The leader of the IFP, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, has been hit with yet another scandal
Paul Kirk
Government intelligence agencies have been probing allegations that Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the minister of home affairs and president of the Inkatha Freedom Party, has been receiving large amounts of cash from illegal casinos.
According to confidential documents compiled by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Buthelezi has more than R4- million in his personal bank account held at the Ulundi branch of First National Bank. The intelligence reports say the IFP leader has access to “unfeasibly large amounts” of hard cash that “can in no way have emanated from legitimate business interests”.
The documents say the source of this cash is the illegal casino industry in KwaZulu-Natal, and name a Pietermaritzburg casino operator, Joao de Jesus, as being the main funder of the IFP and the conduit of casino money into the IFP’s coffers.
The Mail & Guardian has been informed by an impeccable source within the intelligence community that the NIA has been instructed to conduct two inquiries into Buthelezi. The first is to enquire why so little action has been taken against unlicensed casinos in KwaZulu- Natal. The second is to establish the source of Buthelezi’s personal wealth. The probe also seeks to establish why the process to issue casino licenses in the province has taken so long.
It has long been speculated that former KwaZulu-Natal premier Ben Ngubane was axed because he refused to issue casino permits to IFP supporters. Buthelezi explained that Ngubane was replaced by Lionel Mtshali because the province’s matric results were not up to scratch. Since Mtshali has taken Ngubane’s seat the matric results have worsened.
In KwaZulu-Natal unlicensed casinos operate openly, advertising in newspapers, magazines and the Yellow Pages.
In March this year the M&G reported that Buthelezi banked more than R1-million in cash at the Ulundi First National Bank branch. Buthelezi, who personally counted out the cash from more than R2-million contained in various plastic bags, refused to explain the source of the cash.
At the time Buthelezi had Mario Oriani- Ambrosini, his ministerial adviser, attempt to take out an interdict preventing publication. The correspondence between Oriani-Ambrosini and the M&G was all conducted on official government stationery – not IFP stationery.
De Jesus’s funding efforts have made him one of the most powerful figures in the IFP. De Jesus personally took Richmond strongman Sifiso Nkabinde to Buthelezi’s home in Phindangene outside Ulundi, days after Nkabinde was released from jail. It was at this meeting that Nkabinde was persuaded to join the IFP.
De Jesus also attempted to broker a deal between the Democratic Party and the IFP after the 1999 elections in an effort to keep the IFP in power in KwaZulu-Natal and prevent the ANC from making meaningful inroads into the IFP’s power base. The meeting is recorded in the intelligence documents.
During this meeting, the documents claim, Mtshali arrived wearing a heavy disguise. According to DP provincial leader, Roger Burrows, Mtshali arrived at the meeting, which was held in a restaurant at the back of De Jesus’s casino, sporting oversized sunglasses and a dark baseball cap worn over a black balaclava.
Burrows said his delegation only attended the meeting for a matter of minutes before walking out, but the deal was never struck as Mtshali arrived late and announced the plans were all cancelled.
The intelligence documents claim the involvement of the IFP with illegal casinos needs to be investigated as this amounts to an attempt by organised crime to influence South African politics.
Oriani-Ambrosini this week threatened to interdict the publication of this story after the M&G faxed a number of questions to his office. Among other things, he was asked to confirm or deny having received money from illegal casinos. The M&G also asked if there was any truth in the rumours that Mtshali was given a new Mercedes-Benz by De Jesus as a gift.
Referring to the story the M&G published in March (“How Buthelezi banked a million – in hard cash”), Oriani-Ambrosini wrote back this week: “On March 2 you wrote an article which, without any corroboration, portrayed plainly legitimate activities as wrongdoings and malfeasance. That article was filled with defamatory statements and gratuitous denigration in the form of innuendos.
“On that basis the minister is not prepared to answer your questions which are equally filled with defamatory innuendos.”
The letter was again written on an official letterhead of the Department of Home Affairs.
An American citizen by birth, Oriani- Ambrosini has had his work permit renewed at least three times. Unlike other citizens he has not been forced to leave the country in order to apply for a new work permit.
In the past Oriani-Ambrosini has been slammed for advising Buthelezi on purely IFP-related issues. In 1997 when he appeared before the home affairs portfolio committee – in part to explain his R500E000 expenses bill – Oriani- Ambrosini said he regretted the perception that he spent too much of his time advising on purely IFP matters. At the time he said: “I am aware of that perception and I regret the perception created in the media. Perhaps in future I should be more careful.”
Asked to comment on this week’s article, Solly Chilloane, divisional head of the NIA, said this week: “I am afraid I cannot comment on this matter. We never confirm or deny any operations or projects.”
Chilloane referred the M&G to the NIA’s official representative, Helmut Schlenter, who was not available at the time of going to press.
However, a top NIA source said he thought the probe into illegal casinos was “common knowledge”, while a senior IFP official said the information contained in the intelligence documents confirmed what he already suspected about Buthelezi’s financial links to illegal casino operators.