New details have emerged of an abortive Angolan diamond deal involving Brett Kebble and Dali Tambo that has left some of their Angolan partners high and dry — including a powerful former head of Angolan military intelligence.
The saga around the bid for a potentially lucrative alluvial mining licence provides an example of how Kebble accumulated powerful enemies. There is no evidence the deal is linked to Kebble’s murder last week.
According to Roxo Law, a law firm that represents various Angolan interests in South Africa, a consortium was set up in 2003 to exploit mining concessions held in Angola.
Roxo attorney Rui Roxo showed the Mail & Guardian minutes of a meeting at Johannesburg’s Westcliff hotel at which it was agreed that the Angolan ventures would be pursued via a company set up by Tambo, Koketso Holdings, in which four partners would have an equal shareholding of 25% each.
Other shareholders besides Tambo — son of the late African National Congress president Oliver Tambo — were a Roxo Law vehicle, Infinity Investments; Ben Faria, a Portuguese-South African businessman; and current Angolan ambassador to Namibia Manuel ”Kito” Rodrigues.
Rodrigues, a former Angolan general and interior minister, was previously ambassador in South Africa. Once regarded as the second most powerful man after President JosÃ