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2023-02-27 at 17:06 #395280
Nat Quinn
KeymasterIntelligence reports obtained by Daily Maverick link two senior members of President Cyril Ramaphosaâs Cabinet to four criminal cartels operating inside Eskom. Although we cannot yet reveal the name of the Cabinet ministers for legal reasons, we can divulge that the intelligence links the cartels to the sabotage of Eskomâs power stations and to a programme of political destabilisation.
Note: CityPress first reported on some elements that weâre dealing with in this story on Sunday, 26 February.
Safe house
The organogram was the size of the boardroom table. Approaching it, there was a distinct feeling that what we were about to see could never be unseen. The country we thought we lived in, from that moment on, would be an entirely different place.
âCRIME CARTELS OPERATING WITHIN ESKOM,â the header explained, all in caps.
In the body of the organogram, below the so-called âterritorial rulerâ and his primary enforcer, who was identified by name as the âhenchmanâ and âassassinâ, were the leaders and foot soldiers of the four cartels: the Presidential Cartel, the Mesh-Kings Cartel, the Legendaries Cartel and the Chief Cartel.
There were photographs of the major players, in some cases alongside the companies with which they were affiliated, but a lot of the information was yet to be confirmed. Still, in a column running between the cartels was a box titled, âIllicit procurement process to defraud Eskomâ. This, we knew, was the covert information on how it all worked.
âWhat we have here,â said our source, âis not evidence. Itâs intelligence. You guys will have to do the work of joining the dots.â
There were other conditions that came with our access to this âsafe houseâ, out in a quiet suburb of Gautengâs metropolitan sprawl. We had been asked to leave our phones in the car, so it went without saying that revealing any clues that could lead to the identification of our sources was an absolute no-go zone.
Also, for the moment, we were told, very firmly, that we could not quote from the intelligence reports until we were given the green light.
The reason for this was simple: our sources, former state intelligence operatives who were now working for the private sector, are still active in the field.
âIf you want to get killed,â said our primary source, âyou come play here.â
We nodded, and turned our attention back to the organogram. Aside from the identity of the âterritorial rulerâ, it was the âillicit processesâ that drew our attention.
At the top of the column was an item marked âSoldierâ, where it was explained that the cartel leader or one of his subordinates would âapproach a specific end-userâ â for instance, an âengineerâ in the generation or distribution division of Eskom â to begin the process.
âThe end-user [Eskom insider] is in cahoots,â the text noted, âand receives a substantial amount in cash, including extra funds to bribe the other employees in the supply chain to ensure their cooperation.â
Next, the text went deeper into how the end-user operated and what he intended to accomplish, beginning with the âpayment of an upfront bribeâ to the store manager of a power station.
âThe store manager then verifies how much of a specific type of equipment is available on inventory to be covered in a purchase order. Should the equipment to the value of the intended purchase order be available in stock, the existing equipment in stock will be hidden or displaced somewhere in the power station to justify the procurement/purchase request for additional equipment.
âAlso, for the cartels to create a supplementary business to supply essential components or renew or continue maintenance contract works, the cartel will plot the destruction of infrastructure with insiders so that a breakdown can justify repairs or the supply of components via the cartel vendors.â
The text then went into information that is already in the public domain, such as âmalicious damageâ to conveyer belts and the âsabotageâ of the railway line feeding the Majuba Power Station â the last example, it was noted, so as âto ensure the survival of their coal transport trucking companies supplying coal to Eskomâ.
Finally, the text explained, the end-user would approach the procurement manager, âor an employee referred to as a Mphati in collusion with the cartelâ.
This Mphati, it was noted, had become âa very influential contact at the power stationâ. As the man in charge of procurement, he âreceives an upfront inducement that serves as an acceleration fee to issue a purchase request (RFQ)â. And here, according to the intelligence, was where the âillicit procurement processâ got set in motion.
