‘All right that is settled then. The Outlook it is, I am ravished’ said the Colonel satisfied ‘shall we go, it’s getting late’
‘Bloody hell Rosy, you are pale and quiet. Is everything all right? What did the doctor say?’
The Colonel looked over the top of his spectacles expectantly ‘Come on Rosy, spit it out. You are being very obtuse today and it’s getting late’
‘Ok Colonel’ said Rosy ‘but please sit down first and listen carefully’
The Colonel puffed, looked at his watch and said ‘Ok Rosy, I am sitting now, what is it’
‘Colonel, you are going to be a father again’
***************
Jacques phoned Captain de Villiers on his cell.
‘Captain, I need to see you urgently. As you requested I have continued with my research and I don’t like where this is headed’
‘All right Jacques but will you please calm down. I can see you at four at our usual table at Jochen’s Java’ said the calm officer.
‘Captain, the time for being coy is over. I will share the information that I have only if you disclose the data you would not share before’
‘Jeez, you are excited, blackmailing and bolshie. You haven’t been smoking anything have you Jacques?’
‘No, see you at four’ said Jacques and cut the call.
************
Jacques read the report which the Captain had thrown with disdain onto the table at Jochen’s Java. The Captain quietly sipped his coffee while Jacques scoured the report intently.
China has made a great deal of investment into infrastructure, energy and resources in Africa in the last decade. Many of the largest projects were oil-related. For instance, a $5.38 billion project in Nigeria that involved infrastructure in exchange for preferential oil rights bidding, or $4.04 billion spent in Mauritania for oil exploration, sewage systems, iron mine and roads.
From 2000 to 2011, there are approximately 65 Chinese official development finance projects identified in Kenya through various media reports. These projects range from a 108 million USD grant from Chinese government to build the North and East Ring Road sections in Nairobi, to a concessional loan to finance the construction of the Kenyatta University Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital Project in 2011.
An increasing number of Chinese companies are seeking business opportunities in Kenya, amid the African country's efforts to push ahead with industrialization.
Chinese investors are eyeing sectors such as property, tourism, hotel and infrastructure construction in east Africa's largest economy.
Jacques contained his excitement and read on:
Yu Wu, director of investment and business development at Beijing Hasan International Investment Management Co Ltd, told China Daily that Chinese firms are showing great interest in the country, especially in sectors related to tourism.
‘Investing in Africa, including Kenya, has great potential and we feel lucky that we're going there earlier and have found many business opportunities’, said Yu at the Kenya-China Investment and Business Forum, held in Beijing.
President Xi had earlier congratulated Kenyatta on his election victory, saying, ‘I believe, given your vigour and vitality, you should be able to lead the Kenyan people in registering even greater accomplishments on the road ahead toward your national development’.
‘China would like to continue measures to increase imports from Kenya and promote a balanced growth of bilateral trade’ the President had said.
He urged both sides to strengthen cooperation in special economic zone construction, agriculture, wildlife protection and fighting cross-border crime.
Kenyatta said his country, which is committed to realizing industrialization and improving people's living conditions, wants to learn from China's development, as the two countries share similar historical experiences and visions for the future.
China has become Kenya's largest source of foreign direct investment and second-largest trade partner. By June, China's cumulative direct investment in Kenya had reached $474 million. The bilateral trade volume reached $2.84 billion last year.
‘Kenya, an important bond between China and Africa, also hopes China, a strong and true friend, will play a bigger role in promoting Africa's peace and prosperity’, said Kenyatta
Jacques finished reading the document, took a sip of his cold coffee and said to the Captain. ‘We are on the same page. The same pattern, same modus operandi and same blur between foreign aid, business opportunism and outright colonisation’.
‘Meneer, I think we are in the poo’ said Jacques as he handed the file with his own findings to the Captain as agreed.
The Captain weighed Jacques’s report in his hand and said seriously ‘Jacques, I will take a day or two to absorb this and then we can meet again’
The two shook hands and the Captain said ‘Good work Jacques and thanks. Oh and by the way your girlfriend Juanita has had a warrant issued for her arrest for dealing in drugs. Prepare yourself to testify’
Jacques said over his shoulder ‘Still no money I suppose, only coffee’
The Captain laughed.
