`We are trapped in a wilderness of mirrors,” James Jesus Angleton, the former head of counter- intelligence for the CIA, is quoted as having once said. Angleton was referring, of course, to the impossibility of finding one’s bearings in a professional world dedicated to bluff and counter-bluff, where nothing is what it appears to be. And, judging from the extraordinary antics of our government in relation to security and intelligence matters, that is where we are trapped as well.
The latest manifestation of the wilderness of confusion through which this country is stumbling was the bizarre arrest and detention over the weekend of the Swiss journalist, Jean-Phillipe Ceppi. How could a government, in a country as experienced as ours with regard to abuses of press freedom, have arrested a foreign journalist for possession of documents which were already in the public domain?
One might as well ask, how the National Intelligence Agency could find itself being accused, with all seriousness, of plotting to blow up Parliament. How the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad, found himself urging the public protector that the public be kept in ignorance as to the apparent corruption of an African head of state. How Robert McBride landed up in Mozambique on arms charges – publicly accused of plotting the overthrow of the government to which he has dedicated his life. How, for that matter, Ronnie Kasrils was persuaded to rehire the former head of this country’s biological and chemical weapons programme, Wouter Basson (not to mention footing his no-doubt gigantic legal costs in his forthcoming criminal trial).
The answer to all those questions, we have little doubt, lies with Angleton’s “mirrors”. We do not, of course, have any direct knowledge as to where they were placed and how manipulated. But it is not hard to guess.
Ceppi would have been arrested – as Basson would have been appointed – with the help of stern reminders within the government as to our international treaty obligations with regard to the proliferation of ghastly weapons.
“Diplomatically sensitive, old chap! … errh, comrade?” would have been the line to protect the “honour” of the Cte d’Ivoire’s President Henri Konan Bedie.
McBride would have been smeared with files stamped “Top Secret” – a mantra sufficient to lure most readers into a suspension of their critical faculties.
And the plans of our senior intelligence agency to play Guy Fawkes and blow their paymasters to kingdom come? The paranoia in our parliamentary capital is enough for the purveyors of the most lunatic pieces of disinformation to expect them to take root and flourish.
And who is manipulating the mirrors? Quite obviously those long experienced in the craft – the old guard, whether in pursuit of personal gain, or out of restless nostalgia for the past.
Either way we have had enough of it and we would suggest it is time to rid ourselves of them.
Uncle Finance
Whatever one may think of Magnus Heystek, there is little doubt the man is a marketing genius. He has used Radio 702 and the Independent Group’s personal finance pages to build himself into a media god. Conveniently, he also has a financial services company.
Heystek presents the image of the man in the street’s “Uncle Finance” – a beacon of honest financial insight in today’s turbulent world. All of which has created the bizarre phenomenon of a media personality who markets his own services while wearing his journalist’s cap.
Apart from exploring an incident in which Heystek had to settle a R655 000 lawsuit from an investor, our articles on his activities has focused on his personal handling of a multimillion-rand family trust. His multifaceted role as trustee, co-signatory, executor of a will and financial adviser illustrates the need for clear regulation of financial advisers. It also shows how inappropriate it is for the media to be party to the relentless self-promotion of a financial adviser.
Last week we highlighted one instance in which Heystek created an intriguing conflict of interest by entering into a personal property deal with the trust – a deal which the potential of substantial material rewards for Heystek himself.
At the time Heystek, who started out as a financial journalist, was not registered as a financial adviser with the Financial Services Board (FSB). On what basis did he believe he was qualified to shoulder the great responsibility of a family’s well-being to the extent of personally controlling its wealth?
As the law stands, there is a dearth of regulation in the personal finance world, leaving the public to shield itself with the tired maxim caveat emptor (buyer beware). Legislation to protect consumers from bad investment advisers is in the offing.
The FSB expects the legislation to reign in thousands of unregulated financial advisers. Presently, investment managers are the only members of the industry regulated by the FSB. The proposed legislation will stipulate a minimum education requirement and a code of conduct. It will also spell out advisers’ duties, and procedures will be put in place to enforce rules and deal with misconduct.
In the meantime, we hope our articles on Heystek will promp greater alertness on the part of the investing public.