Killer mayor still receives a salary
/ 14 September 2012

Killer mayor still receives a salary

Former Rustenburg mayor Matthew Wolmarans, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence for murdering a corruption whistle-blower, is still being paid a salary by the Rustenburg municipality. This was confirmed by the current mayor, Mpho Khunou. The Mail & Guardian has established that although Wolmarans stepped down as mayor, his contract as council speaker is […]

Mugabe man cashes in on diamond fields
/ 7 September 2012

Mugabe man cashes in on diamond fields

Mega-rich Zimbabwean businessman Robert Mhlanga stands at the centre of an opaque network of companies set up to cash in on the Marange diamond fields with the help of the Zimbabwe government. Mhlanga, a retired air vice-marshall, is widely regarded as a close associate of President Robert Mugabe and a business representative of the Mugabe […]

Limpopo hospitals in dire state
/ 31 August 2012

Limpopo hospitals in dire state

Premature babies swaddled in plastic wrap, rotting limbs and the reuse of discarded medical items — these are some of the scenarios recounted to the Mail & Guardian during a tour of public hospitals in Limpopo last month. The radiology departments of some hospitals are not functioning, which means doctors cannot perform orthopaedic surgery. In […]

Suspicion circles Israeli diamond maven who ‘understands negroes’
/ 24 August 2012

Suspicion circles Israeli diamond maven who ‘understands negroes’

“Yossi, you don’t get it. I understand the politics of negroes.” Thus, Dan Gertler once bragged of his talent for cutting audacious deals with the Congolese government. Recorded in about 2000, the revealing slur was made during the early days of the Israeli diamond ­scion’s ambitious Democratic Republic of Congo venture. (See also: “Sexwale’s claims […]

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/ 17 August 2012

Tokyo Sexwale and the DRC’s Mr Grab

Tokyo Sexwale funded the controversial Dan Gertler (pictured) who “grabbed and flipped” DRC mining assets. A $150-million investment tied Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale’s fortunes to a controversial Israeli businessman as he pulled off the “heist” of a prize mining asset in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The name of Dan Gertler, the […]