not so long ago, amidst a deluge of disciplinary hearings and suspensions, it looked like curtains for general manager of retail channels, paul newman and his guys – after they were discovered to be running an exclusive internet porn ring from their desks at mtn headquarters. it’s a skeleton in the cupboard of the jse-listed group (chairman cyril ramaphosa) that’s been kept well buried until now. in fact, group managing director karel pienaar refuses to confirm or deny that such a thing ever happened.
sweet charity turns into a bitter letdown as money promised for abused children shelter disappeared. a local enterprise known as the fair trade trading post in irene boasted in an advertorial that they were “making the community a cleaner and greener place to be” and when asked about the missing money, tania bryant - one of the directors said that she'd decided to "re-route that money" and then she sold the company for "an undisclosed amount".
asim qaiser was a star employee of asset managers oasis group holdings. by all accounts, the quietly spoken 36-year-old pakistani national is something of a tough cat: he survived four-and-a-half years at oasis, from 2006 until 30 june 2010. when he started, it was a material condition of his employment that he would join the oasis crescent retirement fund. now a court battle looms as brothers ebrahim cling to his provident funds.
the roman satirist juvenal, who wrote 2 000 years ago, is still the source of some timely maxims. on the question of who can be trusted with power, for example: “who guards the guardians?” and his observation that the “common people”, rather than caring about their freedom, are only interested in “bread and circuses”.
if 65-year old peter tennant had applied juvenal’s investigative skills he might not now be at war with world travel international.
conveyancing – the transferring of property ownership on the deeds office register (which is not exactly rocket science and could be handled by a variety of people) is reserved exclusively for attorneys, many of whom depend on conveyancing to put food on the table (prosciutto, not pap, of course). attorneys on bank panels must turn down instructions to act against banks. so how did lawyers allow themselves to be sold into servitude?
on 14 november the high court granted an interim interdict in favour of pharmaceutical giant bayer, preventing the generic manufacturer pharma dynamics from selling an oral contraceptive called ruby. big pharma is using south africa's weak intellectual property laws to inject extra life into its drugs monopoly. and we see that healthcare regulations benefit monopolies, rather than the public.
former r700 000-a-year netcare senior manager james gregory, whose charges of criminal fraud against the jse-listed healthcare group were published in noseweek last year, now claims it was all a pack of lies. our story, headlined “gimme!” was run over four pages. gregory, who refers to his previous employer as “notcare” or “netscare”, was over the moon. “it’s marvellous! 100% accurate! you’ve helped me find closure!” he enthused.
and why the change of heart now? what is the us government to make of this bizarre business?
readers may recall noseweek’s story about michael fenner-solomon, aka mr constantia, who was putting up a luxury development in constantia called warbler’s grove. he was struggling to unload the eight r20-million-plus units he had built and as creditors began to hound him, he would warn them off with the message: “i am mr constantia; cross me and i’ll make sure you never work in the area again.”
john block, the notorious anc leader in the northern cape, seems to have been instrumental in making life difficult for the official (jerry mndaweni) who sanctioned his illegal mining of a state-owned salt mine, using a fraudulent permit.
dennis davis is the tough-talking television-show host who south africans have come to identify with the programme judge for yourself. however, in his real-life role as judge of the western cape high court (and judge president of the competition appeal court) judge davis is known, on occasion, to be as opinionated in court as he is on camera. those who appear before him are easily deemed stupid and uneducated by comparison. his style makes for entertaining television – but is it appropriate coming from a judge on the bench?
it’s no secret that south africa’s fishing industry is in a mess. some say the trouble started when valli moosa left the cabinet in 2004. why? because, they say, moosa was the last minister who was strong enough to stand up to the well-connected predators who see the country’s marine resources as just another asset to be plundered – one such well-known family name that comes up in this regard rhymes with hake.
a government agency that depends on the proceeds of crime to stay in business! what next?
a commodity trading company recently acquired by jse-listed shipping giant grindrod has paid a private detective r5.5 million to “pilot” the criminal prosecution of one of its former executives – hoping to substantiate a r114m insurance claim. it makes for a chilling tale of back-stabbing and intrigue in corporate joburg.
the company is oreport and in the dock is rudi clayton, 52, father-of-two, sequestrated, on bail of r50 000, and presently chief executive of a stainless steel manufacturer in the arabian gulf.
opponents of the protection of state information bill seemed agreed on one thing: while there is a need for secrecy legislation – state security, defence, and all that – what the government has come up with goes way beyond what's required: it lends itself to abuse, and it will clearly be used to cover up corruption.
for what, in heaven’s name, does a country that’s an intelligence-free zone and a military no-hoper need secrecy legislation?
our story begins at the cape town headquarters of oasis asset management. on 28 february 2008, a young – and brave, it will later transpire – rizqa abdullah, a 2007 financial information systems graduate commenced employment at the cape town premises.
some quite prominent people have at one time or another been associated with oasis, among them western cape judge president john hlophe, who, controversially, was on their payroll and moonlighting for them in and out of court. the founder-directors of oasis are the brothers ebrahim: shaheen, adam and nazeem.these bullying bosses turn out ot be the grim brothers.
banking services have gone hi-tech – and so have the fraudsters. while banks have issued a plethora of warnings about the scam emails that are now synonymous with internet banking fraud, very little has been done to address fraud linked to cellphones. and to top it all arithmentic is not fnb's strong point.
