. I did not bother to enter, but I did wonder. Possibly another enterprise of your “Australian-based South African”?

Carolina van ZylVisiting Australia, based in ChinaThe same! So noseweek

reports to the world – and the world reports to noseweek! – Ed.

Web language virusI heartily endorse Marike Roth’s comments about the standards of language, spelling and grammar on the Internet (WebDreams, nose96). The problem does not only apply to the Internet, but also to business and private correspondence, advertising, television titles, printed comments, and radio – not to mention the latest Mephistophelean invention: the SMS.

Jean ElferinkCape Town

Roth wrong on EsperantoMarike Roth bemoans the fact that the “old forms and formalities” of written communication are being supplanted [on the Internet] by a shorthand form which “is rapidly becoming about as useful for nuanced communi-cation as Esperanto”.

She clearly does not know Esperanto. It offers an incred-ible game of nuances for all kinds of communication and writing.

You can start learning Esperanto at www.esperan-tofre.com/eroj/ilo01a.htm or other popular web pages, like www.lernu.net and www.espe-ranto.net. You can even find a book to read in Esperanto at www.esperantofre.com/book.

Enrique, FremontCalifornia, USA

Esperanto finer than RothMarike Roth is misinformed. Esperanto, the Universal lan-guage, has in fact the facility to join words together to make finer meanings that are unobtainable in the English language.

John Adams, Victoria, Australia.

Ja-nee. – Ed.

Ombudsman alertAnnette Doherty’s letter (nose96) about marketing of funeral policies refers.

The Ombud for Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) has jurisdic-tion to investigate complaints relating to the rendering of financial services. It includes complaints about advice given the providers of such services, and the rendering of an inter-mediary service with regard to funeral policies, long and short term insurance policies, retirement annuities, forex

noseweek November 2007 5

and other investments. The Ombud does not, however, investigate complaints about investment performance.

The person mentioned by Ms Doherty may approach this office and the matter will be investigated further if it falls within this office’s jurisdiction.

Natu RanchodAssistant Ombud, Office of

the Ombud for Financial Services Providers, Pretoria

This is the first voluntary, positive reaction we’ve had to a story from an official in months/years/ever. You are an officer and a gentleman. You have made our day! Thank you. – Ed.

Dragon scamThere is a scam artist oper-ating in Cape Town called Nick Gaunt who sells pirated software to unsuspecting suckers like me. He has a website called www.drag-onsolutions.co.za, and sells pirated copies of the Dragon Speech recognition software. I was unable to upgrade the product Dragon Solutions sold me, because it is not an officially recognised ver-sion. I have spoken to a real agent for the software who has tried to get the Fraud Squad to act but it is not happening.

Micheline Logan Johannesburg

Dragon Solutions and Fimex both claim to be official suppliers of Dragon products. However, brand owner Nuance acknowledges only Fimex on its website, as the official South African partner/supplier. – Ed.

Will they be back for Christmas?It’s a long time since we have heard anything about our army’s activities, past or present, in the DRC and, possibly, elsewhere.

Have they been recalled, and, if so, in what circumstances? Were

any journos attached to (or “embedded” with) our chaps? If not, why not? And what has been the cost to the oppressed SA taxpayer? To whose benefit, if anybody’s?

One would have liked to hear of selfless interventions, or even heroic highlights, of an orderly and professional body of men and, maybe, women. What we do seem to have heard of are some vague allegations of sexual impro-priety and not much else.

Surely our taxpayers and patriotic citizens in general deserve better than this, having shelled out so much dough?

Besides, isn’t it about time we started organizing Christmas packages for our forgotten army Up North?

Hugh Farquharson,Forest Town, Johannesburg

Wormin’ talkYour article “The worms turn” (nose96) is incorrect in stating: “So far no South

Africans have begun market-ing worm poo itself”.

Fertilis is a brand name for “worm poo” made from dairy cow manure in 60m-long trenches. The product has been in existence for over a decade.

It is true that without a large advertising budget, we’ve had to depend on word of mouth to get people to accept that earthworms pro-duce one of the best fertilis-ers on the planet.

We have concentrated our efforts in Gauteng, but are now also distributing in KZN, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape.

We also had a stand at last month’s Natural and Organic Show in Cape Town.

Our story may not be as dramatic as in the US with lawsuits (as per your arti-cle), but we are the “small” people who face the potential wrath of the large chemical manufacturers.

Unlike the eco vehicles that were invented decades ago but which were quickly “disappeared” before they could really get established, organic fertilizers are here to stay and grow.

Most “earthwormers” know of and about each other, through EIGSA – Earthworm Interest Group of SA – which has about 1000 members. You can contact us at [email protected].

I trust this gives you good food (fertiliser) for thought.

Carmen NottinghamMuldersdrift

LettersLetters offered for publication in noseweek should be sent to The Editor, noseweek, PO Box 44538, Claremont 7735 or emailed to [email protected]. Submissions should be no longer than 150 words.

Cape Fashion WeekAs a result of unwar-ranted editorial interven-tion in Hilary Prendini Toffoli’s September column, it appeared that Paul Johnson had left Leisureworx, the company that runs Cape Town Fashion Week, over a matter of “undisclosed irregularities”. In fact it was Gavin Raja’s depar-ture that was associated with the aforementioned unhappiness. Sorry Paul. –Ed.


Came across this wonderful advert for Standard Bank’s Achiever Plan while driving along Oxford Road near Killarney the other day.

Wonder what SB spends per annum on its image? Think they need to have a chat with the agency that is advis-

ing them on the medium used. Mike Said

brandStrategy, Sandton

Editor Martin Welz

Production editor Tony Pinchuck

Assistant editors Hans Muhlberg Hilary Venables

Gauteng bureau chief Jack Lundin

Censor-in-chief Len AshtonSub-editor Chas Unwin

Senior reporterMark Thomas

Cartoons Myke Ashley-Cooper

Gus Ferguson Dr Jack

Meg Jordi Contributors

Tim James Marike Roth

Hilary Prendini Toffoli Harold StrachanSubscriptions Maud Petersen Advertising

Adrienne de JonghAccounts

Nicci Joubert-van Doesburgh

Copyright All material in this issue is copy-right, and belongs to Chaucer Publications

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reproduced or be stored by any electronic system without prior written permission.

Disclaimer While every reasonable effort is taken to ensure the accuracy and sound-ness of the contents of this publication,

neither the authors nor the publisher will bear any responsibility for the consequences

of any actions based on information con-tained. Printed and Published by Chaucer

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COVER STORY

The ones that got awayAND SO WE COME TO THOSE LISTS. The lists

that FirstRand is so anxious you don’t see that it sought a court order to stop noseweek publishing them.

Before we start, may we remind you that these are lists that the bank itself “discovered” in a legal dispute, legally plac-ing them in the public domain (and therefore at the disposal of the tax and other authori-ties). In fact more recently the bank has declared that it is actively co-operating with the tax authorities in their investigations into possible schemes of tax evasion and other illegal activities. As in the case where Ansbachers traded their clients’ Cayman Island records for a deal with the Irish authorities, that awful phrase “singing like a canary” comes to mind.

There are also reasons for thinking the local situation might not be quite the same as the Irish one.

But first, the documents we speak of are lists of:

n “Private banking” clients of the bank-ing group (it used the brandname “Henry Ansbacher Trust Services” for much of the period in question), with the names of their local trusts, drawn up in about February 2002;

n Numbered invoices issued by the divi-sion to clients, for services rendered in the period 30 July 1998 to 30 June 1999;

n Monthly debtor balances (clients with amounts still owed to the bank for fees) over the same period; and

n Rand Merchant Bank’s “offshore debtors, in pounds [sterling]”, again with monthly out-standing balances (for fees owed to the bank) over the same period. This list, effectively, contains the names of offshore trusts admin-

istered by the bank, or its offshore agents, for its (generally unidentified) onshore clients.

While the lists are not without interest, on closer examination they are most interest-ing for what they don’t contain. The vast majority of people named are pretty middle, maybe upper-middle class. Few are seriously rich. And they haven’t been up to very much. Most, as our examples will demonstrate, haven’t been up to anything at all.

The first list should include the 84 clients who, by 2000, had bought shares in the British Virgin Islands company, Duisberg, set up by Ansbachers as a means for South African clients to channel their offshore allowances to their Jersey trusts without the South African tax and forex authori-ties getting to know about it. The list in fact contains few such clients. Where are the rest?

Our investigation of the list has established a number of things: Firstly that the majority of those named are innocent of any wrongdoing, simply confirming that there is nothing wrong with, or defamatory about, being identified as a client of any particular bank – not even of FirstRand’s Ansbacher division. (Most of

n

n FirstRand’s man in Pretoria Central slammer page 9n Those names A-Z page 11n Clients spill the beans page 12n Unlisted page 15

COVER STORY

Where is he? Brett Kebble (left) with associate John Fox Brownrigg (far right), who approached Ansbacher for offshore investment ‘advice’ but isn’t on the list

Picture: Sunday Times

Law


the listed clients are unflattering about the deal they got.)

Secondly it suggests that there may be, or must be – somewhere else – another list of clients containing the big fish. Thirdly, that a significant number, if not the majority, of those on the list, are, or were, directors or employees of the FirstRand group or its satellite companies. At least 25 are present or former employees of FirstRand (a few are very rich), 30 are associated with Glenrand MIB, and nine are directors or senior executives of Ethos Private Equity (they are all rich). That, in itself, might explain the bank’s anxiety about publication.

So why our – and the public – inter-est in the lists? To begin with, the very concept of “private” banking raises questions that the participants will invariably face. Most ordinary bank-ing is considered private, so the use of the term in association with a special service catering for the very rich and powerful suggests something else, something extra private that ordi-nary mortals – and often enough, the authorities – should rather not know about. It is a world in which trusts and foreign jurisdictions are used to hide true ownership and avoid tax. The aim is clearly to avoid social responsibility, and often enough has a criminal intent.

In a pamphlet distributed at a pri-vate banking conference in November 1999 Henry Ansbacher Trust Services described itself as a “fiduciary services and structuring operation”. It declared that all administrative work would be performed by Ansbacher (Jersey) Ltd, and that all new business would be referred to Ansbacher (Jersey), who would be represented in South Africa.

Why Jersey? The pamphlet itself posed the question – and gave the answers: “No income or capital taxes on assets of non-residents held in Jersey administered trusts”; “Jersey authorities do not require reporting of ownership of trusts or trust accounts to be filed”; “confidentiality of investors’ affairs is supported.”

The pamphet does also note, rather as an afterthought, that “local trusts will continue to be offered – management and operational support to be provided by First National Trust (FNT) ... Structured product to be offered separately”. Closer examination reveals that it is largely the latter clients, holding local trusts, who feature on the lists.

In his report to the board of the Ansbacher division of FirstRand, for the quarter ended June 2000, the Ansbacher chief executive reported that the division had 124 “full” offshore

trusts and 154 local trusts on its books. (In his report six months later, the numbers had dropped to 85 offshore and 75 local trusts.)

Very few of the 50 to 100 clients said by the bank to have used its notorious “Duisberg loop” scheme appear on the list. From other documents we know that several of the directors and top executives of Discovery made use of the Duisberg loop as part of a much larger, more elaborate “structure” devised for them by Ansbacher – but their names do not feature on the lists.

What is the profile of a typical client of a “private” bank with long-estab-lished ties to various offshore tax havens? A bank that targets clients of “high net worth” – say R50-million plus – with offers of “wealth management”.

Our guess is Mr John Fox Brownrigg about fits the bill.

This is how he is described in an Ansbacher internal memo dated 6 June 2000 [notes in brackets are ours]:

“John Brownrigg is a client who has funds and trusts offshore... [He] wishes to meet to discuss his offshore inter-ests... [He] is ex-MD of Western Areas [appointed by Brett Kebble in March 1998] and currently a main board direc-tor [with Kebble] of JCI. [Brownrigg]:

n Owns a London property – receives GBP 700 per month rental. Property is worth about £300 000.

n Has bank accounts in New York and in London with Citibank. R1m in cash is in these accounts ...

n Owns equity in UK stock worth about R400 000.

n And six others in a consortium have entered into a joint venture with JCI and Sexwale in a platinum mining venture. The 33% shareholding by the individuals is required to be held by an offshore entity.

[In addition]:n None of John’s offshore inter-

ests have been disclosed to the local authorities.

n John is a client of the private bank

and has extensive SA interests.n John has requested an offshore

structure that will hold the above interests that will give him maximum protection from all comers.”

As interesting is the nature of the memo writer’s tentative “structured, tax based” recommendations:

“I would recommend that John establish a British Virgin Islands (BVI) company which he capitalises with his offshore allowance. The borrowing that will be made available [to him] offshore by JCI can be made to this entity. The BVI company will then subscribe for John’s portion of the share capital in the platinum mine. We would then establish an LLC in the Isle of Man (IOM) in which the BVI cmpany would take up a 2% to 9% stake. Skyefid, our IOM service provider would, as the professional manager, own 98% to 91% of the LLC. John would then transfer ownership of his offshore assets to the LLC. Through business transactions the BVI company could delete its tax base with some of the premium income going to the LLC. These offshore assets then can be protected in the LLC and would not form part of John’s world-wide income producing asset base.”

We have no idea what the final advice to Mr Brownrigg was – or whether he took it. We quote only to demonstrate the true nature of Ansbachers’ busi-ness. And we note that Mr Brownrigg’s name does not appear on any of those discovered lists.

Richard Charter, South African agent for British arms suppliers who received commissions totalling hun-dreds of millions of rand shortly after the SA government signed its notorious arms deals in 1999/2000, was one of Ansbacher/FirstRand’s biggest clients. (When he drowned in a canoeing acci-dent on the Orange river in 2004, he had a R20m unsecured overdraft with the private bank.)

We cannot but note that British and German investigators of bribes paid in relation to the South African arms deals have revealed that the “slush” funds flowed via Ansbacher offshore accounts. Besides Charter, another local Ansbacher client of very long standing, former FNB boss Basil Hersov, is named as also having distributed arms-deal “commissions” to unidentified persons. But the names Charter and Hersov feature nowhere on the lists, which cover the period in which those payments were made.

Which raises the question: why only the minnows? Where are the big fish? We will return to that subject in our next issue.

COVER STORY

Why only the minnows?

Where are the big fish?

Law


FirstRand’s wizard of fraud

NOSEWEEK WENT LOOKING for Dr Manie Stoop, and we weren’t surprised at what we found...

Ten years ago this whiz kid FirstRand employee developed

and promoted the “Duisberg loop”, as well as a range of other “structures”, by means of which the bank’s richest clients could evade tax and secretly (and illegally) move billions in cash and assets offshore.

Stoop “hasn’t been around for a while,” was all his old colleagues could, or would, say. We finally found the 42-year-old Dr Hermanus Jacobus Stoop in Pretoria Central prison, three years into a 15-year jail sentence for 34 counts of fraud and theft, involving more than R22m.

None of the charges related to his term of office at Rand Merchant Bank and FirstRand, but who ever doubted that the structures he devised were the product of a criminal mind?

And yet, noseweek can now reveal, scores of directors and executives of the FirstRand group eagerly bought into Stoop’s schemes. Is this why they have been so desperate to prevent noseweek from publishing the names of their “Ansbacher”, or private banking division’s, clients and their trusts?

Stoop’s name features frequently in the now infamous Duisberg file (nose95): he was a founding director of Duisberg Holdings when that dubi-ous offshore conduit was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in June 1999. He was also CEO of the Henry Ansbacher Trust Services division of FirstRand Bank.

Two years earlier, at the age of just 32, Stoop was already chief operating officer of RMB Trust Services (later Origin, now RMB Private Bank), providing aggressive and question-able offshore “structures” for the private banking and trust divisions of both Rand Merchant Bank and First National Bank. For a time these were absorbed into a consolidated FirstRand “wealth management” division, using the brand name Henry Ansbacher Trust Services (HATS).

Pontificating on offshore invest-ments, in Business Day back in 1998, Ansbacher CEO Stoop said: “If they

[investors] invest sensibly they can obtain even greater returns from their offshore investment. Investors should evaluate the benefit of investing in their own names or in that of an off-shore trust, depending on the inves-tor’s long-term goals.”