**********************
‘How are you and Linda getting on in your new place’ asked Ryan
‘No you can’t come and live there’ responded Jacques
‘Seriously Jacques, I’m thinking of moving in with Andrea’
‘Well at your age there are not many Christmases left so you better decide soon’
‘Jacques we have each had long periods of marriage in our respective lives and I don’t know if I am up for that again’
‘Since you seem to be asking for my advice, here it is. Andrea is a lovely lady with good motives, a strong work ethic and a solid religion, has a fun nature, is good looking and is a good homemaker. Knowing your sleazy habits, she must also be good in the sack. So, I really can’t see why you are dithering about. If it’s your good-looking playboy image that you are concerned about losing, then latest census in the Village is, sadly, that you are over the hill and should be put to stud’.
‘Jeez, and I thought you were my mate’ cringed Ryan ‘when you give your opinion it’s with both barrels.
‘Sorry buddy but you did want the truth?’
‘I know and thanks, my mind is made up’ said Ryan
‘So you are going to ask Andrea?’ said Jacques.
‘No, I have decided that I don’t want you as a friend any more’
They both laughed.
Chapter 7 The Outcome
__________________________________________________
‘Are you into jokes, Jacques’ asked the Captain as he sat down at Jochen’s Java?
‘Ja, I enjoy a good joke, Captain’ said Jacques.
‘Well here is one for you. Neighbors, one English the other a Boer have a son and daughter respectively.
The youngsters go out on a date and are not at home on time. The two concerned and angry fathers, in their gowns and slippers, confer over the fence.
‘Jannie, you drive to the Club and see if they went there perhaps, I’ll check out the roadhouse’.
‘Goed so, Peter. We can meet at the Police Station at four to compare notes’
At four on the dot the two now desperate fathers meet at the Police Station.
‘Nothing’ says Peter.
‘Also nothing’ says Jannie.
‘We must look some more. The dawn is nigh’ says Peter
‘Ja, ek weet, maar waar?’ says Jannie.
They both laughed heartily and then sipped their coffees thoughtfully.
‘This business is like the joke’ said the Captain finally ‘we both have separately come to the conclusion that the buggers are having sex but ‘where’ is the burning question. And how do we prove it’.
Jacques rationalized ‘Even then who is going to prosecute? The NPA? The IMU? They may also be implicated in the thing and then attempt to cover it up. Do we go the political route through Parliament to expose it or do we rely on the famous Fourth Pillar of Democracy – the Press’.
‘First we have to prove that there is something to prosecute. This whole saga may all just be what South Africa needs – bona fide Foreign Direct Investment – without which we as a country are screwed anyway’.
‘I agree’ said Jacques ‘the British blurred the boundaries between colonization, foreign aid and outright piracy for their entire tenure in this country. This time it is not only South Africa involved but there are new insurgencies by the Chinese in most of the fifty four countries on the African Continent’.
‘Then who ya gonna call’ said the Captain trying to lighten the conversation.
‘Ghostbusters’ said Jacques realizing that he was getting a bit carried away.
‘Where do we start Captain?’ asked Jacques
‘Roles’ said the Captain ‘is where we start. I am a Commissioned Officer in the South African Police. Above me is a truckload of prosecuting authorities and security agencies and even organizations overseeing those State Institutions? If this becomes official, then I am duty bound to disclose my findings which will have every chance of being covered up or made to go away. So the official route is out. By not going the official route I run the risk of dereliction of duty and perhaps even treason. So, my friend, my hands are tied’
‘Where does that leave me?’ asked Jacques
‘It leaves you as an inquisitive concerned citizen, patriotic to his country, who doesn’t want that country to be sold out to foreigners. The only guys that will be sympathetic to helping you in that cause would seem to be the Fourth Pillar.
