Mungo Soggot
A leader of the right-wing underworld, Johan Niemoller, has been sentenced to jail for trading in R1,1-million worth of illegal diamonds.
Niemoller was arrested and charged in 1998 in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court for selling the diamonds, but his conviction and sentencing now have special poignancy as his name has come up in connection with “conflict diamonds”. There are ongoing international initiatives, including an investigation by the United Nations, to put a stop to the trade of war-zone diamonds.
Niemoller, who has in the past been accused of supplying military equipment to the Angolan rebel movement Unita, is also believed to be one of several South Africans buying illegal diamonds from the war-torn country. It is understood that such diamonds are brought into South Africa and then sold in Antwerp, the Belgian diamond centre.
The court sentenced Niemoller last week to two years and a R100 000 fine (or an additional two years). He has secured bail pending an appeal against the sentence. The trial did not get to the bottom of whether he dealt in illicit Angolan diamonds but did broach the issue. During the trial a state witness testified that Niemoller had said he brought diamonds from Angola into South Africa and then “put them through the system”. His lawyer put to the witness that these Angolan gems were legal, but Niemoller did not testify.
Niemoller heads a right-wing group called Die Volk, which was implicated in two arms heists from South African military bases in 1998. There were suggestions at the time that some of the equipment ended up being sold to Unita, while he has also been accused of having had a hand in hiring mercenaries in Europe for Unita. In 1995 he was named as one of several South Africans supplying Unita with arms, in contravention of a UN ban.
He was a member of the notorious Civil Cooperation Bureau, which was effectively a state-sponsored hit squad under apartheid. An inquest in 1994 into the assassination of South West African People’s Organisation activist Anton Lubowski named Niemoller as one of several agents who planned the killing.
Unlike other countries, South Africa has special legislation banning the possession and trading of undeclared diamonds, making it easier to challenge suspect diamond traders. The clampdown on “conflict diamonds”, spearheaded by a special UN monitoring panel, is extremely difficult to implement because of the poor checking procedures in major diamond centres. Furthermore, it is difficult to prove where diamonds come from.
In its latest report, the UN monitors said they were informed that up to $1,2-million of embargoed diamonds leave Angola every day, and that smuggled diamonds from Angola constituted 5% of the value of the estimated world rough diamond supply for 2000. The UN has passed a resolution obliging member states to turn down Angolan diamonds that do not have a certificate of origin. Despite this, and despite the heightened awareness worldwide about “blood diamonds” from countries like Angola or Sierra Leone, traders are barely ever caught.
The UN report said: “To date not a single parcel of illicit Angolan gems has been intercepted anywhere, to the knowledge of the mechanism [the UN panel], beyond one suspect parcel in Belgium under the previous Angolan certificate-of-origin regime.
No diamond dealer has claimed to have witnessed Angolan gems being traded on any diamond bourse. They seem to vanish into thin air after leaving Angola. How is this even possible, given the magnitude of the trade, which is close to the value of the output of Australia or Namibia? Perhaps more importantly, why is it possible?
The UN team said it had given the South African government names of some diamond dealers believed to have been involved in sanctions violations.