But Stoop, it seems, wearied of devising schemes for FirstRand’s already well-heeled clients. A better idea, surely, to create some serious wealth for himself. In October 1999 Stoop was quietly fired by FirstRand when the banking group discovered he was running his own special “offshore” structure on the side.

By 2001 Stoop was running his own broking house, Forex Trader International, offering global online forex and currency trading services, using the DealBook software of US forex trading leader Global Forex Trading. He also told investors that he’d be using Investec’s “trading plat-form” for this purpose.

Adverts were placed in Business Day, Sunday Times, The Star and The Citizen. A few big punters were mes-merised by Stoop’s tales of the greater riches to be made from forex trading.

His biggest catch: a wealthy Mpumolanga maize-farming family named Du Toit. In all, the Middelburg family – father Gerrit du Toit, and sons Gerrit Jnr, Pieter, Leon and Paul – were fleeced of nearly R20m.

Biggest loser was Gerrit Snr’s company Alzu Ondernemings, which contributed R16m, while the sons’ farming company, Statutis Trading, put in R900 000. Then there were the individual investments: 45-year-old Gerrit Jnr put in R502 510; there was R510 000 from Pieter (41); R553 500 from Paul (35); and R430 000 from Leon (37). Gerrit Jnr’s wife Arnelle chimed in with R733 000, making a total family payout into the rogue’s cof-fers of R19 629 010.

According to Pieter du Toit, it was eldest brother Gerrit Jnr who led them into Stoop’s clutches. “I didn’t really know him at all, he was Gerrit’s con-nection,” says Pieter, who looks after the poultry and piggery side of the family’s farming operation.

Was his 70-year-old father annoyed

The man who crafted the notorious

‘Duisberg loop’ for our favourite

bank is now doing time in

Pretoria Central

Illustration: Chas Unwin


COVER STORY

at losing so much? “Oh yes, everybody was; it was terrible,” says Pieter.

That R19,6m, plus R620 000 from one Eugene van Wyk Pienaar, made the total of R20,2m that formed the basis of 33 charges of fraud against Stoop, who was arrested on 12 October 2004. Only R6,8m was recovered.

At first, the Du Toits thought they were onto a winner. Stoop assured them (with a false statement of account) that their initial investments had performed “remarkably” and the proceeds were “exceedingly high”. The joyful news persuaded Gerrit Snr to pitch in with R16m of Alzu Ondernemings’ funds, between April 2002 and March 2003.

The punters were instructed to deposit their funds into an Absa “hold-ing” account – from there, explained Stoop, it would flow to Investec account 1001 023 1335 for the currency trading. Or, as later revealed, to fund his global playboy frolics.

The full scope of Stoop’s criminal activities may never be known. In South Africa alone he had 33 bank accounts – with Investec, Nedbank, Absa, Wesbank and, naturally, his old company, RMB Private Bank. One of them – Investec’s 1001 023 1335 – came under close scrutiny by a KPMG forensics group.

An analysis of transactions on this account between September 2001 and August 2004 paints a breathtaking picture of the bachelor’s short career as an international playboy. Deposits totaling R31,4m are reflected (does that mean there were more victims?), while R33,7m went out in payments. [Yes, it ended up with an overdraft. At least someone we know has made money out of Investec! – Ed.]

What did Manie spend it on? Yachts R5,9m; air travel R2,3m; vehicles R4,1m – 15 vehicles were registered in his name, including a BMW 650, a Volvo C70 Cabriolet, a Nissan 4x4 (R625 000 in 2002), a Range Rover TD6 (R595 000 in 2003) and a Freelander TD4 (R295 000).

For extra sporty moments he kept a small fleet of motorbikes, including a Harley Davidson (of course), a Yamaha R6 and a Honda Fireblade.

For this wannabe Brett Kebble, home was in Nature’s Valley, Faerie Glen. (He bought three nearby town-houses for relatives.) There was also a bought-with-cash holiday home at Plettenberg Bay.

He flew around the world business class, with Australia a frequent desti-nation (Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Darwin and Perth), and lived the high

life in London and the US. As expected of a man of his trade, Stoop also called on the gnomes of Zurich.

He did more than one tour of the faraway tax haven islands: Grand Cayman, Granada, Antigua and St Lucia were all on the itinerary. But Stoop’s favourite Caribbean desti-nation remained Wickhams Cay in Tortola, home of the BVI branch of Ansbachers, where he had originally incorporated Duisberg Holdings for FirstRand back in 1999. Four visits to Tortola are recorded on this one bank account alone.

In Africa, the playboy enjoyed game trips to Botswana, Serengeti and a R57 706 safari in Tanzania. Creature comforts included R94 918-worth of computers and R77 192 spent on hi-fi equipment. [That’s enough thanks – Ed].

After his October 2004 arrest, Magistrate Nair set bail at R500 000 in the Pretoria regional court. Stoop said he could only afford R100 000 – so he was remanded in custody, where he has remained ever since.

Four months later Stoop appealed for bail to be reduced, telling a sad story of the collapse of his estate agency business Watermark Properties, the sequestration of his estate and the stroke suffered by his dependant father.

All very well, said the prosecutor, but by then two more victims had emerged: a Mr KH Kirsch and a Mr Van Graan.

Kirsch initially contributed R450 000, but, on hearing from Stoop that his investment had grown by 337% to stand at R1,96m, the del-lighted fellow pumped in a further

R1,4m – which duly found its way to Stoop’s globe-trotting fun fund with Investec. (Stoop also estab-lished a trust called Heeltyd Speeltyd – Playtime All The Time.) Mr Kirsch eventually received a “refund” of just R600 000.

The other victim, Mr Van Graan, generously pitched in with R550 000 for the Stoop playtime fund.

Investigating officer Detective Inspector Adele van Staden, of the police’s commercial branch, told the court that Stoop’s qualifications included an MBA from the University of Columbia and a “doctoral degree in trust and tax law” from the University of Kensington in California. Stoop had business interests in “various foreign entities” in Australia and the Cayman Islands, and had told Gerrit du Toit Jnr that he owned a farm in Colorado and a property investment company in Australia.

Detective Van Staden said that her investigation was still at a prelimi-nary stage “and indications are that it will be of a complex nature, involv-ing financial transactions processed through numerous accounts held at various banking institutions”. Those included six accounts at Investec, six at Nedbank, three at Absa and three at Wesbank.

Curiously, not once in the court proceedings was Stoop’s career at FirstRand mentioned. In his petition to the court he described himself only as a “qualified estate agent”.

But, despite having left the bank under a cloud, he appears otherwise to have remained on good terms with FirstRand: he continued to operate no less than 11 accounts with the group, including “Premier” card accounts, an RMB Private Bank cheque account and two Origin Accounts. He even still had personal dealings with a former colleague: his bank records reflect a R50 000 payment on 22 July 2002 to Shawn Fouche, his old mate at Ansbachers.

But Stoop was never called upon to explain any of these intriguing details. Instead, when the trial was due to begin, on 19 May 2005, the prosecu-tor announced that a plea bargain had been reached and that Stoop was pleading guilty to all charges. Magistrate Nair duly sentenced the former wunderkind to an effective 15 years’ imprisonment on 34 charges of fraud and theft.

Among the companies Manie Stoop set up after leaving FirstRand had been the prophetically named C-Max Investments.

In all, the Mpumalanga

maize-farming family were

fleeced of nearly R20m

COVER STORY

tel 0861 422 426fax 021 419 7484

email [email protected]

Cape Town and suburbs

ABR 001 AbrahamseALL 001 Allen, MarinaARC 001 Archer, VJ “Jake”ARN 001 Arnott, Adrian HerbertBAR 002 Barkhuizen, UBEA 001 Beater, RBEN 001 Beneke, SandraBES 001 Bester, CJ BIN 001 Binos, JM “Jimmy”BLA 001 Blake, PABOO 001 Booth, Charles NewtonBOY 002 Booysen, MarkBOT 002 Botha, EPBOY 003 Boyd, Andrew GaryKAR 001 Braby, Michael Edward BUI 001 Buitendag, Daniel Albertus JohannesCAM 002 Campbell, GLCAV 001 Cave, Richard VCLA 001 Clarke, JustinCLO 002 Cloete, TCCLO 001 Cloete, Mr and Mrs TC COA 001 Coates, RonCOL 001 Collet, Lindsay-Pierre ECRX 001 Croxton, William LDAR 001 Darke, Peter JohnDAR 002 Darke, Peter JohnKWA 001 Day, David ADEB 001 De Beer, PF “Frik“DEJ 002 De Jager, Dr SHFDEK 001 De Kock, J de CDEK 002, De Kock , DPDEL 001 De la Rey, PDIC 002 Dickson, RDIC 004 Dicks, Mrs LDIP 002 Dippenaar, LauritzDIP 003 Dippenaar, PierreDOW 001 Downie, Stuart RDRE 002 Dreyer, Craig JDRY 001 Dry, D AlistairDUT 001 Du Toit, Peter REAL 001 Eales, Mrs and MrsEGG 001 Eggers, Mr and Mrs ENG 002 Engelbrecht, EFAR 002 Farrell, MJ “Mike”FAR 001 Farrell, DRFIE 002 Field, Michael GrantFIE 001 Field, VN “Vic”FIT 001 Fitzpatrick, Michael JFOO 001 Foot, JNFOR 001 Ford Wayne CFOR 002 Forrester, R

FRA 001 Francioso, VFRI 001 Fricke, RAGIB 002 Gibson, SCGOO 001 Goodwin, DennisGOO 002 Goosen, Mr and MrsGOU 005 Gouws, PJGRE 001 Gregory, FHHAL 001 Hall, BHAR, 001 Harpur, David JHAW 001 Hawinkels, HenryHIL 001 Hill, DavidHOL 001 Holmes, AndrewHOO 001 Hooper, DLORG 002 Hoste, SHUG 001 Huggett, PHUG 002 Hugo, Jan HUN 001 Hunt, DHUR 001 Hurwitz, JHUS 001 Husselbach IRE 001 Ireland, JCJOE 001 Joell, EricJOH 001 Johnston, Owen MJOR 003 Jordaan, DJ “Danie”JUD 001 Judelsohn, RP “Bob”KAL 001 Kalil

KEA 001 Kearney, MrsKEY 001 Keyser, Martin EKIL 001 KillickKIS 001 Kisch, RMKLY 001 Klynsmith, JOKOC 001 Koch, Ms M ClaudiaKRU 001 Kruger, AndréKRU 003 Kruger, Leon AndrewLAT 001 Latham, PRLEA 001 Lea, Peter JLEA 002 Leather, DTLOU 003 Louw, CHLUS 001 Lusengo, Zenso RMAC 001 Macindoe, Ian TMAR 001 Marais, DaveMAR 006 Marais, HJMAR 003 Maré, PAMAT 001 Mattheus, Cornelius JohannesMAU 002 Maubane, Mrs OMAU 002 Maubane, Owen MMAU 001 Maubane, Mrs Dorothy DipuoMAU 004 Maubane, Ms Inez MakomaMAU 005 Maubane, Ms HMMCM 001 McManus, JMCQ 001, McQueen, AMEH 002 Mehl, RPMEL 001, Melman, LynetteMEY 002 Meyer, SCMHA 001 Mhladi, KDMID 002 Middelmann, NPMIL 001 Miller, WH “Willie”MIT 001 Mitchell, TonyMOO 001 Moore, K NAU 001 Naude, Dr SJ and SM

Those names

A-Z


ESTABLISHING THE true nature of the relationship between a South African resident and any offshore trust which he or she might have set up is extremely difficult

– even knowing if there is any relation-ship is hard enough. Here FirstRand has produced a list of (some of) its clients and, separately, a list of offshore trusts. But it has carefully omitted to estab-lish any link between them. There is, of course, one place where you might establish the exact extent and nature of the links – in the files where the bank’s dealings with it’s clients are recorded. If those files still exist: FirstRand is rather vague on that point. In the Pretoria High Court case where the lists were produced, the bank has declared under oath:

“[FirstRand Bank] is not in posession of the client files relating to the clients referred to. Carol Wainwright, who was employed [at Henry Ansbacher] at the relevant time ... recalls that the relevant files were transferred to First National Trust (FNT) when it took over the domestic fiduciary services business during or about March 2000.”

It remains to be seen whether anyone at FNT recalls ever having received them. Here’s a sample of what some of those on the list had to say.

Michael BrabyClient code KAR 001. Erstwhile publisher and Times Media director, now property devel-oper and business consultant.

“I only had an offshore trust, the Karmichael trust. It was very simple. My wife and I each took our R500 000 allowance and used it to make a loan to the trust for the benefit of our children.

“Manie Stoop came to see us. He sug-gested Duisberg as a good investment channel. It was a structure like a roll-up fund. There was no income: when

you sold up at the end, there would be a capital gain.

“Ansbacher recommended this structure. We just went along with the going thing.

“We soon realised there was no growth. And you couldn’t get any information – I could

never get a statement out of them. I got fed-up and said I wanted to unbundle it and get control of my own funds. We’ve changed to another trustee firm in Jersey.

“A couple of weeks ago, I was about to leave on a trip to Masai Mara when Anton Maskowitz called, I think from the bank’s office in Jersey. He said:

“I think you should know there has been some digging taking place, and because your name is on a list it’s prob-ably going to get published.

“No-one ever came back to me to say there was a problem. I didn’t even know there were other participants in Duisberg; didn’t realise there were other concocted arrangements in there.

“What can you do when, as an indi-vidual, you trust a major institution? Maybe there were some big fish they were trying to accommodate with this structure, and then decided to sell it on to some small fish while they were about it. There are probably a lot of innocent people who got hurt.”

Edward Braby (Father of Michael, see previous entry.) No client code. Heir to the Braby’s Directories fortune, now resident in Plettenberg Bay, in his 70s and still in publishing.

“I also got a call from Anton Maskowitz. He asked me: ‘Were you involved way back in the transfer of funds? Can you remember Duisberg?’ I said I remembered something like that, vaguely. I told him that for my funds overseas, I’ve done the amnesty thing, and he said OK then, goodbye.

“I was an FNB client. As far as I was concerned, it was a straightfor-ward transfer of funds overseas, of our permitted allowance. I think my wife Valerie and I first sent R600 000, and I topped it up later. I’ve got a tax con-sultant who said it’s fine, go ahead. I think they set up a trust for us. It’s now with RMB and Ashburtons [in Jersey], no longer with Ansbachers. That’s the story.

“I have to say it wasn’t a great deal for me. The investment went nowhere. Even now, Ashburton’s is a waste of time. That’s how I’m finding it.”


Law

NED 001 Nedeljkovic, VNIC 001 Nickless, MNIE 002 Nieuwoudt, EBNIE 001 Niewoudt, Egbertus BlettermanNOR 001 Norman, DebbieOXD 001 Oxford, Eric EPAR 001 Parsons, DPEA 001 Pearson, RPEN 001 Pender, Richard HarryPEN 001 Penney, SJPOL 002 Polkinghorne, CraigPOL 001 Pollitt, John LPPOT 001 Potgieter, HPRE 001 Pretorius RudolfPRI 001 Price, RPRO 001 Prout-Jones, Derek NeilPRZ 001 Prozzi, TPUL 001 Pullinger, JMPUL 002 Pullinger, James MichaelRAA 001 Raath, CJROD 002 Rodrigues, GROS 001 Ross, DJ “Jim”ROU 001 Roux, AndréROU 002 Roux, AndréRUD 002 Rudman, MrSCH 006 Schmid, PSCH 001 Schoonraad, RL “Rocky”SER 001 Serrao, MikeSHE 001 Shewring, ColinSIN 001 Sinclair, KASLA 001 Slabber, AMSMI 001 Smit, AntonSPI 001 Spilg, RSTA 004 Stals, EugeneSTA 003 Stark, FWSTE 001 Stear, WSTE 002 Steere, DSTE 005 Steppe, AlexSTL 001 Steyl, EGTAB 001 Tabata, MTOD 001 TodesTRA 001 Travers, Ray MTRA 002 Travers, Mrs JETRU 001 Truswell, SYOU 001 Tweedy-YoungBLO 001 Van Blommenstein, SVDW 003 Van der Westhuizen, HMAR 009 Van Marcke, EVNI 002 Van Niekerk, MrsVRO 001 Van Rooyen, JDWYK 001 Van Wyk, JAVWY 001 Van Wyngaarden, ArnoVWY 002 Van Wyngaarden, HilkoVZY 001, Van Zyl, JVER 001 Verster, MarieVIC 001 Vichos, JVIC 002 Vichos, MilosVIC 003 Vickers, Mrs MRWAL 001 Walker, Mylene WAL 003 Walters, BAWAT 005 Waterhouse, CarolynWIE 001 Wiese, AJWRE 001 Wrench, SinclairYAT 001 Yates, Stuart PMZAG 001 Zagnoev ShaunZET 001 Zetner, D

Clients spill the beans

JM “Jimmy” BinosClient code BIN 001. Former director of Glenrand MIB, now retired, and part-time insurance assessor in McGregor, Cape.“Glenrand MIB was about to be listed and we were all given large packages of shares. RMB had a large minority shareholding and, in antici-pation of a dramatic increase in the value of our shares upon listing, they came to see us with advice about how we should structure our financial affairs properly, as, they said, we should ‘keep it in the family’.

