Mungo Soggot
The state oil company has slashed the number of charges and dropped all fraud allegations against suspended chief oil trader Kobus van Zyl, who is due to be disciplined in the next few weeks.
Van Zyl was publicly ousted in March 1997 by the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Penuell Maduna, triggering the controversy about the state oil accounts which is currently being explored by the office of the public protector. Since then, Van Zyl has been at home on a full salary, awaiting his disciplinary hearing.
There are now five counts against Van Zyl, compared with the 162 drawn up about a year ago by the auditors Maduna appointed to explore the Central Energy Fund’s accounts.
The new sheet includes charges of insubordination, undermining Maduna, dereliction of his duties, misleading the minister and the state oil company, and failing to act in the best interests of the company and the country.
But there are no allegations of fraud or of contravention of the Central Energy Fund Act, both of which peppered the original charge sheet. The original sheet, which was distilled to 80 charges, was drawn up by Maduna’s accountants, Ntsaluba Nkonki Sizwe.
The changes to the case against Van Zyl – and the extraordinary delay over his hearing – cap a string of setbacks for Maduna in his quest to transform the state oil company and delve into its sanctions- busting past.
In June 1997 the minister accused Auditor General Henri Kluever of helping to mask the theft of R170-million of oil from the state oil company. Parliament called in Public Protector Selby Baqwa to investigate Maduna’s allegations.
At Baqwa’s inquiry last month, which is expected to cost the taxpayer at least R10- million, Maduna’s lawyer conceded there was no substance to Maduna’s claim. Baqwa will now investigate other allegations about the finance watchdog.
Maduna ousted Van Zyl shortly after appointing a new board for the company. The chair of the new board, Don Mkhwanazi, was forced to resign earlier this year in the wake of the row surrounding the appointment of Liberian financier Emanuel Shaw II as a highly paid consultant to the company.
In March, Maduna quashed the findings of an official probe he ordered into Shaw’s appointment which recommended he axe both Mkhwanazi and the Liberian.
The original charge sheet against Van Zyl focused on the payment of a $0,06-a-barrel commission to an Egyptian “middleman”.
Maduna admitted from the start there was no evidence that Van Zyl enriched himself improperly.
The new charge sheet also covers the commission, accusing Van Zyl of ignoring Maduna’s order to freeze payments to the middleman.
Baqwa’s inquiry has already heard several days of evidence about the “middleman” commission, which started in the sanctions- busting era. Maduna’s team argue the commission was unnecessary and that South Africa could have bought the oil directly.
Van Zyl’s disciplinary hearing was at one stage postponed until after the Baqwa inquiry, which is due to close at the end of the year. However, it appears the new board is anxious to bury his case.
Van Zyl said this week he was “glad to see the fraud charges have been dropped and I look forward to the speedy resolution of the matter”.
Keith Kunene, acting chair of the Central Energy Fund, said this week the company’s lawyers had drawn up the new charge sheet, but he was not aware of any of the details.
Seth Phalatse, chair of the Strategic Fuel Fund, the branch of the state oil operation for which Van Zyl worked, could not be reached for comment.
Maduna was in South America this week.