Ann Eveleth
Dotted around South Africas exclusive suburbs a string of modern cubic compounds luxurious villas set in flowering gardens house the elite of Mobutu Sese Sekos Zairean kleptocracy.
Tucked away with their extended families and domestic entourages behind high walls and electric gates in Sandton, Pretoria and Cape Town, at least 20 of the new Democratic Republic of Congos most wanted suspects are flourishing in the freedom their government never granted to the former Zaires 40-million citizens.
Mercedes Benzes and satellite communications are the attributes of the deposed, as the country they left behind scrapes the bottom of its empty coffers and pleads with its new ally, the South African government, to help retrieve its purse.
Attempting to trace these alleged kleptocrats this week, the Mail & Guardian established that not only are they moving their families and money freely around South Africa, but many are travelling outside the country without hindrance, despite the withdrawal of their passports.
These include the young smartly-clad Zairean who emerged from the leafy garden path leading to the home of a General Vungbo and civilian corruption suspect Jean Mopotu: Im on my way to Mozambique. [Vungbo and Mopotu] are out of the country. No, I dont know where they are but I will give them your message when I get there, said the man who refused to identify himself before driving away.
A French-speaking Zairean woman answered the door at former Zairean minister of defence Admiral Mavuas home on Oranje Avenue in Gallo Manor, Sandton. She also refused to give her name, but said Mavua had gone to Morocco to attend the funeral of Mobutu, who died of prostate cancer there last week.
Employees at the Orchidea Hotel in Braamfontein, owned by Richard Nzuzi, the son of Mobutus alleged lover, Nzuzi wa Mbombo, said she had also gone to Morocco: I dont know if she will come back. We havent been paid for three months, said one who gave his name as Sipho.
A domestic worker at the vast beige compound in Sandhurst of the Congos number one civilian suspect, Honor Ngbanda, said she had returned from three weeks leave to find her employers had gone overseas, but said she did not know where.
And Sylvie Atundu, the sister of Andre Atundu, former managing director of Gecamines and general administrator of Zaires security division, said her brother had gone to Europe. He is alleged to have stolen from both institutions.
Congo vice-consul to South Africa John Lambert-Ibula said his government had requested that South Africas Department of Foreign Affairs and other diplomatic missions refuse travel visas to holders of old Zairean and diplomatic passports currently held by members of the Mobutu regime.
Those people ran away [from Zaire] in May, many of them with diplomatic passports, but they are no longer diplomats. We want to know who gave them visas to come to South Africa and why. Our country is very rich but these people have run away with the money. We didnt find anything in the bank. Nothing, he said.
Speaking from the Congos musty, sparsely- furnished two-storey embassy across from Pretorias Loftus Versveld stadium, Lambert-Ibula sifted through the pile of demand letters that confronted the new diplomats on their arrival.
We found Mobutus family here in the embassy. We had to pay R400 000 to Telkom, R70 000 to one bank, and other debts they left us, he added.
Lambert-Ibula said former embassy staff and other corruption, torture, kidnapping and murder suspects were still living in South Africa. The M&G confirmed this week that top military suspect and former army chief of staff General Kpama Baramoto has at least two sprawling homes in the Sandton suburb of Wendywood.
Baramoto, who has been linked to Mobutus final efforts to hang on to power by hiring South African mercenaries, and whose wealth rivals that of most of the other suspects, did not reply to repeated messages this week.
But the Safenet security officer guarding Baramotos white masterpiece on Acacia Street offered proof of a connection long alleged between the former general commander of Zaires police and former South African Defence Force Captain Mauritz le Roux, who admitted to Africa Confidential in June that he runs Safenet. Le Roux had also admitted to being privy to discussions about mercenaries to shore up Mobutus power, but said this did not materialise.
And the big black satellite dish on the roof of Baramotos Aloe Street address, adjacent, back-to-back, to the Acacia Street home, recalls claims that he remained in daily contact with Mobutu after his flight to South Africa in May.
In Pretorias exclusive Lynwood suburb, the niece of Tshimbombo Mukuna, one of Mobutus former political advisers, said she could not remember when she came to South Africa and had no idea where her uncle was, but confirmed that he stays here.
Also in Pretoria, former general and one- time interior minister Shamangu Ilunga is living a quiet retirement at the age of 46. He moved to South Africa in 1992 with his family to run a clothing business in Cape Town. Ilunga, who is also wanted by the Congo, but for unknown charges, claims he has funded his extremely comfortable existence solely on his earnings as a military man.
Dont you think I deserve to live in a comfortable house after working my whole life? he asked.
Whether Ilunga and the other suspects will continue their currently comfortable lives in South Africa or be returned to Congo to face their accusers is still unknown, despite pleas from Congo officials and promises from the South African government since July.
Investigations by the National Intelligence Agency into the activities of these suspects in South Africa and by the Department of Home Affairs into the legality of their current visas are expected to be completed and handed to Cabinet in the coming weeks.
But, in the meantime, said Swanepoel, Zaireans resident in South Africa had certain rights under the Constitution: People can settle in South Africa and bring money in provided they do it legally. They can also travel freely unless they are doing so illegally, he said.