“Next Manie Stoop came to see us. He was setting up elaborate trusts for everyone, and each of us got an off-the-shelf company for R400, into which we were to put all our shares and other assets,” Binos recalls.

These, were of course, all the ele-ments required to set up a typical offshore “loop” structure aimed at breaching exchange control laws and evading tax: Your onshore trust owns 24% of your company; you then take your permitted offshore allowance to Jersey, where you set up an offshore trust, which borrows enough money (from you or from your friendly banker) to “buy” 74% of your onshore company.

“The way he spoke, Stoop, five foot eightish, slightly built with a ‘bok’ beard that made him look like a boer general, created the impression of being a very intelligent man,” Binos continued. “He was also charming and an extremely good salesman.”

“Some time later Origin [RMB’s private banking division] came to me with a huge bill. I demanded that they show me how it was made up; they never could, explaining that ‘Manie Stoop has left us’.

“I consulted my bank – Standard – and they said it was all nonsense. So I refused to pay and they eventu-ally wrote it off.”

Common sense saved Binos from some of the further Ansbacher “inap-propriatenesses” too. He had Manie set up a local trust and bought the offered company to hold his Glenrand shares, but did not go offshore. “I was getting ready to retire and planned to sell my Glenrand shares quite soon. I did so in 2001, used the money to buy property and retired to McGregor, where I always wear shorts and never a watch.”

Sandra BenekeClient code BEN 001. Partner in Umtumeli Africa (a small food export company). “I’m surprised I’m on the list. I have


THE OFFSHORE TRUSTS

1 Settler 1 Bullet577 NitroAdis TrustAHA TrustAkabarAlbert StreetAllegro TrustAlleycatAmenAnbicaAnchorAndhenAngelAnleArtworldAtlasAvalonAxiomBalgowanBBZBeaulieuBeaulieu TrustBeckets TrekBehmarBenekeBigfiveBlack MarlinBlue SkyBoabab InvestmentBriphylBriphyl InternationalBroloxBronwinBrulpanBrupanBushveldBV BorlandCamoes TrustCarinaCarpe DiemCashewCaskCatasa JerseyCCC Tecklenburg

CharvicChelseaChrisnaChublonskiCJWW WillowConquestCoralCorvestCraiglandsCVWDanhoekDDH PensionDeo GloriaDestinyDie OukieDJTG InvestmentsDLV DLV InvestmentsDomaniDunblaneEdwardElliottElmanEmpireEvandonF & SF Grant SchutteFalconFinfootl TrustFinmar InvestmentsFirst EquityForbes SaundersFortuneFrancroFranlarenFulediGardenGillieGilmoreGledhowGlencairnGleneaglesGlobal InvestmentsGlobal PropertyGods WindowGoldGraplaatsGrinakerHappy ValleyHarmonyHarmony QHereminaHermannsHitchhikerHoilake InvsHolidayHuntsIFMImpalaInt’l InvestmentsIntl Prof ServsIvy LeagueJ.O.D. TrustJacquelineJacsJasaJeemJFDJJAJJA Invs TstJoradJupiters TrustKapeluka

RileyRimcoRJ TrustRobadRomeRVNSaldanha BagamoyoSavannah TwoScalziniSchoongezichtSCUSeattleSerenadeSerendipitySHF InvestmentsSHV InvSilver KnightSky Game ProductsSmytheSNSSolitaireSoloSomersetSpencer Hill TrustSpoonbillStarling TrustSteppe OffshoreStonehengeSunflowerT & LTambotie WatersTanorbTeckTFBThe Bristol TrustThe Future TrustThistleThompsonThukudu TrustTiekieTiwaan InvestmentsTocamiTriple AllValedValnoelVivaWalkerWalterWhite PetuniaWillette TrustWilson FamilyYellow BrickZebraZeenZwartkops

KarinoKarmichael KasoKaylaKentonKia OraKiluluKind LimitedKirkconnelKlimaKomrimitschiKrugerKruger EnterprisesKusasaLA La MancheLabuschagneLE RoseLenmentLibraLinferliLion KingLoskop de KochLuccaLuciusLWTM & RDSMaadMacdonald TrustMaddMadiMalinkwe SafarisMameshly TrustMandefoMaprukwanesMaranaraMarpatMcGleMeadeira AssociatesMeribahMianjoMicheinMiddleton MgmtMilleniumMilosMincorpMission BayMitzvahMopololeMorcaMoyaniMurlo TrustMVDMMwamwettaNyalaNyatiOffshoreO’LearyOmega Omega ExchOxfordPeerlessPesujoPetrusPitoreskPMJQuatrioRainmakerRalf CookRankinRedco InvsRedwoodRetreatRhinoRichardRightway

a trust for my children; I can’t remem-ber whether I set it up through RMB or Origin. I’ve had no contact with Ansbacher as far as I can remember. I have no money anyway. I’m on the breadline.”

William Croxton Client code CRX 001. Executive Divisional Director, Glenrand MIB, Johannesburg

“I had a loan through Origin and they offered to set up a trust to hold all my South African assets. It had noth-ing to do with overseas investments. They sent me to Ansbachers, where Manie Stoop set up the Croxton Family Trust for me. He also provided a shelf company to hold my [Glenrand MIB] shares. Maybe I didn’t hold enough shares in the company, but they didn’t even suggest I move anything offshore. I was blissfully unaware of that ‘struc-ture’ everyone’s now talking about.

“I’m in the process of shutting down the trust.”

Stuart DownieManaging Director of Kagiso Risk Solutions (Pty) Ltd. Client code DOW 001.

“I used to work for RMB but I was never an Ansbacher client. The offshore

trust structure was too complex and fancy and very inefficient. I have small amounts invested offshore. I applied for amnesty about three years ago. I’d rather sleep well at night.”

Pierre Dippenaar (Brother of Laurie.) Client code DIP 003. MD of Aerosud Engineering, producers of military aviation equipment.

“I have no explanation to give. I’m fine. I’m fine with being on the list.”

DA Alistair Dry Client code DRY 001. Business manager of St John’s College, Johannesburg.

“I’d moved all my banking to Origin [RMB Private Bank]. My brother worked for the bank and they offered a facility to consolidate all your debt in one account. As a spinoff they sent me a young guy from Ansbachers – he emigrated to the UK shortly thereafter – who suggested they set up a trust for me for estate planning purposes. That’s the Dry Family Trust. But I didn’t have enough assets (I’d only put a small endowment policy into it) and they quickly lost interest in me. A year later they called me and suggested I find someone else to manage the trust, as

they would be charging 5% per year on the value of assets under their manage-ment. I took their advice.”

Ian Dry (Brother of Alistair.) Ansbacher client, but not on the list. Employed in RMB’s mergers and acquisitions department in Sandton at the time, now an independent investment con-sultant living in Bishopscourt, Cape Town.

“Manie Stoop did a presentation for RMB executives and managers, and I, like many others, bought into the Duisberg structure. I dealt with Melissa Robinson at Ansbachers. I took the maximum then allowed, R500 000, off shore through Duisberg, and set up a Jersey Trust, the Destiny Trust. Only R74 was invested back into South Africa, to buy 74 of the 100 R1 shares in a local shelf company sup-plied by Ansbachers. The company then invested in shares locally. It had not begun declaring dividends when that Reserve Bank circular came out declar-ing the ‘loop’ illegal.

“I immediately unwound the struc-ture: we bought back the offshore trust’s shares for the original R74, paid the penalty ‘levies’ to exchange control, and collapsed the trust.”


COVER STORY

THE APPARENTLY SOPHISTICATED schemes devised by vari-ous South African banks and accountancy firms to assist cli-ents in evading tax and moving

money offshore, have, besides tempt-ing the country’s business elite into criminality, often proved financially disastrous for the participants.

You rarely hear the latter angle, because the unhappy clients don’t dare complain for fear of exposing them-selves to criminal prosecution.

Well-known executive headhunter Anne Pratt is one of the very few who has broken cover to take on the bank-ers who got her into such a criminal – and financially disastrous – scheme.

“The reputation and credibility of my company [Memela Pratt & Associates] is everything to me,” says Pratt.

Her 51% partner and co-direc-tor in the Joburg-based executive search company is ANC stalwart and Postbank MD Totsie Memela-Khambula. Imagine their dismay when a senior Reserve Bank official told Pratt’s lawyer that she could be imprisoned (for five years, and be fined R250 000) for the elaborate “loop struc-ture” that FirstRand helped set up to move offshore the R25m they lent her.

The 46-year-old Pratt has placed a host of chief executive officers and managing and financial directors, for the likes of Mintek, Impala Platinum and MTN. Last year she lured writer

Achmat Dangor back from Switzerland to become the present CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Ironically she also found a “chief operating officer: designate” for RMB Private Bank.

Back in 2000 Anne Pratt’s headhunt-ing business was called Anne Pratt & Associates and her empowerment partner was Hixonia Nyasulu.

When Nyasulu resigned to found Ayavuna Women’s Investments, Pratt bought Nyasulu’s shares, bringing her own stake to 30%. The remain-ing shares, representing 70% of the company, were held offshore in the Isle of Man, by Fast Track Trust, which Pratt had set up some time previously. Its declared trustee is Douglas-based Falcon Management, but Pratt says she controls it, and is sole trustee and sole beneficiary.

Around May 2000 she met her “relationship manager” at Origin bank, Martin Versveld, to seek advice on set-ting up legitimate offshore structures.

According to Pratt, Versveld pro-posed that FirstRand would lend her R25m, which she would contribute to a close corporation (Pratt duly incorpo-rated Classy Living cc in July 2001).

Classy Living would use the R25m loan to buy the 70% share in Anne Pratt & Associates owned by the Fast Track Trust.

The Reserve Bank and the Receiver of Revenue were expected to believe she was buying shares in a South African company, at arms length, from an unrelated, non-resident trust. Pratt says Versveld told her that no prior Treasury approval was required: as an “authorised dealer”, FirstRand could, on behalf of the Reserve Bank and/or the Treasury, authorise the purchase of foreign exchange. At that time SA residents could invest a maxi-mum of only R750 000 offshore.

And what would FirstRand get out of the sweet little deal? For start-ers, a “structuring fee” of R114 000 – and then the “dividends”, estimated at R1,4m each, that Anne Pratt & Associates would declare each six months, and pay to the bank (in lieu of interest). The R25m loan would be for an initial five years, and Fast Track Trust – and Pratt – stood surety for all amounts owed to FirstRand.

On 14 December 2001 FirstRand paid R25m in US dollars into Fast Track’s account with the Ansbacher

Eric JoellClient code JOE 001. Insurance broker.

“I dealt with Origin. We set up a family trust overseas at a time when everyone was poeping themselves to get money out of the country. Letter of wishes, the whole thing. But it wasn’t cost effective. The charges were ludicrous. It cost £2 000 (R28 000) per year to run and the returns relative to the costs were a joke. We lost half our money. It was a very bad episode. Just thinking about it makes my blood pres-sure rise. I don’t do offshore anymore.”

Peter John LeaClient code LEA 001. Irricon irrigation consultants, Barberton.

“I got involved after Manie Stoop from RMB did a big presentation here. He was a charming guy, seemed very knowledgeable. Then he disappeared and we never got to the bottom of why. Ansbachers set up a Jersey trust for me – the Andhen trust – it’s since been dissolved – and they invested the trust money in the Ansbacher Sterling Fund. It stank. I quickly realised this was only going downhill. I will never invest in any of these things ever again. It seemed like an easy option to get money overseas, but it was a disaster. I lost 20% of my funds before I transferred them elsewhere.”

Ian Macindoe Client code MAC 001. Former Glenrand MIB employee.

“I’d bought 500 000 Glenrand MIB shares some time earlier. When Glenrand MIB was about to list on the JSE, the Origin guys gave us shelf com-panies – mine was Investment facility Company 689 – to transfer our shares into. There was some tax advantage to this for a while: companies then paid a lower tax rate on dividends than I would have, but then the structure fell away.

“My problem started when I handed my shares to Origin as security for their single credit facility. A year ago I decided to sell them and close my facility. But the bank couldn’t find them – they didn’t even have a paper trail. It took them a year to produce them, by which time the share price had dropped a fair amount. Only some time later did I discover that they’d had the cheek to debit R14 000 – for providing a lost share certificate guarantee! I’ve had no benefit from the trust they set up. Now that I want to close it down, I’ve had to hire an account-ant to draw five sets of audited annual accounts. Administratively it’s been a disaster.”.


Unlisted: Anne Pratt

In jeopardy: Anne Pratt

COVER STORY

branch in Jersey. Four months later Fast Track invested the money in an offshore hedge fund called mCubed Principal Protection Fund, admin-istered by m3 Capital Management (Guernsey), part of the mCubed finan-cial services group which is presently being delisted from the JSE.

(In February, in a secret agreement with an unnamed regulator – believed to be the Reserve Bank – mCubed paid a R90,42m penalty for deals that “exploited a loophole in the system”.)

It didn’t take long before things turned sour. On 4 September 2003, Hayden Giger of Origin – by then RMB Private Bank – wrote to Pratt inform-ing her that the dividend of R1,3m due three days earlier had not been received by the bank, and unless it was paid within seven days, legal action would commence and the bank would report her indebtedness to credit refer-ence agencies.

Pratt responded by issuing summons against FirstRand, seeking an order declaring the agreement between her-self and FirstRand illegal, and there-fore null and void. mCubed Holdings and accountants Watermans were listed as co-defendants.

It was Pratt’s attorney, Steven Klagsbrun, who first advised her that FirstRand had structured an illegal deal, and placed her in jeopardy. Klagsbrun approached the Reserve Bank to clarify the situation, and brought her bad news.

“I found out that I could be impris-oned for what FirstRand had done,” she tells noseweek. “That freaked my mind out. I place top executives all over this country and retaining my integrity is the most important thing to me. I knew I needed to get the matter sorted out.”

FirstRand’s initial response to Pratt’s summons was to file an excep-

tion, seeking a “sudden death” ruling that the deal was not an infraction of exchange control regulations – and even if it was, this did not render the R25m loan deal null and void.

Dismissing the bank’s applica-tion, with costs, in September 2004, Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann held that the purpose of Exchange Control Regulation 10(1)(c) is to prevent the export of capital. Subject to later proof at the trial, the structure set up by FirstRand was a breach of exchange control regulations and any deal struck with Pratt was “null and void”.

The case duly went for trial in January this year in the Pretoria High Court, before Judge Mokgoatlheng – and Anne Pratt lost. In April, Mokgoatlheng ruled that FirstRand had broken no rules; the bank won the day and Pratt was ordered to pay costs.

The judgment effectively places a seal of approval on “loop structures” and calls into question Reserve Bank exchange control circulars ruling such transactions illegal. Judge Mokgoatlheng quoted Exchange Control ruling B.20(L), issued in March 1997, which reads: “Local financial assistance may be granted to South African residents or non-affected persons against guarantees by non-residents of the Republic”. Mokgoatlheng concluded: “This practically meant that the limitation to Authorised Dealers fell away, the authority no longer had a rand value, it was now unlimited.”