‘So basically I’m on my own then’ said Jacques
‘Not entirely, there is at least one other concerned citizen’ said the Captain
‘Who is that’ said Jacques
‘Johannes Gerhardus de Villiers’ said the Captain.
Jacques rose, shook the Captain’s hand, nodded his understanding and said ‘Totsiens Johan, ek sal jou bel’.
*********************
Before Jacques could contact Johan he got a call from the concerned citizen. ‘Good evening Jacques. I cannot talk long, so take down this number and list it under the name of the ‘guys ya gonna call’. Then delete this record. Meet me at Larry’s, not Jochen’s, at four tomorrow. Must go. Cheers’. Jacques entered the number under ‘ghostbusters’ in his phone and then deleted the Captain’s previous number and the record of all calls made to and received from that number.
***************
The next day Jacques got to Larry’s Linguini first and chose a table outside at the very back of the restaurant. Johan arrived a few minutes later and, while tugging off his sports jacket, he threw a dossier on the table.
‘What’s this Johan’ said Jacques shaking the concerned citizen’s hand as he sat.
‘Our little spy’s file’
‘Do you mean Tony?’
‘Yes’ said Johan.
‘The other day I was watching from the parking cubicle to see who our little friend was waiting to meet. It turned out to be David Mosenke. I saw money changing hands so I knew Mosenke wasn’t on a social visit. I then called Tony to come to the station to see me. He was a nervous wreck when he got there. He admitted to getting paid R500 from Mosenke for………wait for this……………the notes on events and people that Tony had been passing to the mysterious writer.
Long story, short, I have contacted the writer, have his undertaking of silence and his permission to copy all of his notes.
So Sherlock Holmes, your copy is in the file in front of you. Figure it out. Johan sat back pleased with his achievement and was moved enough to order two beers for the table.
Jacques rattled through the notes very quickly while they waited for beers to arrive. ‘Hope he is not planning to get rich on this book, it looks like a bunch of drivel to me’.
‘Jacques’ said Johan taking a long sip of the ice cold beer ‘when you see a fin in the water you shout ‘Shark! Shark! How do you know that it is in fact a shark? Don’t answer that. You know because you have seen pictures before, had lessons in school, have seen it with your own eyes at the Aquarium and have heard stories at the Sharks Board about it.
The writer’s notes are the shark’s fin; it is what lies below the surface that will determine the value of the notes and you have to find it’.
‘Thanks a lot for that’ said Jacques sarcastically ‘I have no idea where to begin’
‘The beginning would be a good place’ grinned Johan ‘and read slowly and often Mr. Holmes’.
‘Is Tony in any danger now that we have the same notes that Mosenke will receive?’ asked Jacques concerned.
‘I don’t think so but I took the precaution of getting him a job on my brother’s farm in Dullstroom. Tony will be out of the picture for a while’ said Johan
The two finished their beers, shook hands and departed in opposite directions.
**************
For the next few days Jacques labored over the notes that had been intercepted between Tony and David Mosenke. They were an eclectic collection of misspelt names, misspelt places, dis-connected events and juvenile rubbish.
Tony had obviously been given neither any direction nor any particular targets to spy on and had simply therefore spied on everyone in the Village. Jacque tried to detect patterns, tried to make significance out of dates, tried to connect groups of people. Unfortunately the information appeared quite random.
‘What could David Mosenke possibly want with all of this rubbish’ wondered a baffled and weary Jacques after three days of futile effort.
Early on the fourth day, before Jacques began his umpteenth trawl of the notes, he gathered the entire sheaf of notes to knock them on the table to align them. As he did this he noticed one page had drifted slightly out of alignment. In attempting to straighten the delinquent page Jacques opened the sheaf at that place and read the contents. The page was slightly shorter than the other pages but, as expected it contained nothing of interest. Jacques did notice that the page was thicker than the rest of the pages. Inquisitive, he turned the page over. It was typed on an IMU letterhead. Jacques read the contents but it was just a routine memo between David Mosenke and some other operative called Vusi Twala. ‘The Memo must have mistakenly ended up in Tony’s notes whilst Mosenke was reading them’ thought Jacques.