âThe procurement manager/buyer instructs the financial department to approve the expenditure that must, according to the supply chain directives of Eskom, have the signatures of both the end-user and the store manager.â
So there it was, the scam in all its torrid glory, a simple outline of a criminal network so vast and heinous that it was bringing the country to its knees. The cartel members, with the backing and protection of the âterritorial rulerâ, would, by this stage in the process, have the South African taxpayersâ funds all but in their leather bags.
In the columnâs third section, the intelligence went on to explain:
âThe purchase request (RFQ) is then taken to a senior buyer who will receive their share of the bribe/pay-off. After that, three compulsory quotes will be obtained. All three quotations will originate from the same cartel as all three approaching members are members/soldiers of the same cartel.
âThe soldiers/vendors manipulate the quotations so that a specific pre-chosen company is inevitably appointed as the final vendor, and a purchase order (PO) is issued accordingly. In addition, the buyers often will create a false urgency by sending official emails to the vendor to expedite delivery, which will then be used to justify a higher price. It will also then record that the PO is bona fide.â
But that wasnât all. The fourth section, titled âBribed security officers sign off on non-existent product deliveryâ, was pretty self-explanatory, with Eskomâs security staff in the secret employ of the cartels putting their signatures to âghost deliveriesâ and verifying that the equipment had been inspected at the main gate.
âThe end-user and store manager will receive the ghost delivery and sign the receipt to deliver the non-existing equipment. The hidden equipment is retrieved from where it was hidden and placed back into storage as if the equipment had been delivered.â
It was at this juncture that we came across the sentence which, we knew, would make our work incredibly challenging.
Aside from the fact that all bribes up and down the line were paid in cash, there was the following problem:
âAll the procurement documentation from the purchase request to the delivery note will procedurally correspond with the equipment on inventory, making it difficult for forensic audits to identify fraud and malpractice.â
The âterritorial rulerâ
The date was early December 2022, just days before the ANCâs elective conference at Nasrec.
We knew, from a series of previous conversations with our sources, that the intelligence gathered in the field suggested a direct link between the sabotage, the cartels, and an orchestrated programme of political destabilisation.
Not a day had passed in November without power cuts across the country, and now, in December, we were headed for an extended bout of Stage 6.
The name of the âterritorial rulerâ at the top of the organogram was therefore no surprise to us, although it still came as something of a shock.
A few days later, when we were directed to a second secret location to take possession of the monthly intelligence reports on which the organogram was based â a series of thick individual files stretching from March to November 2022 â we quickly came across multiple entries that suggested the âterritorial rulerâ was a contender.
In the July report, which totalled 128 pages, his name was mentioned 28 times. One of these entries, under the standard âConfidentialâ in red text, noted the following:
âTHREAT: Destabilisation of Eskom power plants in Mpumalanga allegedly involving [âterritorial rulerâ], Team Shikisha ⊠the Presidential Cartel and Radical Economic Transformation (RET) cabal.â
Team Shikisha, it turned out, had been placed in the organogram above the four cartels â as a âfeared murder squadâ comprising roughly 60 to 70 members. The leader was identified by name, as was the name of the territorial rulerâs chief âprincipalâ, to whom it was alleged that Team Shikisha covertly reported.
While Daily Maverick, for legal reasons, cannot yet identify these two individuals, the activities of Team Shikisha have long been in the public domain. In July 2021, it was reported in the Witbank News that Mpumalanga MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Vusi Shongwe, had organised a âcrime imbizoâ to encourage the residents of Emalahleni to speak out.
âIt is alleged by the community members that [Team Shikisha] is using illegal guns, shooting in the streets, threatening people, and saying they will kill them,â the news report noted.
Also in July 2021, under the header âTeam Shikishaâ, a video was posted to Facebook of two gentlemen celebrating in a high-end car dealership.