In other words, the present R2m limit on offshore individual invest-ments, as stipulated by the Reserve Bank, is bullshit. With a suitable non-resident guarantee in place – even if it’s from a trust you “secretly” own or control yourself – you can now shunt out as much loolah as you like!

The judge found that because the authority to export income had already been granted by ruling, an authorised dealer (such as FirstRand) does not have to revert back to the Reserve Bank’s exchange control department. Authorised dealers had authority to implement such transactions.

“In my view the notion that every individual exchange control transac-tion should be individually processed by the exchange control department is untenable and impractical.”

In his extraordinary judgment, Mokgoatlheng – since promoted to a permanent judgeship at Johannesburg High Court – adds: “It is eminently logical for the exchange control depart-ment to identify transactions which


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authorised dealers are frequently called upon to execute and facilitate, to grant blanket approval encapsu-lated in the Exchange Rulings for such transactions.

“The sale agreement between Fast Track Trust and Classy Living, for the sale of the trust’s 70% shareholding in Anne Pratt & Associates, was a prior authorised and approved transac-tion within the purview of Regulation 10(1)(c),” he declared.

In support of her claim to have the loan agreement declared null and void, Pratt claimed that the valuation was grossly inflated and the 70% stake was worth only R10m. (In 2001, on a turno-ver of R6,3m, the company recorded an after-tax profit of R2,3m – insufficient to cover the nearly R3m per year in “dividends” to service the loan). [Was the bank receiving tax-free dividends, or taxable interest? – Ed.]

Responding to Pratt’s assertion that the 70% stake was worth only R10m, FirstRand suggested that the “pure fantasy” R25m value attached to that portion made Pratt party to a fraud.FirstRand claims that the R25m loan was based on the value of Anne Pratt & Associates, as confirmed by the valuation of “an independent auditor”. In fact the valuation was supplied by Pratt’s own accountant, John Rice of Watermans Chartered Accountants, who, for the occasion, had valued the 70% stake at R25,8m.

Watermans, in turn, claimed that FirstRand’s credit committee had approved the R25m loan before the bank even received Rice’s valuation.

(The record shows that approval was given by four members of FirstRand’s High Networth and Property Finance

credit committee: G Suddards, S Farrell, A de Klerk and D Wandrag. Mr Farrell was the executive who more recently testified for FirstRand in its bid to stop noseweek from identifying its private banking clients.)

Judge Mokgoatlheng said Pratt had not proved that FirstRand knew that Watermans’ R25m valuation for 70% of her company’s shares significantly exceeded their fair value. The valua-tion, he concluded, was indeed reason-able and fair, and this “certifies that the transaction was concluded at arms length and at a market-related price”.

In his application for leave to appeal, Pratt’s advocate, Cedric Puckrin SC, described the case as “of substantial importance, not only to the parties to the present action, but also to com-merce at large.

“If the ruling constitutes blanket permissions of the nature contem-plated by FirstRand and so held by his Lordship, then many thousands of these otherwise unlawful and unen-forceable transactions may be saved by the ruling,” wrote the advocate.

“It is imperative that the Supreme Court of Appeal finally pronounce upon this issue, so that in the interest of justice there may be legal certainty.”

Leave to appeal was granted in July, but the matter is likely to be heard only late next year. If the court of appeal upholds Judge Mokgoatlheng’s judgment, the Reserve Bank may face massive claims from many of the 42 672 South Africans who came clean in the amnesty period. Applicants admitted holding R47,6bn in unauthorised foreign assets and were obliged to stump up R2,35bn in fines (called “levies”) if they wished to retain these assets offshore. Many of these billions were shunted offshore through “loop structures”.

n Fast Track’s R25m went into the mCubed Principal Protection Fund five years ago, when the rand was around R12 to the dollar. At under R7 to the dollar, Pratt’s R25m had shrunk to around R19m by the time the invest-ment matured this April. Pratt claims that FirstRand recently exercised the surety pledges for the loan, and removed the R19m from m3 Capital Management (Guernsey) without get-ting the consent of Fast Track.

FirstRand’s counter-claim for repay-ment of its R25m loan – with unpaid dividends and interest it’s looking for more than R30m – will not be con-sidered until the result of the appeal is known. Presumably the bank will knock off the R19m that Pratt claims it has already recovered.


Pratt’s attorney advised her that

FirstRand had structured an

illegal deal, and placed her in

jeopardy

Mr Nose puts it about

Our Old Mutual friend

MR NOSE CAN’T resist snuf-fling along the highly scented trail of self-inter-est wherever

it may lead, even unto the highest courts, the richest corporations, or the very Presidency itself.

Recently, he has been drawn to the whiff sur-rounding one of Mr Mbeki’s most admired heroines, Ms Gloria Tomatoe Serobe: warrior queen of women’s empowerment, member-in-waiting of the SABC board and now, selfless champion of exploited and neglected domestic workers.

In late September, Ms Serobe announced that Old Mutual and the Presidential Working Group on Women (PWGW), of which she is chair, were launching a “flexible retirement annu-ity product, The Domestic Workers’ Plan, to meet the specific needs of domestic workers”.

According to Serobe, the working group had con-sidered various financial institutions, but decided that Old Mutual would be the most suitable partner.

As a former chairperson of the Life Offices’ Association, Ms Serobe surely knows a good financial product when she sees it.

But for some reason, none of the many stories splashing this good news for domestic workers men-tioned that the success of this product launch could be super-duper extra good news for the very, very rich Gloria Tomatoe Serobe too.

No-one seemed to find it fishy that Serobe, found-ing member and executive

director of Wiphold and CEO of Wipcapital, is a big-time shareholder in Old Mutual and a member of its board.

Which adds a curious twist to the praise our President heaped on Serobe and her well-heeled Wiphold sisters (Danisa Baloyi, sadly no longer of Absa and Fidentia – see noses past – got a special mention), in one of his online letters to the nation. “Given the opportunity ... women are capable of matching and surpassing men in achiev-ing success in all fields,” he declared. Including, it seems, lining their own pockets.

It is estimated that there are more than one million domestic workers in South Africa. The Old Mutual package is available for a monthly contribution of R85 to R200, depending on the

level of savings chosen. A fee of R7 is deducted from each contribution to cover “distribution costs”. Ongoing asset management fees are also charged.

As the saying goes: Do the math! Gloria most certainly knows how to – she’s an honorary member of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.

Not a bad little earner for Old Mutual and its share-holders, even if only a frac-tion buy in, and especially if employers, already shell-ing out for UIF, have the decency to feel guilty about the lot of domestic workers and pay up.

Old Mutual certainly hopes they will. The group’s Retail Mass Market Solutions (really) execu-tive, Andrew Cartwright, was quoted in Business Day as saying: “We hope that employers will assist their workers by paying the con-tributions over and above their workers’ salaries.

“Domestic workers could also consider using part of their salaries to increase their monthly contribu-tions.” That Old Mutual should be so lucky!

Alas, employers cannot claim contributions they make to the fund as a tax deduction. Perhaps Ms Serobe, while she beavers away in the Presidency on behalf of womankind, can pop by Mr Manuel’s office and suggest something along these lines as a “Tip for Trevor”.

Now Mr Nose is all for helping domestic workers, whether they are exploited or not. Like the President, he’s all for uplifting the poor when there’s a buck or five in it for us, too.

As Ms Serobe says: “We need to provide greater access to savings and cover for vulnerable groups such as women in rural areas, farm workers, single par-ents and domestic workers. Greater economic inde-pendence in their working situations and in their retirement years is key to true empowerment. The Domestic Workers’ Plan is a step towards this goal.”

Noble words, indeed. Well said. Absolutely.But why not add: “And

as a shareholder in Old Mutual I will ensure that these hard-earned savings invested in an Old Mutual Smoothed Bonus Portfolio will bring you all a guar-anteed and reasonable investment”?

Mr Nose looked at the small print, as he does, and found that it read: “There are no investment guarantees”, which is Old Mutual speak for: “You may just get your money back and a little, little bit more (depending on what sort of tax break we can extort from Trevor, but we know not what and we are certainly not going to make any promises).”

This will ring a bell for millions of long-standing Old Mutual “baby-boom” shareholders who, with their retirements looming, have discovered to their horror that the returns on Old Mutual Retirement Annuities are not quite what their brokers esti-mated, based on projected figures, way back then.

Mr and Mrs Nose seem to remember similar investment initiatives for domestic workers in the not-too-distant past.


Glorious Serobe

Picture: IMAGES24.co.za / Daily Sun / Jabu Khumalo

But this latest scheme, coming as it does from The Presidency no less, claims to be “the first such pack-age” to give these work-ers the chance to “secure an income in retirement while also providing family funeral cover and health support services”.

Back to the small print. “Contributions increase each year in line with infla-tion” (currently 6%). “You can decline the automatic increase but if rejected the increase will result in lower retirement benefits.”

No lump sum contribu-tions are permitted (wonder why?). Also, workers may, if they have made six contri-butions, skip six payments OVER THE TERM OF THE PRODUCT without losing their benefit. So, skip one more and you’re out.

But what happens if, say, a domestic worker finds herself unemployed for more than six months? What if the “master” and “madam” can’t afford to keep her on? What if they die without remembering her in their will – or pack for Perth?

According to the fellow who answered the phone at the Old Mutual call centre, the client has the choice between immediately claiming the pittance due to her as a lump sum, or leaving it in Old Mutual’s hands to be steadily eroded by management fees until she retires. Either way, she will lose her funeral cover.

And what about domestic workers who are only a few years off the mandatory retirement age of 70?

How much will they get?Imagine the “tears before

teatime” in downtown Butterworth when Dora Domestic’s dreams of a comfy retirement and a “secure income” (which the product seems to imply) are dashed?

If “there are no

investment guarantees” then minimum retirement “secure income” figures related to the various categories of investment must surely be spelled out in some way or another. Maybe they are. We hope so.

The PWGW was estab-lished by President Thabo Mbeki last year to address the social and economic challenges facing women. It is headed by Serobe. Business, labour and non-governmental organiza-tions are represented on its board. Ms Serobe, through her shareholdings, also has a major stake in Telkom and her CV notes that she serves on a number of boards including: Old Mutual, Nedbank, the JSE, Mutual and Federal, the Financial Sector Charter Council, and is Chairman of the Board: Independent Ports Regulator. Apart from the Presidential Working Group for Women she is also a member of the Presidential Economic

Advisory Committee and an honorary member of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.

n Watch this space department:

The little whiff that sur-rounds Parliament’s recent recommendation that Ms Serobe, among others, be appointed by President Mbeki to the SABC Board, still lingers. Mr Nose was amongst the many moved to tears when Serobe, with wide-eyed inno-cence, told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications (which conducted the interviews for the SABC Board) that she didn’t know who had nominated her – she had “never found out” who it was, but that it was “sweet” of “him or her” to have done so.

But what’s this about “him or her”? some insen-sitive soul asked ever so rudely. Mr Louis J du Plooy, whose nomination of Serobe, written on plain paper, gave his address as Groenkloof, Pretoria, claimed that he phoned Serobe to get the copy of her CV that he’d attached to his letter.

But then, of course, Du Plooy himself failed to mention, when nominating Serobe, that he is the Chief Director for Ministerial Services in the Ministry in the Presidency. He works for Essop Pahad.

That only emerged when someone noticed that his nomination letter and the CV supplied by Serobe had been faxed from a fax machine in the President’s office!

A Notice of Motion on a Possible Breach of Parliamentary Privilege has now been tabled in Parliament by IFP MP Suzanne Vos calling for a preliminary investiga-tion into whether Serobe

“in informing the Portfolio Committee that she did not know Du Plooy wilfully furnished the Portfolio Committee with false or misleading information and thereby committed the offence of breach of parliamentary privilege in terms of section 17 (2)(e) of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act 4 of 2004 (possibly in an attempt to conceal from the Portfolio Committee Du Plooy’s direct link with the Minister in the Presidency, Dr Essop Pahad).”

We await developments, as they say in the classics.

n And, oh dear, then there are those whispers and allegations that Serobe tried to buy deliberately undervalued Wiphold shares from under Old Mutual’s nose, under the pretext of acting in the interests of the broad-based beneficiaries when, in fact, according to the mutter-ings, the only beneficiaries were to be a few Wiphold directors including Ms Serobe and Wiphold CEO, Louisa Mojela. More to follow on this too.

Another toady


Danisa Baloyi

Picture: IMAGES24.co.za / Daily Sun / Sipho Maluka

Law


R UGBY WORLD CUP – time to stock up on the Klippies, Captain Morgan and, most importantly, beer. And

our favourite supplier of the amber nectar certainly joined the carnival with its Castle Lager “Scrum Pack”.

Each pack of eight Castle Lager cans, we learned, would contain a “Back the Boks” card, featuring the name of a Springbok player, the date of a South Africa game, and the amount of cash the card holder would win should that player score in that game. If your player scored, you would phone a 24-hour hotline and, within 48 hours, the amount – anything from R50 to R7500 – would be deposited into your account.

This novel promotion was dreamt up by an agency called thirtyfour (yes, it is hard to understand why they never have proper names). But with potential prizes amounting to a staggering R289m, a pro-motional risk company had worked out the odds for SAB – hence many times more John Smit than Brian Habana cards.

The business was energetically advertised, with endless exhortations to run down to your nearest liquor store for your Scrum Pack. In the Sunday Times of 2 September, thirty-four MD Andy Sutcliffe enthused: “Five hundred and forty thousand special edition Scrum Packs will be on bottle store shelves this week, each with one game card inside. Castle drinkers who buy their tipple at pubs will get one card per drink ordered. Three million cards have been printed.”

And Morne Fourie of thirtyfour was as enthusiastic. In Biz Community of 4 September he proclaimed: “There’s no catch – something we hope the Springboks won’t be accused of (don’t give up the day job Morne!). Every Scrum Pack of Castle Lager will carry

a ‘Back the Boks’ card.” The castlelager.co.za website was

pretty clear too: “You will receive a Castle ‘Back the Boks’ game card with every purchase of Castle Lager, Castle Draft or Back the Boks promotional Scrum Pack.”

The whole thing looked like a straightforward game, which even rugby fans could understand. But, well... not quite, as smaller players were soon to discover.

Dirk van der Walt runs Hyper Cellars in Oberholzer, near Carletonville, there on the far West Rand – where men are men and women are ... well, they also love their rugby. So when the local okes heard about the new promotion they came streaming in. “Gee vir ons ’n klomp Scrum Packs Dirkie!” they cried. But like the man who’s had a few too many Castles and can’t rise to the occasion, he was highly embarrassed. Because

Lucky for some: The Castle Lager website

Lucky packet

Castles in the air

When SAB ran its Rugby World Cup Scrum Pack promotion, only

its favoured outlets were

given a slurp at the lucrative

trough

of Scrum Packs Dirk had none. And of customers, he soon had none too many either.

But Dirkie my mate, did you misread the market? Why didn’t you stock up on Scrum Packs? No no says Dirk, I did my best, I did it all. It’s just that SAB simply wouldn’t supply me, that’s why!

Concerned that something personal might be lurking, that he didn’t know about, Dirk made enquiries among his competitors in Carletonville. Whereupon our man discovered that the smaller bottle stores, like Flint Discount Liquor Store, Carletonville Hyper Liquor and Blue Bell Liquors, all had the same problem – SAB wouldn’t supply Scrum Packs. But the bigger guys, like Tops at Spar and Picardi Rebel (right across the road from Dirk), were having no problem at all getting the product, or, of course, getting rid of it as fast as it came in.

And Liquor Lapa, which is in the same street as Dirk’s shop, and a mere 500 metres away, received one pallet. So it certainly wasn’t a case of Dirk’s store being out of the way.

Dirk queried the matter with the depot manager of SAB in Chamdor, Mr Manie. Sorry boet, said Manie, this is for “key account” holders only – and yes we always knew lots of traders were going to complain, but tough! Manie tried to sweeten the pill by offering Dirk a discount on ordinary Castle cases, but Dirk wasn’t interested – his customers wanted Scrum Packs and so did he.

