On the local front, Mandy de Waal finds apartheid's former printers (Nasionale Pers) pocketing R2.6 million to promote Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF in a deal brokered by controversial South African Premier Soccer League (PSL) marketer, Peter "Kickback" Mancer.
This deliciously ironic twist in the tragic tale of Zimbabwe's descent to genocide came as former National Party president F.W. de Klerk once again tottered into the limelight. "Mugabe needs to be toppled," opined our last apartheid president and Nobel laureate of the former Sir Bob before a Cape Town Press Club function.
It goes to show that if you say it often enough for long enough, you'll one day hit the nail on the head. Naspers, however, couldn't have got it more wrong.
In a week when Naspers (JSE: NPN) should be celebrating buoyant financial results, the multinational media company faces a reputation scandal that sees it linked by a trail of blood money to Robert Mubabe's terror-filled tyranny. This after Naspers subsidiary, Paarl Web Gauteng, printed 130 tons of propaganda, worth R2,6m, for Zanu-PF.
Amidst strong media interest and growing public anger, journalists and staffers at the organization petitioned Chairman Ton Vosloo to donate all revenue received from the contract to Zimbabwe relief organizations. Naspers' owned Fin24.com reported yesterday that the petition reads: "...we believe that the acceptance of the Zanu-PF contract constitutes, at the very least, a very serious lack of judgment and we would hope that Naspers, as the parent company of Paarl Web, would acknowledge this. We therefore believe it appropriate that the R3m that Paarl Web apparently received for this contract be given to organisations which aims to alleviate the plight of the people of Zimbabwe."
MoneyWeb | Mugabe’s man unmasked
Naspers lickspittle and Paarl Web CEO Stephen van der Walt says Chairman Vosloo is prepared to donate only "...R250k to R350k to a suitable fund."
Grace Mugabe's Children's Fund?
De Waal reports Paarl Web, which printed Mugabe's election material, to be "[t]he product of a BEE partnership between Paarl Media Group and loveLife!'s Kurisani Investments, Paarl Web's stakeholders include the US-based Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the South African Government, while the printer's BEE partners receive their major funding from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
For the story behind the deal, read De Waal's scoop, Naspers and the trail of Mugabe’s blood money. It seems CTP Caxton, also approached by the Zimbabwe Central Bank, was saved by a leader of impeccable reputation and high principle, Frederick van Zyl Slabbert.
Van Zyl Slabbert, a former leader of the white opposition to De Klerk's National Party, threatened to resign should his company touch the deal. Paarl Web's Stephen van der Walt says he was unaware of its nature. In one way or another, I've worked in publishing for 25 years and given the evidence to hand, I'd call Van der Walt a bare-faced liar and a conscienceless money-grubber. It's his job to be aware of these things...
At least Zimbabwe is keeping our airwaves buzzing. Mugabe's obliteration of that once beautiful country makes those of us clinging to the southern tip feel righteous, good, and just. Despite Aden Thomas's good work broadcasting from Blue Waters Safety Site, it also obviates the need for us to do anything to prepare for the fresh flood of refugees now pouring into our towns and cities.
Boasting a successful "reintegration programme", Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool this morning failed to mention the hordes of hungry foreigners filling every dark nook and cold cranny of the central city. Many will find work and eke out meagre futures. However, most will merely swell the ranks of our army of dispossessed.
But hey, we needn't do a damned thing about or for them. Next to Bob, we're saints.
Internationally, Mike Whitney continues to follow the money trail...
There is no oil shortage, not yet at least. That doesn't mean we're not quickly sliding towards Peak Oil. We probably are, but that has nothing to do with today's gas prices. The reason oil has skyrocketed to nearly $140 per barrel is because of speculation; rampant, "unregulated" speculation. The peak oil doom-sayers are simply confusing the issue. This is not about shortages or scarcity; it's about gaming the system to fatten the bottom line. The whole scam is being executed with excruciating precision by the same carpetbagging scoundrels who engineered the subprime fiasco; the investment bankers. The Wall Street Goliaths are using the futures market to recapitalize their flagging balance sheets after sustaining massive losses in the mortgage-backed securities boondoggle. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Now they're on to their next swindle; distorting the futures market with humongous leveraged bets on food and oil.
Mike Whitney | Gas-Pump Gouging; Just Don't Blame The Saudis
Note: Some good news. With interest rates, inflation, and the cost of food, utilities, and everything else headed for the stratosphere (and the global economy for some Black Hole in the U.S. Federal Reserve), those exploiting what little money we do have might find their avaricious appetites summarily curtailed.
The Executive Overview of the Banking Enquiry of the Competition Commission of South Africa [pdf] released earlier today makes 28 practicable recommendations. Read the overview (or the more accessible press release [doc]) and overcome that feeling of being mugged every time you go to the ATM.
Unless, of course, you are being mugged — an event probably now as inevitable as exorbitant (read "usurious", "extortionist", etc.) bank charges. Alternatively, the Reserve Bank might just bury the Report as it does us.
On the beat? And I guess this is not making much of a splash because... well, hundreds of security forces facing off against each other in a deadly central-city rush-hour gun battle is perhaps not that newsworthy in this neck of the woods.
Protesting Metro police caused chaos yesterday when they sealed-off the Johannesburg CBD, preventing thousands of motorists from leaving the city centre and sparking a deadly clash with the South African Police Service.
[...]
The violence may have resulted in the death of one metro officer, but the SAPS were unable to confirm this last night. Seven metro officers were injured. The clash came after hundreds of metro policemen, in full uniform, blocked access to highway on-ramps and off-ramps ringing the city last night, in protest over a salary dispute with their employer.
SAPS officers fired rubber bullets to disperse their unruly metro colleagues, said spokesman Supertintendent Eugene Opperman. He said the metro officers returned fire with live ammunition. The police are now investigating cases of attempted murder against the metro police officers.
Terrified motorists told The Times how officers had threatened motorists and brought traffic to a standstill. At some intersections, officers used concrete bins to block the path of motorists trying to make their way home. The situation had quietened by late last night, but was still tense.
The Times | SAPS and metro cops exchange fire — one dead
You'd think they had nothing better to do...
