Mining magnate Brett Kebble said on Thursday he is instituting legal action against Bulelani Ngcuka, following allegations of fraud made against him by the head of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
He told reporters in Johannesburg the allegations stem from a July 24 meeting Ngcuka held with editors. Kebble said the gathering was designed to create a campaign against certain individuals.
”In the course of the meeting Mr Ngcuka made a shocking series of slanderous and racist statements about me,” he said.
”It was an extraordinary gathering in which Mr Ngcuka set himself up as prosecutor and judge, delivered his verdicts and then sought the editors’ help to spread those verdicts through the pages of their newspapers.”
Kebble said on Monday he would take to the Johannesburg High Court charges that relate to allegations about technical breaches of company regulations that took place four years ago.
”As an example of malice directed at me, Ngcuka has sought to elevate these alleged technical breaches to charges of fraud, despite the fact that no loss has been suffered by any party,” he said.
Kebble said he believes that businessman Mzi Khumalo was behind the smear campaign spearheaded by Ngcuka.
”Mr Khumalo, a close friend of Mr Ngcuka, has declared himself my enemy in part because I am taking legal action against him, seeking repayment of moneys owed by him to me that are in excess of R50-million.
”Mr Khumalo has sworn he will bring about my downfall and to my face has told me he will use his friendship with Mr Ngcuka to achieve that. He also told me Mr Ngcuka wanted to fry a nice big white fish and that was me.”
On July 21, Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Limited (JCI) said it planned to take its former head, Khumalo, to court to recoup millions of rands it claims he owes the company.
Kebble, who is JCI’s CEO, claimed Khumalo owed his company about R50-million, dating back to 1998 when he was forced to resign amid allegations of mismanagement.
Kebble said he has a list of people who were aware of and heard Khumalo’s threats.
”My people within the political party I support heard these sentiments and tried to explain to Mr Ngcuka that he should not allow his name or that of his office to be used in this way.
”Mr Ngcuka did not take kindly to these interventions, instead insinuating that any such interventions were an attempt to interfere with his office.”
He said the nature of Ngcuka’s private agenda is the subject of much speculation.
”I have numerous commercial enemies because the world I work in is one where the stakes are high. If my focus is on defending my good name instead of business, then my rivals gain an advantage in the fiercely competitive arena where I operate.”
Kebble said he is the victim of competitor-driven strategies designed to keep him out of the commercial world.
”Investigations I have endured had not been undertaken in an impartial way and in many cases had been funded or assisted by competitors,” he said.
”The result is a travesty of justice and far from stepping in to help me fight for what is right, the very man I will normally look to protect my rights, is the one leading the charge to destroy me,” Kebble said.
”Some might say the fox has been in charge of the henhouse.”
He said that while he is being dragged through the mud, the illegal acts of those who hound him are ignored.
”Here I refer to, among others, the activities of Mr Warren Goldblatt’s Associated Intelligence Network, whose bribery and corruption are meticulously documented.
”In spite of the fact that authorities have been provided with ample evidence of this wrongdoing, no charges have been brought against Mr Goldblatt, who now openly boasts he is working with Mr Ngcuka’s elite Scorpions detective unit.
Kebble said Goldblatt has threatened him a number of times, claiming he is close to Ngcuka and Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Penuell Maduna.
”All of this gives rise to the view that the justice system is in the hands of private groupings,” he said.
”I am fortunate indeed South Africa is a democratic country because when the state’s mighty apparatus is being used against me in pursuit of private agendas; it is to the Constitution that I can turn for help.”
Asked how many business transactions he has lost as the result of the alleged campaign, Kebble said billions of rands’ worth.
He said JCI and a certain black consortium are positioned to purchase Free State assets of Anglo Gold but have failed to secure financial assistance.
”Certain financial institutions approached Ngcuka’s office and were given impartial and negative remarks about us. A certain government minister approached Anglo Gold to check how our transaction was going and deliberately ensured that we do not win the business.”
Kebble said the minister is known to them.
Ngcuka’s strategy and legal adviser Lungisa Dyosi said the Hefer Commission of Inquiry’s terms of reference had been extended to test Kebble’s allegations.
Kebble has been invited to participate in the commission.
Dyosi said Kebble would also appear in court next week on charges related to the breach of the Company Act and fraud.
”What we are saying is that Mr Kebble has these two forums to raise his grievances.”
The commission, headed by retired appeal judge president Joos Hefer, is investigating allegations that Ngcuka had been a spy for the apartheid government. — Sapa