Now Dirk knows that to stay in business you sometimes have to go the extra mile, which he duly went – an extra 160km round trip to Makro in Crown Mines to be precise, where he got hold of some Scrum Packs at R81.90 per case of three. Which is a pretty amazing price, because SAB’s list price right then was R87 per case, and Dirk knows that Liquor Lapa in

Carletonville paid the list price for them. So Makro must be getting some pretty impressive discounts.

It’s not only bottle stores who had a problem says Dirk – bars did too. At a charming chain pub like O’Hagans you got a card with every Castle you downed. But at just any old kroeg, like the Grand Hotel in Carletonville (we bet there is one), there was no card.

So where did the manne go to watch the World Cup?

Dirk of Oberholzer is seriously pissed off, because a whole bunch of his customers went elsewhere, and he’s not sure if he’ll see them again. And because his contact at Tops told him Scrum Packs were “flying off the shelves”.

He lodged a complaint, on 15 September, with the Competition Commission, alleging restrictive prac-tices and abuses of a dominant position, copying to SAB in the persons of Tony van Kralingen and Wayne McCauley. At the time of writing, Dirk had received an acknowledgement from the Commission but not a peep from SAB. No doubt they’ll deal with it soon. Now that the World Cup is over.

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Law


A FORT BEAUFORT SHERIFF stands accused of misinforming the courts and of aiding Standard Bank lawyers in wrongfully dispossessing a local man,

Arrie Johannes, of his modest home in this historic Eastern Cape town. Sheriff Barbara-Jean Herman’s conduct is now being investigated by the Board of Sheriffs and by the Commercial Crimes Unit as part of a wider series of inquiries into wheel-ings and dealings between the sheriff and local attorneys.

The house that Mr Johannes paid R65 000 for now belongs to Sazi Zangoxolo Mtotywa, who just happens to be the brother of a Fort Beaufort attorney whom Johannes had hired to get him out of the mess.

The deed of sale was first put in the sheriff’s name and signed by Herman herself, but later put in Sazi’s name when the deeds office rejected this and ordered Standard Bank to reattach the house.

Back in 2000 Arrie Johannes signed a Section 20 (or private) agreement of sale for the house, at 37 Somerset Street, with then owner Jacobus Verwey, in terms of which Johannes would pay Verwey R65 000 in monthly instalments of R1000. Legal docu-ments would only be drawn up for proper transfer of the house into Johannes’ name when the full amount was paid.

Johannes faithfully paid the monthly account and thought noth-ing more of it, until 2004, when he approached, to effect the transfer, and as stipulated in the sale agreement, Rene Hills and Nonkie Barnes of Hanesworth & Nienaber Attorneys.

At that point, in fact, everything was about to go wrong – Verwey, still the nominal owner, had defaulted on his bond payments to Standard Bank. Johannes, of course, had no idea that Verwey even had a bond on the house. After his wife Marleen died in 1998, Verwey had signed full responsibility for this bond (of R62 000), but being jobless, had been advised to either rent the house out or sell.

Verwey had chosen to sell, and hap-pily taken Johannes’ money month by

month, but, somewhere along the line, began defaulting on the bond.

When Johannes presented his copy of the sale contract, and records of payment, to Nonkie and Hills, they told him that he was still owing “a balance of R324, to be paid before they could transfer the property”.

Johannes coughed up, and was duly issued with a receipt. The two Hanesworth & Nienaber attorneys then instructed him to pay a further R3008, which the cash receipt shows as the “transfer fee”.

“They told me that it would take a few days before the transfer was com-pleted,” Johannes tells noseweek.

But over the next few months he was told, each time he called, that there was “a slight problem” at the Deeds Office in Cape Town and the matter was soon to be resolved.

What they didn’t tell him was that when he applied for the transfer, and paid the fee, the attorneys had noti-fied Standard Bank – after all, their

When property is theft

Home truth: Arrie Johannes outside the Fort Beaufort house that he believed was going to be his

Standard Bank and the sheriff of

Fort Beaufort have been implicated

in wrongfully separating a

homebuyer from his house

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firm had drawn up Verwey’s bond on the same house – and the bank imme-diately instructed attorneys Wheeldon Rushmere & Cole of Grahamstown to commence proceedings to attach the same property, based on “an out-standing amount” due on the bond. Wheeldon Rushmere filed a claim for R56 671 on behalf of Standard Bank and obtained summons on 2 September 2005 at the Grahamstown High Court.

According to Rule 46(3) of the High Court Act, Johannes, as the occupier and bona fide owner of the property, should have been made aware of the pending court action.

Now this was a full 11 months after Johannes first approached the Hanesworth & Nienaber attorneys, who were still telling Johannes that

the deed of ownership was on its way. Were the Hanesworth attorneys simply unaware of the court action?

Enter Sheriff Barbara-Jean Herman. According to the origi-nal “Return of Service”, dated “00/00/0000”, and filed by Sheriff Herman at the Grahamstown High Court, the summons was allegedly served on “Johannes Veryey” of Tower Hospital, Fort Beaufort (later altered to read 37 Somerset Street).

The Tower Hospital was Arrie Johannes’ former workplace, while “Johannes Veryey” appears to be a bizarre combination of Johannes (the occupier) and Verwey (the defendant listed on the summons).

How did the court accept such anomaly? The Registrar of Grahamstown High Court told nosew-eek: “This is the strangest thing ever to happen, but with Sheriff Herman, everything is possible.”

Because the summons never reached its destination, so the defend-ant didn’t appear in court, the bank was awarded a default judgment for the demanded amount.

Sheriff Herman was now given another task – to deliver the writ of execution. Once again she filed that she had served this (allegedly in March 2006) on Verwey, at 37 Somerset Street. Verwey of course had moved out in 2000, was living in Port Elizabeth, and the house was occupied by Arrie Johannes.

The High Court Rule 46 also demands that a notice be placed on the magistrate’s notice board – but a magistrate has sworn an affidavit con-firming that no such thing was done. When noseweek approached Sheriff Herman, to ask on whom exactly, and when, she had served both the sum-mons and the writ of execution, she referred us to Standard Bank attor-


This is the strangest thing ever to happen, but with Sheriff

Herman, everything is

possible– Registrar of Grahamstown High Court

Law


neys Wheeldon Rushmere & Cole. When we pressed our enquiry further, the sheriff became very agitated and repeated that we should speak to Mr Huxtable of Wheeldon Rushmere & Cole.

“Is he your attorney?” noseweek wanted to know.

“No, he is Standard Bank’s.” “But our questions pertain to your

office, not the bank.” “Talk to them, and don’t waste my

time,” retorted the sheriff, and hung up.

Standard Bank’s director of legal affairs, Kim Siegel, informed us that her bank was within its rights to recall the bond and acted within the law. As to when the bond was last serviced, Siegel responded:

“Based on our duty of confidential-ity to our client, we are not able to provide you with details of when the bond was last serviced, without our client’s consent.”

But didn’t this confidentiality lapse when your bank filed court papers against the said client? No answer.

Why did the bank prosecute the matter at the High Court (in Grahamstown), as opposed to the Magistrate’s Court (in Fort Beaufort)? The bank, said Siegel, had the pre-

rogative to file the matter anywhere they liked.

By August 2006, Johannes, still not aware of what was going on, returned to Hanesworth & Nienaber. And even at this late stage the attorneys did not disclose to Johannes that their other client, Standard Bank, had won

a court action against Verwey and that the house has been attached. Anxious to get some action, he hired Fort Beaufort attorney, Goodman Zongezile Mtotywa, who also teaches law at the East London campus of Fort Hare University, to speed up the process of procuring the deed of sale.

“Mtotywa assured me repeatedly that everything was under control, and that I would finally have the deed transferred to my name,” says Johannes. But Mtotywa was also not doing the work he was being paid for. He, too, didn’t inform his client that a default judgment had been entered in favour of the bank, nor that a public auction had been scheduled for 15 December 2006.

Only on 14 December, at just after 2pm, did Mtotywa call his client:

“He called to inform me that the only way to save my home was to deposit R67 000 with Standard Bank before they closed that day. I had about an hour to raise this money and pay up.”

Johannes managed to get the money by the following morning, but it was too late, the property had been sold – for R192 000. According to initial papers filed with the Deeds Office, which noseweek has copies of, the pur-chaser was none other than Sheriff Barbara-Jean Herman. Mr Huxtable, the Standard Bank attorney, signed as witness. When the Deed’s Office rejected this and ordered the house to be reattached, new papers were instead made out – in favour of Sazi Zangoxolo Mtotywa, attorney Mtotywa’s younger brother, and his wife Yandiswa Mtotywa.

noseweek can reveal that between August 2006 and April 2007, the younger Mtotywa and his wife had tried to get credit from at least 14 branches of various major banks, including Standard Bank.

How did the Mtotywas get in on the act? What was their relationship with the sheriff?

Johannes filed complaints with the Cape Law Society and the Board of Sheriffs, against Mtotywa and Herman respectively.

noseweek isn’t alone in investigat-ing the Arrie Johannes affair: the SAPS’ Commercial Crimes Division apparently intends bringing charges against the Sheriff, various attorneys – including Mtotywa and his brother, and the bank managers who proc-essed the original bond.

A source close to the police inves-tigation confirmed that they have statements from various witnesses

By August 2006, Johannes was still not aware that his

home had been handed over to Standard Bank

and that the investigations are at an advanced stage. The Board of Sheriffs also confirmed that they are inves-tigating Sheriff Herman’s activities, and that they have received numerous complaints against the Sheriff.

Zainab, an officer with the Board, told us: “We are aware of that par-ticular case and we are concerned. However, we are just a regula-tory body and we don’t employ the Sheriffs. If she did anything wrong, then she’ll have to be liable for any damages that Johannes would have suffered.”

Apparently there is an indemnity fund that covers the liabilities of sher-iffs, and Johannes could be compen-sated from that.

After Johannes wrote to the Board of Sheriffs, and they approached Herman for her response, she began her defence by claiming that Johannes’ letter had actually been written by noseweek. The whole matter, she wrote, can “be put down to ‘sour grapes’ on the part of Mr Johannes. However, I can assure you

that I shall not tolerate any further harassment by noseweek.”

The Board did not accept Sheriff Herman’s defence and has referred the matter to its Disciplinary Unit. In a letter to Johannes, Ms TC Jacobs wrote: “We have noticed that there were indeed transgressions by the Sheriff in the following instances: the conditions of sale were never affixed on the notice board of the Magistrate’s Court as set out in the Rules of Court; the return of service is marked 00/00/00, which is irregular, and the sheriff appears to have been the pur-chaser of the attached property, with the Deed of Sale signed by the sheriff and the instructing attorney.”

While the Board of Sheriffs seems to be serious, the Law Society appears to have taken a softer stance. Peter Pearson, of the Society’s Disciplinary Department says: “We are aware of the case involving attorney Mtotywa, but we can only reprimand him. We cannot disbar him.”

Arrie Johannes’ predicament is a common occurance: James Greeves,

a Cape Town realtor with over 40 years’ experience in the industry, tells noseweek: “It’s such a common feature, especially in townships. Most people are easily convinced to sign such contracts for properties without searches at the Deeds Office. Some of these contracts are based on affidavits sworn at police stations.” Greeves says that people often only discover that the properties they have paid for belong to a financial group, or another owner, when they apply for transfer.

When Johannes discovered that Verwey had taken him for a ride, he offered to pay off the entire amount Verwey owed to the bank, just to save his home. He then filed a charge of fraud against Verwey, who in turn offered Johannes R110 000 to with-draw the charge. Verwey hoped to raise this from the difference between the sale price of R192 000 and the R65 000 that the bank demanded.

Johannes has rejected the offer, because accepting it might compro-mise his claim that he should remain the rightful owner of the house.


THE BATTLE FOR THE FUTURE of the Wild Coast is escalating, with hun-dreds of local residents backing a legal challenge to the mining of the sensitive dune area in the

Xolobeni district.The environmental group Sustaining

the Wild Coast is hoping to per-suade the High Court to set aside the prospecting permit awarded to the Australian mining company Mineral Resource Commodities.

The group has the backing of the Amadiba Crisis Committee, a com-munity organisation which has signed up 900 members since its formation in June – no mean feat in a rural area with bad roads, few telephones and the constant threat of harassment from supporters of the mining operation. A number of members of the 15 000-strong Ex-Mineworkers Union have also joined the fray.

According to the court application, the granting of a prospecting licence by the Department of Minerals and Energy was “irregular” in terms of a 1992 decree which prohibits “the clear-ance of land or the removal of sand, soil, stone or vegetation” within a kilometre of the high-water mark.

This is the same decree cited in the

recent Appeal Court decision that orders the demolition of beach cottages built along the Wild Coast.

The only way around the restriction would have been to obtain special per-mission from the provincial authorities.

According to a spokesperson for Sustaining the Wild Coast, Sinegugu Zukulu, there is no evidence that the provincial government granted a permit for the removal of anything within the protected zone.

“I believe we have a strong case,” he

said. “By some mis-implementation of the law, the mining company was allowed to drill and remove soil samples for analysis within the one kilometre coastal conservation zone, and we will be challenging this.”

Sustaining the Wild Coast claims the prospectors have already removed 60 tons of sand from the dunes, trucked it to Richards Bay for smelting and then shipped it to Australia.

Apart from the damage to the fragile dune ecosystem, the bulk sample may well have contained valuable Stone Age relics. According to the Palaeontology Department at Wits University, stone fragments from the area have been identified as the remains of Sangoan era tools dating back hundreds of thou-sands of years.

The mining company’s PR con-sultants, Maverick, insist that their client was operating within the law “and only within the bounds of what was approved by the Department of Minerals and Energy”.

Maverick said the mining compa-ny’s wholly-owned local subsidiary Transworld Mineral and Energy Resources “was granted a Prospecting Right and it received a permit to drill and remove sand within the one kilo-metre boundary, as per the Prospecting Right, which allowed us to undertake exploration”.

The provincial Department of Minerals and Energy insists that the provisions of the prospecting permit allow only for drilling, not bulk sam-pling. An official in the department’s law section, Jan van As, said the environmental authorities had been consulted before the permit was issued.

“This is not strictly a conservation area. Not much vegetation was removed or cleared from the area,” he claimed.

This appears at odds with the view of the Department of Economic Affairs and the Environment in the province. Its head of enforcement, Div de Villiers, said the mining company had applied

Picture: John Clarke

Ignored, dismissed and

lied to, Wild Coast residents

are fighting back


Mining

Pondo uprising

Picture supplied

Far and wide: Part of the 2 000-strong crowd gathers to protest against the mining operation

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for road access within the protected zone, but not for removing anything.

”Since the Department of Minerals and Energy issued a permit for road access, as requested by Transworld, it must be aware that it’s in a coastal conservation area,” he said.

Attorney Richard Spoor, who will be leading the court challenge, said that if prospecting rights were set aside, “Mineral Resource Commodities would have to apply again and this would be difficult since it would have to go back to the community and consult with them to gain approval”.

So far, the mining company’s record of public consultation has been less than impressive. It has consistently cir-cumvented the tribal authority, and the Amadiba Crisis Committee, by organis-ing alternative meetings with selected individuals who favour mining the area.

Most recently, Transworld failed to pitch up at a mass meeting at the Umgungundlovu tribal authority in September. The gathering was attended by 2000 people and presided over by King Mpondombini Sigcau and Queen MaSobhuza Sigcau, as well as mem-bers of the Human Rights Commission. Although the company CEO, John Barnes, was issued with a written invita-tion, he denies knowing of the meeting.

A spokesperson for the crisis commit-tee, Mzamo Dlamini, says anti-mining groups believe the Department of Minerals and Energy is in collusion with the company. “We organised ourselves as a committee because John Barnes

refuses to meet with locals who resist mining, despite repeated requests. And whenever we have a meeting with the department to air our concerns they give us a workshop on mining. They would not be educating us about mining laws if they were not ready to mine. It looks like the minerals department ... supports the project,” Dlamini said.

“The people of the Amadiba region are not interested in mining because they have seen the damage it causes: some of them have worked in mines, others have been to Richards Bay.”

The mining company plans to mine 22km of the Wild Coast for titanium deposits, which would disturb 330 million tons of sand over 22 square kilo-metres of coastal dunes. Apart from the environmental damage, local residents are concerned that their security and land rights are threatened if they are displaced and resettled by mining.

