Apartheid-era security operatives say Cell Cs Saudi owners promised them the equivalent of R22-million for helping to tie up its lucrative cellular licence
The Pretoria High Court has frozen South African assets of Saudi Oger, owner of Cell C, after a notorious security branch policeman and two associates went to court claiming they were promised a $2-million "success fee". The extraordinary lawsuit has exposed intriguing connections between elements of the apartheid security apparatus and Cell Cs local, African National Congress-aligned empowerment partners. The litigation has also spotlighted the overlap between those who benefited from the controversial R66-billion arms deal and the third cellular licence.
Alf Oosthuizen, one-time colonel in charge of the security polices "D-Section" intelligence unit, is one of three men who have filed the suit against Saudi Oger. Oosthuizens unit worked alongside convicted killer Eugene de Kocks Vlakplaas hit squad, or "C-Section". Oosthuizen and his co-applicants say they were promised the money if they helped get Cell C its cellular licence, which it did in June after a highly controversial selection process that included allegations of political meddling and undue influence.
Oosthuizens fellow applicants are Louis Coetzee, formerly in the apartheid-era National Intelligence Service, and Esmond Myhill, who, according to the court papers, was originally approached by Saudi Oger. Myhill is understood to have acted as an Armscor agent in the Middle East, and has also been associated with LS Technology Group, which erected South Africas electrified border fences and has installed security equipment at politicians homes. The litigants last month applied to the Pretoria High Court to rule that they can sue in South Africa, as opposed to Saudi Arabia, where Saudi Oger is domiciled. The subsequent attachment on November 20 of Saudi Ogers local assets (all the R60-million issued shares in its local subsidiary, Oger Telecom SA) is a temporary court order, pending a decision on jurisdiction to be taken next Tuesday.
The applicants lawyer, Sarel Roux, said this week they were in negotiations with Saudi Oger about a possible settlement. "Sharp knives are not out yet," he said, adding that if settlement was not reached further legal action would follow. Cell C said on Thursday the matter had been settled and that the attachment order would be withdrawn next week. Roux denied this: "Nothing has been finalised. We are talking but nothing has been finalised … In the absence of any settlement we are going ahead [with further court action]. There is no bad blood between the parties; there is enough common ground between the parties and we hope to settle before Tuesday."
Confirming at least part of Oosthuizen and his colleagues case, Cell C also said in a statement: "Upon Saudi Ogers arrival in South Africa, the applicants performed the initial rudimentary groundwork." Oosthuizens affidavit filed in court says that at a meeting with Emad Baban, a director of Saudi Oger, on November 13 1998, it was agreed the three should find Saudi Oger "a local empowerment group with the necessary political capabilities and competence to successfully politically lobby for the issuing of a cellular licence". The affidavit says it was also agreed that the three applicants Oosthuizen, Coetzee and Myhill would "take part in the political lobbying process with the object of ensuring the group to be formed by Saudi Oger and the local empowerment group, would be awarded a cellular licence.
Saudi Oger would pay an amount of $2-million to the three applicants as a success fee, such success to be determined by the issuing of a cellular licence to the group to be formed." The rest is history. The three fixers say they helped tie the Saudis up with various ANC-aligned empowerment partners, which in the end included Futuristic Business Solutions of arms deal fame Ubambo Investment Holdings and one of the companies that is part of Schabir Shaiks Nkobi Holdings empire. All these players help make up Cell Cs empowerment component, CellSaf, which holds 40% of the cellular company.
The court papers, first published by Finansies & Tegniek, say Saudi Oger has failed to pay up in terms of an agreed payment schedule. Since then the Pretoria High Court issued its order attaching the issued shares in Oger Telecom SA, which Oosthuizen says are worth about R60-million, pending Tuesdays scheduled hearing. Saudi Ogers shareholders are the Hariri family of Lebanon, which commands considerable political influence in Saudi Arabia. Rafic Hariri, close to the Saudi royal family, is also prime minister of Lebanon.
Oosthuizen says in his affidavit the case should be pursued in South Africa rather than Saudi Arabia. He notes there are "very close links between the South African government and the government of Saudi Arabia and, mindful of the process to be followed to have a summons served in Saudi Arabia, the service of the summons could well be frustrated due to the relationship between the two governments." Futuristic Business Solutions and Ubambo Investment Holdings are dominated by former ANC military and intelligence operatives including Lambert Moloi, Yusuf Mahomed, Zwelakhe Mankazana, Mahomed Shaheen Bawa and Danisa Baloyi.
Another CellSaf shareholder is Kobitec, also part of Nkobi Holdings.Schabir Shaiks brother Chippy was recently suspended as the defence departments procurement chief. Both Nkobi Holdings and Futuristic Business Solutions have come under investigation in the arms-deal scandal. It is not clear how such individuals teamed up with old-guard stalwarts. Coetzee, one of the applicants, said this week: "We dont live in the South Africa of the Seventies and Eighties any more and we all have a duty to make a success of what happened in 1994."
Cell C did not comment on the apparent incongruity of the partnership. But the connections go even further. Ukukhula Security Services, a security company formed in February 1998 but now deregistered, brought together elements from both sides. Ukukhula was a joint venture between OPM an offshoot of mercenary company Executive Outcomes and Ubambo. Oosthuizens colleague Coetzee was a shareholder in OPM but sold out before the amalgamation. But Oosthuizen himself, who was managing director of OPM, stayed on in Ukukhula. Ubambo directors who served on Ukukhulas board were Bawa and Sobantu Simelane. Also on Ukukhulas board was Riaan "Balletjies" Bellingan, a former Vlakplaas operative.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commissions final report says that according to Vlakplaas commander Eugene De Kock, Oosthuizen attended a meeting where the assassination of three student activists Portia Shabangu, Thabo Mohale and Derrick Mashobane was planned. One of the operatives who pulled off the attack was Bellingan. Myhill declined to comment, and denied his connections with Armscor and LS Technology Group, adding that he might have something to say at a later stage.- Mungo Soggot & Stefaans Brümmer
