Ivor Powell
The South African government appears to be soft-pedalling on an investigation into a list of Unita sanctions busters that was given to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad by visiting Africa Minister Peter Hain on his visit last month.
Hain passed on the names – which are sourced to British intelligence reports and which have been leaked to the Mail & Guardian – in a closed-door meeting with Pahad last month. The former anti-apartheid activist was reportedly berating Pahad for the failure of the South African authorities to clamp down effectively on continuing clandestine support inside South Africa for Unita’s 30-year guerrilla war. Earlier, in the British House of Commons, Hain had accused three other South African-based businessmen of providing fuel, weapons and other supplies to keep the Unita war machine operational. But an investigation by the M&G suggests the South Africans have yet to even contact some of the men Hain listed.
The key figure named by Hain in the secret communication is a South African pilot named Ivan Pienaar who, British intelligence claimed, was involved in flying supplies to Unita as well as piloting Unita’s top leadership, including Jonas Savimbi, from place to place. Hain said his sources had found Pienaar in Lusaka recruiting Ukrainian air crews on behalf of Unita in August last year. He was also allegedly co-ordinating the provision of supplies to the beleaguered rebel movement.
Pienaar at this time was flying a King Air B200, registration ZS-ZXX, which, Hain told Pahad, was owned by a Jannie Smith, a Parys businessman who owns a crop-spraying business and other aviation-related operations.
The M&G has been in contact with Smith, who confirmed that he was indeed the owner of the King Air, and that Pienaar had flown the plane on numerous occasions in the course of last year. However, he denied any knowledge of where the aircraft had flown, and refused to assist the M&G in contacting Pienaar to clarify the matter. Smith said he would not lease Pienaar an airplane again if he had been flying to Angola on the quiet.
“I rent out my planes. I get my money. I don’t care where they have been as long as the rent is paid and the planes aren’t damaged when they come back,” Smith insisted. “You’re barking up the wrong tree.” Smith also insisted that there were no flight logs available for the King Air, saying flight plans were the exclusive responsibility of the pilot.
Aviation sources, however, said this was an unusual way of doing business in the industry. “It is part of the insurance deal,” one source said, “that if you want to fly a charter plane into areas like Angola, you have to get clearance from your insurance broker in advance, and effectively permission. We’re talking about an aircraft worth more than $1-million here.”
According to Hain, Pienaar had also been noted as flying a Lear Jet with the registration N50AK. The M&G has confirmed Hain’s claim that the aircraft – which is registered to PPH holdings in the tax haven of Delaware in the United States – is owned by another South African, whose name is known to the M&G but who could not be contacted.
Pienaar’s flight plans, Hain told Pahad, took him through Rundu and Katima Mulilo on the Caprivi Strip, and to a game lodge – which the M&G has confirmed has long been linked to supplying the Unita war effort.
Foreign affairs representative Daniel Ngoepe said the South African government was determined to clamp down on Unita sanctions busters, and “we refer each and every allegation of this nature to the relevant agencies”.
But intelligence sources intimated off the record that their investigations had found Hain’s claims to be without substance. Approached for comment, Hain declined to discuss the M&G’s information beyond confirming he had held discussions with Pahad over Unita sanctions busting.