The economic benefits for the local community, which were never convinc-ing, are looking even less attractive with the removal of the smelter from the proposal. The smelter was supposed to provide 250 of the 500 jobs prom-ised by the project. But it now seems the mineral deposits are to be trucked to Richards Bay, adding to the heavy burden on the road infrastructure.

The Department of Minerals and Energy’s apparent failure to apply itself to the protection of this ecologically sensitive area of the Wild Coast is very worrying in light of the department’s apparent determination to have more say over environmental decisions.

In August, the department proposed an amendment to the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act that would give it full authority over environmental mining disputes. The amendment undermines the powers of Environmental Affairs and could exempt mining activity from safe-guards in the National Environmental Management Act.

At a September meeting in Lanseria, a network of environmental organisa-tions joined forces to challenge what is perceived to be a collusion between the department and mining houses. At the meeting veteran human rights lawyer George Bizos pledged support in his capacity as a consultant to the Legal Resources Centre.

The Department of Minerals and Energy wouldn’t comment further, telling noseweek they “would not like to conduct a regulatory process through the media”. The completed impact assessment is due on 22 October, and the department should give a Record of Decision next February.


Great and good: The Mayor of OR Tambo district, Ms Zoleka Capa, arrives at the rally with King Mpondombini Sigcau

Picture supplied

Publication of letterIn “Dune Deal” (nose94), we stated that the Sunday Tribune had published a letter by Nomangesi Malunga, CEO of mining company MRC’s black BEE partner, Xolco. In fact, the letter was e-mailed to the paper, but not published. We apolo-gise for any confusion.


Must view

Property

I SN’T INTERNET SHOPPING GREAT? You can spend ages browsing the merchan-dise without being pestered by stupid shop assistants, or getting elbowed out of the way by other

shoppers. And then your goods arrive at your doorstep a few days later.

But would you be brave enough to buy something big on the Net? Something really big – like a house? Dulari-Leiylay Markelle did, and she’s come to regret it. Because she bought a dud, and ever since she’s been involved in acrimony with Pam Golding Properties. And now there’s a really interesting case pending at the Cape High Court.

Dulari is a psychologist from London, who suffers from a methicillin resist-ance staphyloscoccus aureus septicae-mia (for obvious reasons she prefers not to talk about it), which is exacerbated by unsanitary water. In 2005, while

living in India, she decided to look for a rural hideaway in South Africa, and, on a Pam Golding website, found a cute little cottage in the Western Cape hamlet of Napier.

“A must view. Renovated house with loft,” said the site. So Dulari phoned the agent, Neville Cowan.

She says she explained her ailment to Cowan, and that she couldn’t visit South Africa right then to see the house because of her illness. She plied him with questions and asked if he could survey the house on her behalf.

Cowan, says Dulari, told her that the roof was sound, the outside drains ran into a proper drainage system and, apart from the fact that the bath had been removed, the plumbing was intact and working. Yes there was a little bit of damp in the bathroom, but this was related to overuse of the shower rather than any leak or problem with the

roof. The fireplace had been boarded up but could easily be re-opened as the chimney was still functional. And no she wouldn’t need a survey because he, Cowan, in his capacity as estate agent, would identify any defects for her.

In any event, the house was in good condition. As proof he emailed her some more photos, which showed the exterior of the house and a veranda looking out on a pretty little gravel road.

So, in December 2005, Dulari signed an offer to purchase for R449 000. The seller accepted and, voila, Dulari became the proud owner of a cottage in a Western Cape village that’s very much on the up.

The contract contained an acknowl-edgment that the property had been bought unseen, and that Dulari would have no claims against either Mrs Louw or Pam Golding for defects which would have been apparent had the property been viewed. Dulari wasn’t worried – Cowan, and his photos, had reassured her it was a good house.

But Dulari’s joy was short-lived. When she arrived in February 2006 she was extremely disappointed. She found rising damp, rotting skirting, warp-ing beams in bathroom and kitchen, a wreck of a roof, rusted gutters, inad-equate drainage, and no plumbing for a bath. So she cancelled the sale.

But she had lost a lot of money, so she sued Pam Golding Properties. The basis of her claim is that she only entered into the contract because she relied on the agent’s answers and mis-leading photos. And that the agent was either negligent in not making proper enquires, or alternatively deliberately gave false answers. She’s claiming a small shortfall on what she was reim-bursed, a cancellation fee, travel and relocation costs, occupational rental, rates and electricity paid in advance, and wasted airfares – around R90 000.

Pam Golding Properties is defending the action, but if you look at the Plea (the defence document), you have to

What looked like a charming des. res. on Pam Golding’s website turned out to be a lemon, says UK buyer


conclude that Pam Golding Properties is in complete denial.

The company denies responsibility for the actions of the agents Neville and Pat Cowan; it denies that the company carries on business in Napier; it denies that its website showed that its “representatives”, Neville and Pat Cowan, could be contacted about the house, saying that only the “estate agents” Neville and Pat Cowan could be contacted; and it denies that Neville Cowan acted in the course and scope of his employment with the company.

Sounds very much like a “these are independent franchisees, it’s not our baby” defence. But surely not from a company whose mission statement says their business is built on “the cornerstones of honesty, integrity and professionalism”? And which certainly makes reference to a Napier branch, at 40 Sarel Cilliers Street.

And just in case the court finds that Pam Golding Properties is responsible for the actions of Pam Golding estate agents, it denies much more. It denies that Dulari first identified the property

on the Pam Golding website, but claims that she identified it on the website myproperty.co.za and was subsequently told that she could find more details and photos at pamgolding.co.za (we’re not clear on the relevance of this).

The company furthermore denies that Dulari told Cowan about her ail-ments, or asked any questions at all, other than whether an estate agent in South Africa could survey a house, as can be done in the UK. It denies that Cowan told Dulari the things she claims he did, other than that the bath had been removed. It denies the discussion about the fireplace, claim-ing that Cowan simply told Dulari that there had once been a stove, and that a similar stove could be installed in the chimney area.

It denies that Cowan told Dulari that the house was in good condition. And, importantly, it denies that Dulari relied on the photos, claiming that her father, a Dr Spilg who lives in Cape Town, inspected the property prior to her sign-ing (Dulari admits this, but denies that her “estranged father” was aware of the

problems with the house). And Pam Golding Properties denies

everything else it’s possible to deny – that Dulari found any problems, that there was negligent or fraudulent con-duct, that Dulari cancelled the sale (no, she “repudiated” it), that there was any shortfall, or that she incurred the costs she is claiming.

The trial is set for 21 April 2008. Apparently there was an Estate Agency Affairs Board hearing in early August, and Pam Golding Properties was found guilty of various charges. noseweek has twice approached the board’s legal adviser, Lindiwe Bollo, for a copy of the decision, but we’re still waiting. After the hearing, MD Andrew Golding told The Argus that the board’s decision would be taken on review next April.

The case certainly adds spice to the old issue of what “must view” actually means – whether, as widely believed, it means “this house is so good you simply must have a look”, or whether it’s a warning that “this house is so crap you’d better see it before doing any-thing silly, like making an offer”.

A developer in SA’s whale-watching capital claims his proposal for a sports village was poached by vested interests on the council

Unhappy in Hermanus

H ERMANUS – ONCE A QUAINT FISHING village, now a sprawl of bland housing developments and golf estates. A town where real estate is the currency and

where fortunes can be made from prop-erty developments. Where some locals bemoan the loss of innocence, but oth-ers proudly tell you there’s method in the madness – the only way to keep “them” out is to ensure that every bit of open land is developed. And devel-oped fast!

So was born the vision of an Herma-nus sports village.

In 2003 local property developer Mark Brumer decided that Hermanus needed an upmarket sports village, which would incorporate the sports grounds of the local high school, as well as the considerable stretch of mu-nicipal land around it.

He saw the situation from several angles. Firstly, a number of sports clubs using municipal land in the town are struggling, and consolida-tion would help them all. Secondly, the high school’s sports facilities aren’t first rate, so many kids are sent “over the mountain” to serious sports schools in Stellenbosch or Cape Town. Thirdly, while we all love whales, they can get a little boring, so a professional sports village where local and foreign teams might train would add to the town’s at-tractions. And lastly – well, hey, there was serious money to be made.

Brumer presented his proposal to the municipality, on a confidential basis, but sod all happened. Then in 2006 the mayor of the Overstrand Mu-nicipality, Theo Beyleveldt, got excited about the idea. Perhaps someone told him South Africa would be hosting a big soccer tournament in 2010, or per-haps he looked at the swish new sports

centre which nearby Gansbaai is get-ting, with government and business funding, and thought: “Hey we want a bit of that here in Hermanus”. So he asked Brumer to present his proposal again. Which he did, and everyone liked what they saw.

Lekker said the burgermeester, but we must do things proper hey – we must put this out to tender. So an advert was placed in the local rag, the Hermanus Times, and Brumer and an-other local businessman, Henri Lerm, put in proposals.

Brumer’s glossy document proclaims that, with 2010 around the corner, Hermanus has “an ideal opportunity to launch itself onto the global stage as a sporting and entertainment venue”, and a sports village will “put Herma-nus boldly onto the South African sporting map”.

Brumer’s plan is nothing if not bold. The centre would “take the form of an Olympic Village”, comprising a sports institute, a clubhouse, a restaurant and conference facilities.

An indoor sports facility would in-clude a gym, squash courts, a heated swimming pool, and a multi-purpose area for everything from basketball to tiddlywinks.

Outdoor facilities would include up-graded cricket facilities, tennis courts, netball courts, a beach volleyball area, a skateboard park, and headquarters for the local road running, mountain bike and pigeon racing clubs.

The school’s facilities would be transformed, with a floodlit Astroturf hockey pitch, upgraded rugby field with grandstand for provincial games, and a new cricket pitch.

So, every sport you could imagine catered for – with one obvious excep-tion...

Brumer promises that his project will be “community-driven”, and that his partner will be a company called Masiqhame Trading. Possibly sensi-tive to the fact that the burgers won’t buy into a plan that brings busloads of “them” into an area which is decidedly terre blanche, he deals with the issue of the national sport succinctly. The nearby township of Zwehihle “is the soccer centre of the region and more facilities, along with maintenance pro-grammes will be put in place there”. But, be quite sure, the village will give “Hermanus the opportunity to be a valuable and integral part of the 2010 Football World Cup”.

Mmmmm!All sorts of housing will also be

developed – a retirement village, conveniently situated alongside the cemetery, a medium-density housing area (clusters, in old-speak), a high-density housing area (townhouses or flats), parklands and traffic control measures. And, presumably for the exclusive benefit of those waiting for God, the Church of England will be relocated so as to be next door to the retirement village. Which, as we said, is nice and close to the cemetery.

So the whole idea is a simple one: the municipality sells some pretty scruffy land for a shedload of money – some R35m – and acquires a perma-nent income stream from rates and taxes, as well as a share of the levies from the 464 housing units. The town gets a sports village, the local high school’s facilities dramatically im-prove, and, of course, Brumer makes a packet.

A good deal all round. Well, not ac-cording to the adjudication committee, which turned down Brumer’s proposal and Lerm’s (which it seems wasn’t that

Property


different). Neither met the require-ments, said the committee, and both were too vague. So instead, the mu-nicipality itself will do the job – rezone the property, sell it for development and build the sports village with the proceeds of the sale.

Big deal, maybe both proposals were rubbish. But Brumer thinks there’s more to it than that, and he’s lodged an appeal with the municipal manag-er, one Jan Koekemoer. The law says the municipality must respond to an appeal within a reasonable time, but there had been no response more than 10 weeks later. And now Koekemoer has announced his resignation, so Brumer thinks the chances of hearing anything are very slim.

The reasons for Koekemoer’s resig-nation aren’t clear, but we do know what they weren’t. Speaking in the Hermanus Times of 5 October 2007, the mayor says the resignation was in no way related to the defamatory matter apparently contained in letters which are doing the rounds, nor to allegations that Koekemoer incurred unauthorised expenditure of R41 000 on a recent foreign trip. And it was certainly not connected to the recent suspension of finance director Roland Butler for misconduct, which issue

has been resolved by an agreement that no one is allowed to talk about.

Rather it was all due to external pressures – the stress of having to deal with difficult and contradictory legisla-tion, and the stress of having to deal with unjustified criticisms.

So why’s Brumer pissed off? Well apart from the fact that he spent some R200 000 on putting his proposal to-gether, he thinks the whole process was flawed: as far as he is aware, the municipal town planner, Riaan Kuchar, sat on the adjudication com-mittee, and it turns out there’s some “history” between Brumer and Kuchar.

In 2002 Brumer was involved in a property development in nearby Robertson, and for the surveying he he employed Hermanus-based Peter Spronk. Don’t worry about a town planner, said Spronk, I’ve got all the resources you need. By which he meant, I’ll bring Kuchar along (as the Overstrand municipal town planner Kuchar was moonlighting, but he as-sured Brumer that this was OK with his employers).

Spronk declines to give his version of what took place – with litigation pend-ing between him and Brumer, Spronk feels the matter is sub judice.

Anyway, according to Brumer, the job was completely beyond Kuchar, and he cocked it up big time. So Brum-er fired him, but not before Kuchar had been paid some R145 000. Brumer also fired Spronk, who had pocketed around R50 000.

So Brumer and Kuchar are not the best of buddies. Yet Kuchar saw no reason to recuse himself when the the municipality was adjudicating Brumer’s proposal. But then, Kuchar is apparently not a person who sees too many conflicts of interests.

According to some in the town plan-ning game, the quickest way to get a planning proposal passed by the Over-strand Municipality is to use a firm called Plan Active.

You won’t find Plan Active in the Hermanus phone book, nor any such company at Cipro. But people say it’s the town planning business of land surveyor Peter Spronk, who brought Kuchar in on Brumer’s earlier project, and whose office is across the road from Kuchar’s municipal office. “Plan Active’s not my company,” Spronk told noseweek. “As far as I know it’s some-thing to do with a man called McLach-lan, but sorry I don’t even know the phone number or the address.”

That’s funny Mr Spronk, everyone says it’s your business. “That’s not correct, anyway you must speak to


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Beached: Disgruntled developer Mark Brumer

Law

McLachlan about Plan Active, but he’s not in today, he should be in tomor-row.” Oh, so does Plan Active operate from your offices? “Um... um well yes, for the moment yes, it’s a new busi-ness.” Interesting, and who else is involved with the company. “Well my wife, the lady you spoke to before you got through to me, she’s a shareholder, together with McLachlan and two other town planners.” Right, so it’s not your business but your wife’s, who acts as your receptionist? And why do people say that Plan Active’s plans go through the quickest? “No, that’s not true at all, what we do, I mean what Plan Active do, is make sure that only correct plans are submitted.”

Right! What a bloody great idea. Why did no one else think of it?

In a building just behind Spronk’s office you’ll find engineering firm Ice Group, one of whose engineers is former municipal employee Pieter Engelbrecht. Cipro records show that Ice Group’s sole registered member is Pieter Joubert van Blerk, and that its registered address is in Paarl, at the same registered address of a newly formed close corporation called PPR Developers, whose members include icemen Engelbrecht, van Blerk and – yes you’ve guessed – Riaan Kuchar.

And Kuchar’s also a member, along with various local businessmen includ-ing two attorneys and an estate agent, of Hermanus-based cc Eavesdrop Trading 92 – which owns a property in

nearby Vermont that it plans to de-velop into townhouses (presumably planning permission won’t be too much of a problem).

Brumer is irked, as the municipality seems to be taking his ideas (which he regards as his intellectual property), and suspects that the whole tender process was simply an exercise in gath-ering information. When he put this to Kuchar in an angry exchange, Kuchar said “it’s not exactly rocket science”.

Why, asks Brumer, would the mu-nicipality suddenly go into property development? And why does it favour a plan which makes no profit for the town (the sale of the rezoned land will apparently pay for the sports village)

over one which gives it a cash injection of R35 million, plus a sports village? As for the claim that his proposal was vague, he says it’s customary for the fine detail to be disclosed at the oral presentation, not in the initial docu-ment that’s openly available.