Although the involvement of the two men was unconfirmed, this squared with the intelligence we received that leaders of the cartels would âpay cash for luxury carsâ and âwash their hands in 15-year-old whiskyâ â a detail that would be repeated in former Eskom CEO AndrĂ© de Ruyterâs bombshell eNCA interview in late February 2023.
As for the âterritorial rulerâ, the August intelligence report noted the following, all in caps: â[THE TERRITORIAL RULER] INITIATES PUBLIC UNREST IN MPUMALANGA THROUGH HIS HENCHMEN TEAM SHIKISHA AND [name excised] IN SUPPORT OF BECOMING PRESIDENT.â
The SAPS generals and brigadiers
Similarly, as regards the involvement of senior South African Police Service (SAPS) officers with the Eskom cartels, the August report noted the following (again, although all names are known to Daily Maverick, the identity of the brigadier has been removed for legal reasons):
â[The âterritorial rulerâsâ] very close confidante is SAPS Brigadier X who undermines or frustrates any investigation into his interests. Whenever money is transported, Brigadier X is informed, and he ensures that the vehicle transporting the money is not stopped at a roadblock. If the vehicle is stopped, a phone call to X is made, who will take care of it.â
In all, in another arm of the organogram that stretched out from the topmost box of âterritorial rulerâ, 13 Mpumalanga SAPS officers were named under the following explanation: âCORRUPT: PREVENT PROSECUTION AND INVOLVED WITH CARTELS AND ILLEGAL MINING FOR FINANCIAL GAIN.â
The officers included two generals, three brigadiers, one ex-brigadier, one colonel, two captains, one lieutenant, one warrant officer and two sergeants.
But perhaps the most persuasive intelligence was reserved for the September 2022 report.
âThe involvement of highly placed political actors remains extremely difficult to trace,â the report noted. âThis is mainly because nothing is put in writing, and communication is done through third parties, which cuts out all direct connections. However, various independent sources suggest similar traces of involvement by [the âterritorial rulerâ], namely:
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âHe controls people high up in the power stations to approve contracts for his friends and family.
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âHe exercises firm control over contracts awarded for several types of departments in Mpumalanga province.
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âHe also controls senior officials in the province, such as police and traffic police chiefs, city councils, and other local authority levels.
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âInformation suggests that contract beneficiaries pay [him] kickbacks in cash for tenders awarded due to his influence. Rumours are that he hides some of his money in JoJo water tanks.
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âShould any investigation be initiated in Mpumalanga, an informant will report to [him] and give instructions to certain senior officials to ensure the investigation is stopped.
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âThe indications are that he controls at least one hit squad operating in Mpumalanga.â
The bottom line (for now)
In the months since Daily Maverick received the intelligence reports, a team of journalists has been working all out to connect the information sourced on the ground to direct documentary evidence of the âterritorial rulerâsâ involvement in the Eskom crime cartels. This has demanded the gathering of many gigabytes of data from a range of sources, which, taken together, tell the story of corruption at South Africaâs power utility that includes hundreds of names and thousands of supplier companies, both local and international.
In the weeks and months and, perhaps, even the years to come, we intend to tell this larger story under the âEskom Intelligence Filesâ banner.
But, as the intelligence reports warned, conclusively implicating the âterritorial rulerâ has proved an incredibly challenging task.
Although we would have preferred to wait for the bank statements and purchase orders that settled the matter once and for all, recent events in the public domain â most notably, De Ruyterâs aforementioned interview on eNCA â have made publishing what we legally can right now an important contribution to the understanding of just how big an ongoing crime scene Eskom was for years.
Finally, as De Ruyter also made clear in the eNCA interview, there was another Cabinet minister named in the intelligence reports â and we can now reveal that he also appeared in the organogram on the same (topmost) level as the âterritorial rulerâ.
As the political instability increases and President Ramaphosa continues to delay the announcement of his new Cabinet, which is expected to remove South Africaâs deputy president, the country hovers on the edge of the abyss.
The four crime cartels that have brought Eskom, and SA,… (dailymaverick.co.za)
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