Despondent, he was about to turn the page when he noticed a name scribbled in pencil near the bottom of the memo. It said simply ‘Cornubia’
****************
‘Ok boetie, spit it out’ said Johan ‘we are off the record’
Jacques took a gulp of tea and began ‘I think David Mosenke is not deployed by the IMU but is moonlighting for a person or persons unknown. The motivation is Cornubia, the new area just down the road, and the opportunities that development might throw up in the Umhlanga Rocks Village.
‘What opportunities’ questioned an anxious looking Johan.
‘Johan, we both know that the Village is highly sought after by wealthy and retired, mainly white, locals and ex patriots. It is also the favored destination of well-heeled local and foreign tourists. The tone of the village is highly cosmopolitan, upmarket and sophisticated. The Cornubia development may cause an influx of lower income people which will cause a degeneration of the spirit and image of the flagship retirement and tourist destination Umhlanga Rocks and throw up opportunities for new incoming investors’.
‘On the subject of person or persons unknown’ Jacques continued ‘I am hazarding a guess that ‘deep throat’ is Elias Khumalo for and behalf of the Nkandla Architect and Pengxin. You know of course where that axis leads – the Nkandla Owner and the Chinese Premier’. Between the evidence and the president stands one man, Zuma’s private architect, Minenhle Makhanya.
He became, according to a recent report, the go-between and de facto principal agent of the government in its implementation of the “security upgrades” at Nkandla after Zuma introduced him to the official government team.
The report said officials with the responsibility to control spending on the project bowed to the will of Makhanya, believing he was in constant touch with Zuma, and afraid that questioning him would be construed as defying the president.
In the face of this predicament, almost every official involved, with the notable exception of the Public Works Department’s top quantity surveyor, threw up their hands and allowed the scope and costs of the project to escalate without limit – from an initial estimate of R27m to R246m when all has been said and, obscenely, done.
In his written submission, one of the official project managers stated that Mr Makhanya became the de facto project manager and that it was difficult to exercise control over him, leading to a case of ‘the tail wagging the dog’.
It is not difficult to comprehend why government officials, particularly at a fairly low level of the food chain, would have difficulty controlling a consultant who was presented by and claims to speak with the president’s concurrence or authority.
My opinion is that even a cabinet minister could have had difficulty countermanding Mr Makhanya.
While minutes of meetings show Makhanya was repeatedly given the task of getting Zuma’s approval for measures like the swimming pool and the landscaping, there is no documentary evidence, other than further minutes suggesting the president had agreed, to show he was properly kept in the loop.
The president, the architect, the ambassador and the president’s financial adviser – this is a familiar template.
‘Further research threw up a press representative’s summary of similar other Zuma shenanigans in the past’ explained Jacques
When wedding guests of Zuma’s benefactors and friends, the Gupta family, took the astonishing liberty of landing at a South African military air base, in a breach of national security, the principal blame quickly settled on one man: chief of state protocol Vusi Koloane.
As in the case of Nkandla, an interministerial investigation was launched in the face of snowballing public indignation.
It concluded, in the words, again, of Cabinet Minister Radebe, that Koloane and senior SA Air Force official Christine Anderson had acted on their own, while giving the impression they were under instructions from “Number 1”.
Anderson has subsequently confirmed this referred to Zuma but, in the proceedings of a military board of inquiry, has argued Koloane told her Zuma had authorised the landing.
Radebe told Parliament the two were neither ‘fall guys’ nor ‘scapegoats’, but ‘masters of this manipulation of process’.
Koloane, in an internal disciplinary process, pleaded guilty to charges including abusing state diplomatic channels by facilitating an illegal request for the aircraft carrying the Gupta wedding guests to land at the base, misrepresenting facts to facilitate the illegal landing and compromising the processes and procedures of the Department of International Relations and Co-Operation.
He was demoted and served with a final warning.
The board of inquiry has not yet finalised Anderson’s case, but the charges have been substantially revised since Radebe claimed she was a principal actor in the scandal, dubbed Guptagate.