So who loses out? Brumer obviously. The town and school certainly, if the plan is shelved. But what if it isn’t? Who gains if the municipality decides to go it alone? Who will be profiting?

Undeterred by Kuchar’s bad man-ners, we wrote to Kuchar’s boss, mu-nicipal manager Jan Koekemoer, and copied it to the mayor and Kuchar himself, asking for comment and mak-ing it clear that we were still keen to talk to Kuchar.

Koekemoer’s response was so long on sarcasm that we might consider tak-ing him on at noseweek: “If Mr Brumer is of the opinion that he has exclusive rights to subdividing one development with the proceeds of another he will have to prove that”, and “It requires maturity and business acumen to come to terms with the fact that one has not been awarded a tender”.

Koekemoer says the two proposals were turned down because they made far less land available for facilities than had been anticipated (just what other sports facilities the municipality was hoping to see he doesn’t say). He says the municipality hasn’t yet taken a decision on how to proceed, and that it is therefore impossible to predict which companies might get contracts.

But the really interesting stuff re-lates to Kuchar. Koekemoer says he was unaware of the history between Brumer and Kuchar, but claims that Kuchar was not in fact on the adju-dication panel (clearly the municipal town planner wouldn’t be interested in one of the biggest developments ever to hit town). And Kuchar does have per-mission to do other work, even though he’s employed by the municipality.

Koekemoer says that Steven Muller, the director of infrastructure and plan-ning, was a member of the panel – who would no doubt be the same Muller that Brumer approached to explain the rejection of his tender, and who quick-ly passed the buck, saying Kuchar had made the decision.

PS: A little bird just told us that the municipality has appointed architect Andries Domberg of Paarl firm Theunis-sen Jankowitz, to draw up plans for the project. Domberg, also the architect for the sports centre in Gansbaai, says he has simply been asked to make a pro-posal for a sports village cum residential development...

Why, asks Brumer, would

the municipality suddenly go

into property development?

Property


H IS FACE WAS ONCE A TOTEM, a comforting TV-screen touchstone. His voice and inflection lent suppertime credence to the myth of

American permanence, safety and dependability, night after night, for a quarter of a century. It is sur-passingly strange, therefore, to en-compass Dan Rather’s recent and abrupt metamorphosis. The former CBS Nightly News anchor, previ-ously a study in constancy and pre-dictability, has suddenly become a genuine threat to the entire US mainstream news industry.

Last week, Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and its parent company Viacom.

The suit stems from a sensation-al September 2004 report detailing documentary evidence of Bush’s poor performance during, and con-stant absence from, service in the Texas Air National Guard during the early 1970s. The report was met with an immediate chorus of scornful dismissals from the Bush administration and its supporters. Within two weeks, CBS retreated in humiliation. Rather staggered on in his nightly news slot for a few more excruciating months, fi-nally departing on 9 March, 2005.

In his suit, Rather claims CBS failed to provide him with suf-ficient time and support to defend the veracity of his report, that the network essentially folded like sodden news-print under White House pressure, and that the entire matter permanently ravaged his professional reputation.

Presumably, CBS finds Rather’s pub-lic allegations disconcerting to some degree.

The danger to the mainstream news industry in general, however, is not in the allegations themselves, but in the context surrounding them, provided by a long-time insider who knows where all the bodies are buried.

According to Rather, CBS chose to jettison both himself and the National Guard story because “CBS’s parent company, Viacom, and Chief Executive Officer, Sumner Redstone, considered it to be in its corporate interest to

curry favour with the Bush adminis-tration”.

Consider CBS’s handling of a far more serious Bush administration scandal, the torture at Abu Ghraib prison. According to Rather: “Despite the story’s importance, and because of the negative impact the story would have on the Bush administration – with which Viacom and CBS wished to curry favor – CBS management at-tempted to bury it.”

The wilful collusion between CBS management and the Bush admin-istration, offered by Rather to frame his accusations, illuminates an insidi-ous, grotesque, and altogether deadly alignment of circumstances hiding in plain sight before the entire American populace. An explanation for why the legitimate fears and anxious uncertain-

ties of the people are never soothed or clarified by mainstream news outlets, but are instead methodically aggravated and intentionally ampli-fied, begins to take shape in light of Rather’s inside-view revelations.

Underscored here are the grim re-alities of modern American journal-ism, realities that have little to do with the Founding Fathers’ original conception of a free press.

In its place, we now have a tight-ly-woven confederation of profit-seeking businesses that own virtu-ally every print and broadcast news outlet of significance in the country. There is but scant allegiance to the truth to be found within these out-lets, because their foremost priority when reporting on most issues of national consequence is to protect the interests of those parent compa-nies and their advertisers.

If a parent company is heavily involved in the manufacture and sale of weaponry to the Pentagon, for example, that company’s pet news outlet will skew its coverage to cast the most favourable light on a war – and on the politicians and political parties who support it – be-cause that is money in the bank for that parent. There is nothing theo-retical in this; NBC, MSNBC and CNBC all championed both the Iraq war and its architects, because they

are owned by huge defence contractor General Electric, which has profited enormously from the war.

Media conglomerates like Time-War-ner – whose massive holdings include CNN, HBO, Warner Brothers, AOL, Time magazine, People magazine, doz-ens of other periodicals, film production companies, book publishers and televi-sion networks – are utterly incapable of providing objective reports to the Amer-ican people regarding a broad constella-tion of significant and pressing issues.

Thus, many stories on a variety of serious matters (the crippling side-ef-fects of well-hyped but poorly-tested pills, for example, or the abuse of workers in third-world technological sweatshops, or thousands of dead fish rotting downstream from a coal plant, or the deceptions that led to a failed

Corporate conglomerates love nothing better than to cosy up to those with political power. But

when those conglomerates own the media, or use their financial muscle to dictate media policy,

the implications for democracy are frightening. You think that’s all just paranoid theory? Then

read the currently running case of world-renowned TV newscaster Dan Rather


Truth: version one

The hero and the rogues

N EWLY UNEARTHED RECORDS reveal that, in 2004, with Ameri-cans in a brutal electoral battle over whether to re-elect a president posing as

a war hero, a commanding US re-porter, Dan Rather, went AWOL.

Just three months before the election, Rather had a story that might have changed the outcome of that razor-close race. But Dan cut a back-room deal to shut his mouth, grab his ankles, and let his network retract a story he knew to be absolutely true.

In September 2004 when Rather cowered, Bush was riding high in the polls. Now, with Bush’s approv-al ratings below smallpox, Rather has come out of hiding to shoot at the lame duck. Thanks, Dan.

It began when Rather ran a story that Daddy Bush Snr had put in the fix to get baby George out of the Vietnam War and into the Texas Air National Guard. Little George spent the war defending Houston from Viet Cong attack.

That story is stone-cold solid. I know, because we ran it on BBC Television a year earlier. BBC has never retracted a word of it.

But CBS caved. So did Dan.Rather’s lawsuit is as much a

shameful set of admissions as it is a legal complaint.

Rather tells us that Sumner Red-stone, CEO of Viacom, owner of CBS, was “enraged that the broad-cast had hurt CBS in the eyes of the Bush administration”. Viacom then set out to “divert public at-tention from the accurate facts reported ... and to enable CBS and Viacom to curry favour with the White House”.

Dan, hearing his Dark Lord’s voice, admits he then “refrained from defending” the truth, in re-turn for 30 pieces of Viacom silver – a promise that “his contract would be extended”. Now Dan is shocked that the network snakes didn’t live up to their end of a slimy bargain.

It gets worse: in the course of CBS’s bid to re-curry favour with

Bush, Dan revealed, then blamed, a source – retired Air Guard officer Lt Col Bill Burkett – for his story. Burkett, a rancher, is a courageous, stand-up guy. But after standing up with Dan, he was ruined, ostra-cized from the cattle business. No one would sell him feed.

For his efforts, Burkett got dead cows and bankruptcy; Dan Rather got a multi-million dollar kiss-off from Viacom.

And there’s more that Dan chose not to report: the discovery of a whistleblower statement that ex-plained why the Lt Governor of Texas, Ben Barnes, who arranged for George Jnr to get into the Air Guard, kept silent about it for 35 years. The whistleblower revealed that, in 1997, Governor George W Bush overruled his state’s lottery director and gave a billion-dol-lar contract to a company tied to Barnes. Barnes received a cool fee of $23 million from the contractor.

This is a devastating accusation. And one that’s more serious than the scandal of a draft-dodging rich kid’s vile use of daddy’s connec-tions three decades ago.

But how could I expect Rather to take on the tough story when he wouldn’t stand by the easy one? In June 2002, Rather explained his Fear of Reporting in an interview on BBC Television (cautiously, to a European audience only): “It’s an obscene comparison but there was a time in South Africa when people would put flaming tyres around people’s necks if they dissented.

“In some ways, the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have the ‘flaming tyre’ of lack of patriotism put around your neck. It’s that fear that keeps jour-nalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions. I’m humbled to say I do not except myself from this criticism.”

Greg Palast is the author of ‘Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Or-leans: Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild’ (Penguin 2007). This is an edited version of a story first published on gregpalast.com

war and thousands of dead American soldiers) tend not to see the light of mainstream-newsroom day. This is not called censorship, or suppression, or collusion, or treason. This is called sound business practice.

In their desire to curry favour with the Bush administration, the mainstream news media became willing accomplices to one of the most unspeakable crimes ever committed against the American people: the deliberate and strategic use of fear by the Bush administration to increase its own power and influence.

The ordinary common sense and sound judgment of the American people was systematically attacked and debased, the psyche of the entire population was ceaselessly pummelled by a paranoid muddle of murky sus-picions and nebulous fears, in order to create a population of permanently frightened and thus easily led dupes. The grisly reports of inhuman acts of torture by Americans, the undermining of the Constitution and our rights, the programme of domestic surveillance, all this and so much besides, fell by the wayside because Americans became programmed by the news media to accept the unacceptable, lest they be branded as traitors or killed outright by swarming hordes of al-Qaeda/insur-gent/shoe-bombers.

It will be many years before the na-tion recovers from this despicable on-slaught, if indeed it ever does, and the mainstream news industry is as guilty as the Bush administration for perpe-trating this unspeakable offence.

Even amid the demonstrably ruinous consequences of their behaviour, the prime players of the mainstream news industry still languish like cream-glut-ted cats before the furnace of history, and still seek to curry favour from the Bush administration.

This is an edited version of a story first published on truthout.org


The hero is a rogue

Truth: version two

Voice of the people: Dan Rather

Web Dreams


Marike Roth

H AVE YOU EVER THOUGHT you could write a novel – if only you had the time? Or the patience... or a plot?

There’s a special place in cy-berspace for people who want to

write novels but don’t have the time, the patience... or a clue. For every famous novelist, there are ten thousand wan-nabes. I just made that up, but it sounds about right.

Chris Baty discovered the abundance of writerly folk lurking in cyberspace, hungry for some action, quite by accident, really.

Eight years ago he got the idea to try and write a novel in 30 days. He de-clared it National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) and roped in 21 of his friends to take part. Yes, they eagerly agreed, they would turn off their internal editors and attempt to write a 50 000-word novel by the seat of their pants in 30 days.

Why?“We wanted to write novels for the same

dumb reasons twentysomethings start bands,” says Baty. “Because we wanted to make noise. And because we thought that, as novelists, we would have an easier time getting dates than we did as non-novel-ists.”

They got a lot more than they bargained for. In their second year, they started a new website, and sent an email to their friends announcing the November start date and new URL (www.nanowrimo.org). In turn they forwarded the invitation to their friends, and by November they had 140 participants.

Year three was even more of a shocker. “I had been anticipating 150 participants,” says Baty. “Five thousand showed up.”

“I blame it on the bloggers,” he says. “Blogs, at that point, had yet to be discov-ered by the mainstream media. I knew of their existence, but I had no real sense of their power to drive massive amounts of traffic until NaNoWriMo began being hit by hundreds of pinpoint visitor-streams from websites I’d never heard of.”

Soon the media caught on. NaNoWriMo got a write-up in the Los Angeles Times, which led to other pieces around the coun-try. With each new article in a national or international newspaper, hundreds signed on. And so it started spreading around the world like literary flu.

Seems cyberspace is made for like-

minded individuals from around the world who wish to find each other, to huddle and scheme together, to find sustenance and validation from their fellow wannabes.

Thousands of people wanted to try it. NaNoWriMo took off, faster than the stream of consciousness flowing from a schizophrenic’s purple pen.

Writers’ groups around the world latched on, including my local group. Someone challenged me to try it...

Not being a very competitive person, I hesitated. But it had been a dry literary year. I needed a creative kickstart.

I set my strategy. If I could knock out no less than 2 500 words per day Mon-day to Friday, I could take weekends off. Laughing in the face of my internal editor, I plunged in and quickly reached 5 000 words.

Getting to 10 000 was putty-sticks, I was hardly out of breath. Then I reached the terrible twenties. Doubt and self-loathing plagued me as my internal editor started whispering misgivings. I strangled the bitch and kept on typing. It was all downhill from there.

I thumbed my nose at those still strag-gling in their teens and twenties. I bragged about my word count in forums. I dished out advice to the needy, I posted excerpts of my lyrical waxings... I even did regional searches and spied on people I didn’t know, just because they lived in South Africa or listed the same favourite authors as me.

And all the while I jogged easily towards the finishing line and finished a few days ahead of schedule. I proudly claimed my place in the annals of NaNoWriMo history!

When the dust settled, I read my 50 000 words. Okay – it could use a good editor.

But it had been fun writing all that crap! And maybe that was the point. There are no judges, and there are no prizes for finishing, unless you count the certificate you can print out at the end to prove you are a NaNoWriMo fool.

In 2006, NaNoWriMo had 79 000 par-ticipants, 20 thousand more than the pre-vious year. This year – who knows?

There’s a theory that if you put a mil-lion monkeys at a million keyboards, they will eventually reproduce the works of Shakespeare. I think we can now assume that the Internet has proved that that’s not true.

Writers without a clue

We wanted to write

novels for the same

dumb reasons twenty-

somethings start bands

Edu-business


CONTRARY TO MEDIA24 CEO Hein Brand’s announcement that Educor has been sold to ICESA Education Services, the sale, it seems, is far from done.

noseweek has a copy of an internal memo, signed by Brand, that says the sale will only be concluded by the end of December, or sometime before April 2008. The deal, says Brand, will need to secure “appropriate approval from the Department of Education and the Competition Commission”.

Naspers would be left with Milpark Business School, still making profit despite not being registered by the Department of Education. In an email dated 23 July 2007, Dr Molapo Qhobela wrote: “You are correct that Milpark Business School is not a reg-istered private HE (Higher Education) institution. The MBA however has been offered by Midrand Graduate

Institute, that being the registered institution.”

This is highly irregular: Media24 sold MGI in November 2006 to the ICT Education Group, so Milpark Business School can’t share MGI’s accreditation.

Brand’s confidence may be due to the fact that ICESA, although aware that Educor is in trouble, has accepted to buy the subsidiary as a going concern with all liabilities.

noseweek asked ICESA director Leo Chetty whether the figure of R30m passed on to us was indeed what they were paying for the embattled Naspers subsidiary. “The sale price is confiden-tial,” retorted Chetty.

But the full extent of Educor’s liabili-ties may come as a shock when ICESA complete its due diligence. Apparently executives from Canadian Qwerty International are traveling to South Africa to try to stop the sale until they

have satisfaction on certain intellec-tual property issues.

And only time will tell whether Media24 let ICESA know just how many students are seeking refunds for being misled into taking non-accred-ited Damelin and Intec courses.

Meanwhile on 6 September, as the heat was being turned up, Brand dumped 44 509 of his shares in Naspers, collecting a cool R7 638 189. Says Brand: “I had some debts that I had to take care of.”

This was also the point at which the Audit Bureau of Circulation was clamping down on Media24’s magazines division, and as the Independent Communication Authority of SA (Icasa) was licensing competition to their sister subsidiary, DSTV/Multichoice.

Does Brand know something other shareholders don’t?

Educor sell-off not quite in the bag

YOU DON’T HAVE TO PISS OFF to Perth to escape the crime. You can become part of the small South African enclave beginning to root itself in deep rural France, in that beautiful lonely section, more or less in the middle

geographically, that the French lovingly call la France Profonde.

It’s a term that suggests awesome depths of spirituality and awareness. But don’t be fooled. Those baguette-chewing peasants can be as small-minded and mean to new arrivals as Yves Montand was to Gerard Depardieu in Manon des Sources, and Alfred Molina was to Juliette Binoche in Chocolat. They’re the only Frenchmen who can stand living so far from Paris. Which is why the place is empty, and property affordable, even for a few South Africans.

A lot of the South Africans creating glamorous toeholds here

are boeremeises, and I don’t mean Louis Janse van Vuuren and Hardy Olivier, who found a little chateau for themselves seven years ago in Boussac.

Maybe it’s because their Huguenot forefathers came from around these parts, or because they fancy the Marita van der Vyver image – your kids all chirping “Je t’aime, Maman!” as Maman churns out another best-seller. Whatever, these descendants of the women who got oxwagons over mountains are now pioneering France.

Marlene van der Westhuizen, wife of the plastic surgeon Deon, is running cookery courses at her manoir in Vichy, and Lynn Chaulieu, who married a French graphic designer, has opened the breathtakingly stylish Aux Jardins des Thevenets guest house in Auvergne.

Lanie van Reenen is the latest. She chanced upon her 1883 chateau in the tapestry town of Aubusson, and she’s turning it into a boutique hotel a few notches up from the guest house she had in Oranjezicht for 10 years, Welgelegen.

Tonight is the launch of her Chateau Sallandrouze, which opens in March. The party’s at the iArt Gallery in Loop Street, an elegant downtown venue whose two spacious floors are overflowing with guests.

The owners of this kind of fancy

French project usually find themselves haemorrhaging

money, so Lanie has four sets of partners: Wynand Wilsenach, the architect doing the revamp, and his wife Yvette; real estate broker Elisabeth Kretschmer; lawyer Penny Plougmann; and Steve and Pam Gain, who own the Meeting Place restaurant in Simonstown.

They’ve all invited everyone they know, who’ve invited the rest of the city. Jokers in berets and fake moustaches are queueing up on the red carpet outside – not the sort of thing captains of industry like Christo Wiese and Ton Vosloo enjoy – while inside it’s a battle to reach the Port Salut and smoked salmon, let alone either of the screens showing continuous footage of the chateau’s revamp journey from the day Lanie first found it in August 2005, billiard cues still on the wall.

Worse, the microphones are playing up. So it’s only the pushy swine in front who catch the pearls cast before them by Annemarie Meintjies, Visi’s assistant editor. The magazine is doing a feature on tonight’s party. The focus is Lanie’s Sallandrouze


Anita Lategan and Madeleine Lass

Chateau Sallandrouze (above); and Annemarie Meintjies with Heidi Finestone (top right)

Left to right: Melissa Williams, Kobus Olivier with Karina and Petré Prins

furniture range, a

locally available offshoot of the décor she’s done

for the chateau. Seductive four-posters and a fleet of spindly-legged fauteuils and chaises and divan-lits of the decadent Versailles kind that once supported the not so spindly derriere of Louis Quatorze.

These dainty pieces have been

strategically placed for maximum effect under the

big, bold paintings of big-balled bulls that gallery owner Elana

Brundyn knows the corporates can’t resist. One gloriously realistic beast priced at half a million rand is the work of

Paul Emsley, the Cape Tech-trained artist who’s just won Britain’s BP Portrait Award.

Naturally quite a few artists are here tonight.

Holding court on a divan-lit is avant garde icon Christo Coetzee’s feisty widow, Ferry Bingham-Coetzee, who at 81 is still painting.

Hanging around the roast vegetable tapenade with the fey, beautiful mother of his children, Catherine Boraine, daughter of Alex, is Hardy Botha, the virtuoso who went to Dakar to meet the ANC and seems never to have quite recovered.

Checking out the chaises are the décor gurus. Singita’s award-winning interior designer Boyd Ferguson, here with Brad Pitt clone Kurt Pio, is talking about his new outlet – a branch of Cecile and Boyd. Block ‘n’ Chisel’s Lynn and Sibley McAdam, just in from Shanghai, are also talking about a new outlet, in Knysna.

While Abe Swersky’s bubbly daughter Aimee would love an art

gallery in Sallandrouze country, not everyone here is anxious to invest in a tiny piece of France. Ton and Annette Vosloo already have theirs. So does Lanie’s French South African lawyer who has the curiously ungrammatical surname Le Breton Le Vieux Ville. (When was Ville ever not feminine?)

Some of the guests think this fun bash is another art launch.

They didn’t get the invitation, couldn’t hear the speeches, and have been too busy piling into the lumpfish, under the impression that it’s caviar, to notice the French visuals being screened on the walls – exquisite stonework, chapel, landscape, etc, and Lanie and Monsieur Pizon fighting over the plumbing.

Henda, Gerhard and junior ( 18 months) Van Deventer

Hilary Prendini ToffoliHilary Prendini ToffoliHilary Prendini Toffoli

Natalie Smit and Uys Meyer

Wining Tim James

THEY’VE BANNED THE PAPSAK, that floppy foil bag full of the dregs of wine tanks, sold cheaply to the poorer stratum of those with a serious alcohol problem. The emblem of the wine industry’s (and

society’s) failure to grapple with the endemic alcoholism that the infamous dop system entrenched in the winelands, is now doomed.

The trouble is that they (national gov-ernment which did the banning, industry leaders who urged it) seem to think that they’ve thereby solved the problem. Johan van Rooyen, chief executive of the SA Wine Industry Council exults that the “papsak cul-ture can now once and for all be eradicated” – neatly eliding banning the papsak and banning the culture which took the papsak to its heart (and brain, womb and liver).

For Dr van Rooyen it is, apparently, certain types of container which “led to alcohol abuse and social disintegration – especially among low income and rural communities”. This allows for a splendidly easy solution to what troublemakers take more seriously: just get rid of the containers! Presumably the reason-ing (can we call it that?) is that the alcohol-ravaged sots, frustrated in their desire to buy wine in papsaks, will recoil horrified from the now-mandatory “self-supporting containers” and turn to (unfermented) fruit juice. A self-supporting container, by the way, is elegantly described as one “which retains its original or assembled shape irrespective of whether it is filled or empty”. Self-supporting thinking does much the same.

The wine industry claims to be committed to “combating alcohol abuse”, and Dr van Rooyen sulkily complains that it’s a commit-ment for which they “have not been receiv-ing the recognition we deserve”. Perhaps he’s thinking of (amongst many reproaches that the industry is doing nowhere near enough to respond to the appalling situation it helped bring about) the noises currently being made by the Black Association of the Wine and Spirits Industry. Bawsi is threat-ening to bring legal action against the gov-ernment and the industry over the issue, and demands, among other things, a fund to deal with endemic alcoholism. In terms of action and money at present, industry commitment is not exactly obvious; private charities and NGOs unquestionably do more.

Interestingly the Wine Council has not been forthcoming on the related matter of health warnings on liquor labels. One might have thought that they would leap at the idea of another easy, cheap and essentially

meaningless response to a grave social problem – one that tends to interpret it as an individualistic problem (just say no!). After all, if dronkies aren’t deterred by self-sup-porting containers, perhaps they’ll take heed of a stern admonition about the dangers of drinking and driving.

The Department of Health did indeed recently publish regulations requiring that alcoholic drinks carry health warnings within 18 months. But at this point the wine industry’s burning commitment seemed to flag. No smugly supportive congratulations from Dr van Rooyen (or the chair of the Wine Council, one Kader Asmal). Instead, rumours abound that Distell (amongst other big players, as these powerful monsters like to call themselves) is furious, and deter-mined to thwart the regulations.

Just a day or two after the Health Department’s announcement, another important industry body, the Wine and Spirit Board, advised producers not to comply with the regulations as yet – they might never come into force, it suggests, at least not in this form. How interesting that this statutory body should be blatantly undermining government’s intentions (I wonder what Professor Asmal thinks of that). The communiqué blandly adds that the Board has heard that “the industry is to solicit a formal opinion regarding the said regulations”.

Given that the Board usually seems to hear and pay attention to the wishes of wine big business (the Distell-KWV axis pri-marily), presumably this is what it means

by “the industry” that is sending forth its lawyers into battle with government. Nevertheless, it must

be pointed out that, publicly, Distell has been as grimly silent about it all as the Wine Council. Oh dear, just as we were start-ing to rejoice about how keen everyone is to do something about alcohol abuse, we must

wonder why they don’t want to warn mums-to-be not to drink too deeply from their self-sup-porting containers.


The reasoning is that the

alcohol-ravaged sots will turn to fruit juice

Self-support

Illustr

ation

: Meg

Jord

i

“I T’S PEOPLE LIKE you which cause climate change, says this crabby old cow. Krish is at his Saturday morning pavement braai,

you see, and she’s out for a fight. It’s her weekend sport; I’ve seen her at it inside the supermarket with the girl at the takeaway counter, in the matter of whether or not there was too much or too little of something in the chicken curry. Girl makes the obvious retort. If you don’t like it you can spit it out. She points out that it was not she who cooked the curry anyway. I want to speak to the cook, says Old Cow. Well you can’t, says Girl, they took her to hospital. From eating the curry, I suppose, says OC with heavy sarcasm. No, says Girl, shattered nerves from customer abuse. OC grinds her teeth something horrid and heads for the man-ager. Manager sees her coming and ducks into the Gents, where he splashes water on his face and combs his hair and braces up and sits for some minutes on a toilet seat in a yoga sort of way to focus his mind against the shattered nerves.

So here’s young Krish then, new boy at the Glenwood Spar, and it’s his satanic job to keep this great pavement hellfire at juuust the right temperature for the Saturday morning seething of flesh, and it fair fills you with unspeakable animal lust, I tell you, when the prevailing wind wafts the delicious greasy vapours and bitter boer-ies smoke clean across the freeway and three city blocks along the Berea and into your open window. Well, mine, that is. No poensy chefs’-school graduate round here, thank you, this boerewors is hand made by ’n ware honderd perdekrag Boer name of Rhino Retief, according to an ancient recipe brought to Natal by his ancestor Piet. Rugby grub, man! They say he minces his meat with his hands.

Hmmm? says Krish, and looks over his shoulder to see who is causing the climate change. Yes you! says Old Cow, pointing. What sort of carbon footprint will you leave here today? Krish looks under his tekkies to see if he’s trodden on something nasty.

Old Cow scowls

hideously. I hope you

are the first to go extinct,

says she

Last Word

The salivating queue shuffles and grum-bles. The little pharmacist lady from the chemist shop says Four boerewors rolls, please; OC glowers grimly at her. Yes and you too, says she, prodding the air with her finger, you support all this carbon pollution and go against the Balance of Nature.

Hundreds and hundreds of millions of years ago, says Pharmacist Lady while her boeries is browning, when there were just little bits of life, hardly any and only in the sea, at that time the atmosphere was full full of carbon gases of every sort, and there was no oxygen in the air and nature was in balance. Then slowly the plants came along, just greenish sticky stuff on the rocks for a start, but after hundreds of millions of years growing nice green leaves on ferns and great big trees, all over, and they took the carbon out of the atmosphere and made it part of themselves, and pumped the air full of oxygen. So when they died and slowly got buried they took all this carbon with them, and after another few hundred million years all the tree trunks and leaves and compost turned into coal and oil and gas under the ground. Then Mr Watt came along and invented the steam engine and Herr Benz came along and invented the motor car engine and Herr Siemens the electric one, so now we haul all the coal and oil and gas out of the ground again and burn it to drive all the pistons and generators and things and return all the carbon into the atmosphere and restore the Balance of Nature.

Old Cow scowls hideously. I hope you are the first to go extinct, says she. No no, PL replies, soon enough but not first. First must come the polar bears and various beautiful Bambies, then the big avalanche and most of everything will go pouf! just like that. Just as in dinosaur times when we got hit by a ten kilometre rock shunting across the cosmos at 34 000 kph which left us with a two hundred kay hole in the ground and almost every breathing thing dead except a few turtles and crocodiles and a titchy little mouse creature which evolved into us, now maybe we mammals will disappear and give the goggas a chance. Maybe in 100 000 000 years cockroaches will be having a braai right here with roachewors handmade by Roacho Retief. But maybe we mammals will be a bit lucky and the rats will get their break, plenty smart, hey, maybe they’ll get really cultured and write music like Beethoven and wriggle their fannies on a stage like Britney Spears.

It’s people like you which cause unrest! cries OC.

Make that six please, says PL to Krish, with mustard and hot chilli sauce.

Carbon footprint

“Harold Strachan


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Smalls

PAYMENT & TERMS FOR SMALLS Deadline for smalls is the 1st of the month prior to publication. Smalls ads are prepaid at R120 for up to 15 words, thereafter R10 per word. Boxed ads are R200 per column cm (min 3cm in depth). Payment by cheque should be made to Chaucer Publications, PO Box 44538, Claremont 7735.Payment by direct transfer should be made to Chaucer Publications; Account 591 7001 7966; First National Bank; Vineyard Branch; Branch code 204 209.Payment online at noseweek.co.za or email [email protected]


Basic version free from www.noticebox.netMedia on Demand For your CD and DVD duplication and media services, call 021 975 2088 or email [email protected] The Way CC for building and construc-tion. Call German Mxolisi Mvundla 083 989 8655.Active Plumbers for all your plumbing requirements. Call 021 465 8178.Are your books and tax stressing you out? We can help. Hourly rates. Dave 082 898 0327.Pest-X , Pretoria We will help you to control pests. Call Johan. 082 432 9637.CC Registrations & Graphic Design country-wide. Tel/fax 012 347 8768.Pixie Pringle The reliable and trustworthy PE estate agent. 082 373 6962.

HEALTH & FITNESS

Avoid back pain and retain flexibility in classes based on Pilates exercises and the revolutionary Feldenkrais Method. Wynberg, Cape Town. Barbara McCrea, 083 745 7086 or 021 788 9626.Chiropractor Dr David Dyson (USA) Treat-ment of neuro-muscular-skeletal disorders. NEED A BED? Visit www.chirobed.co.za or call 031 469 4192.Homeopath Dr Richard Steele. Gentle Health. North Beach Medical Centre, Durban, I also do housecalls. 031 332 6060 or 082 928 6208.Fight the flab Reduce stress with your own

personal fitness training programme, one-to-one with Master personal trainer. Lose weight, correct body alignment and posture at Sandton’s newest gym. Free assessment. Pilates, sports training and rehabilitation, comprehensive stretching. Stressed out over-weight execs a speciality! 082 373 2409.Exercise plus fun in the fresh air with Run/Walk for Life, Sandton. Call Penny 083 266 4232.Pooped? Prevention pays. Try unique all-in-one multinutrient HealthSpan41 pharma-powder blend. R95. Orders: www.healthspan-life.com or call 0741 LIFESPAN.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Entrepreneur seeks jvs. Or let me run the project that you keep putting off in return for “sweat equity” [email protected] male with over 50 years of market-ing experience. Permanent or project work sought. John 073 219 1209.Fine Young Africans We invite you to for-ward your business proposal. Perhaps we can assist. We will only reply to the serious. [email protected]

CARBON NEUTRAL WINES021 875 5141

Making fine winean everyday pleasure

PROPERTY TO BUY, SELL OR RENT

SCARBOROUGHComfy cottage, 2 min walk from unspoilt beaches, 15 mins to Cape Point, 2 bed-

rooms, can sleep 6, pool, protected braai area, DSTV, available November 2007 to

March 2008.Rental R700 per day neg, or long term

R6000 per month.Contact Penny 082 456 1758

KZN For stunning properties in Upper Highway. Contact Delaine Cools on 083 949 2837 or 031 765 3833.Somerset West CBD Luxury flat to let in security complex. R3800 pm or for sale R800 000. Call 021 853 1535.Accommodation wanted for teacher in East London from January 2008. 084 766 5766.

PUBLICATIONS

Research and writing for your publication, then trust MANE Consultants cc to pro-vide it. For all your publications’ require-ments visit www.maneconsul.com.


FirstRand clients spill the beans

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