"the coca-cola company (tccc) is committed to operate with the highest possible ethical standards both internally and externally with suppliers and partners."
that’s an official statement by a spokesman for the mother of all coca-cola companies, based in atlanta, usa. and that’s probably what we all thought. foolishly. it’s certainly what erich schravesande – a durban businessman doing general export business into africa – thought in the year 2000, when a friend introduced him to hans kaltenbrun, chairman of coca-cola canners of southern africa (pty) ltd (cccsa) and technical director of coca-cola south and east africa (ccsea), with a view to their doing business together.
there’s a new twist in the tale of cape town socialite sylvia ireland, whose former psychiatrist, dr ray berrard, is in the midst of a health professions council disciplinary hearing for having had sex with her while she was his patient. this time it’s her lawyer who is in the dogbox – for behaving “like a pawn-broker” and taking her jewellery – three rings and five bracelets – in lieu of payment.
the proposed lion’s head development becomes more intriguing by the day. the western cape department has ruled that the planned eight-tower apartment complex should not be allowed. that's great news, but the decision only relates to one section - block e - and those opposing this development have long suspected that the developer may plan to sacrifice block e in order to get the other seven passed. after all that, they say, is why the developer used the wrong map in the first place.
prior to publication of the story "holidays nobody wants", noseweek wrote to travel quest/leisure travel international manager charmaine oglesby for comment. oglesby said...
will the real enver motala please stand up. enver motala was removed from the roll of liquidators in september, on the basis that he had a criminal record. few tears were shed but there are now rumours in joburg's legal fraternity that motala will use his contacts to persuade the president to pardon him for his criminal convictions thereby enabling him to get back into the very lucrative business of being a crooked liquidator.
at an annual salary of over r600 000, at least three homes in south africa and one in france, allen michael jones was definitely doing well as a senior executive of bond exchange of south africa (besa). his cv reads equally healthily, but fails to mention that he is a sociopath who cannot resist an opportunity to defraud the state – and the poor.
great news: things have worked out wonderfully for one of the women at athletics sa whose life was turned upside down by the caster semenya controversy. no, unfortunately it's not lara lane, the ultra-committed sports administrator who suffered "collateral damage". it's a former asa employee by the name of humile bogatsu.
seven minority shareholders of randgold and exploration company ltd are suing investec bank ltd for a billion rand for damages they claim they suffered as a consequence of investec's having gained effective control of the company following the collapse of brett kebble's criminal empire. investec director david nurek's conflicts of interest are at the centre of a court case that could see investec facing claims totalling more than r7 billion.
baby michael, blinded and crippled both physically and mentally after ferocious assaults in the family home only months after his birth, has died, aged eight. his parents had yet to be sentenced for their crimes.
german car maker, bmw, wants to put the lid on cheap spare parts. a case that's recently been argued in the north gauteng high court involving serial ip rights litigators bmw and a competing supplier of often identical but much more affordable replacement or "pirate" car parts, called grandmark. who's more right, less wrong?
len ashton reviews: canvas under the sky by robin binckes (30˚ south); monkey business:
the murder of anni dewani by mike nicol (umuzi) and hotel k by kathryn bonella (quercus)
as the west goes into financial decline, so china’s boom continues, there’s just no escaping that fact – not even at an art and antiques auction in the southern suburbs of cape town. this was evident as telephone bidders snapped up valuable pieces at fantastic prices.
when police warrant officer amos shibambu responded to an ad selling carprehensive insurance – offered by a crowd called prime meridian, part of the rmb group – he received a call from a salesman who persuaded him to switch from his insurer to carprehensive. the bait: shibambu would get a fixed-for-life premium of r450 per month as opposed to the r500-plus he was paying. and there would be no excess.
personal fitness trainer daniel tuval of lonehill, joburg thought he’d made a good buy when, in october, he bought a 2002 model mercedes smart car, with 90 000km on the clock, a complete service history and maintenance plan directly from its original owner for just r35 000. that's until he consulted sandown motors about a noise under the bonnet.
security firm fat cats demand lion’s share of tenders, writes mark thomas. nelson mandela bay metropolitan municipality, instead of hanging its head in shame at successive qualified audits, continues to haemorrhage public money. and while would-be tenderpreneurs eagerly wait for their turn to gorge, the old fat cats are unwilling to let go of their tasty catches without a fight.
in a country like south africa, where consumer protection laws are weakly enforced, signing up for timeshare and vacation clubs is like going swimming with sharks. here we have two sad tales that demonstrate the point: there’s no life after debt for unwary buyers of vacation club schemes.
whenever the ghosts of the arms deal are asleep and when defence and military veterans minister lindiwe sisulu gets a break from explaining away gravy jets, she appears to jump at the chance to polish her image. and in that worthy cause she and her advisors recently decided to alter - and reprint - the annual report of the castle of good hope, one of the state corporations in her charge.
accusation and counter-accusation as magistrates phumelele hole and khandilizwe nqadala clash in john block country. we'd previously commented: "you have to wonder: where could our justice system go next?" well, even further downhill, it turns out.
why the scandal surrounding advocates double-briefing in road accident fund cases? it's simple, really. advocates are keen to settle cases on the steps of teh court because they're paid as much for one settled at 9.30am on trial day as they are for a case that drags on until 4.00pm. in fact there's a fair chance your advocate had two (or more) briefs for that day, reckoning on settling - and being paid full fee for - most of them before going into court. a full bench of the pretoria high court has led the cleanup, nailing some and curiously forgiving others.
we could have guessed it. durban advocate sthembiso mdladla, who has just been appointed to the secretariat of the seriti commission has a "history": several years ago he was paid millions for heading a kzn commission of enquiry - but just never got around to writing a report. a foretaste of what we are to expect from the arms deal enquiry?
83 joburg advocates face fraud probe which could cause "partial collapse" of the joburg bar says a senior advocate whose name appears on the list - and who is himself under investigation for double-briefing and overreaching.
wide boys david taylor and andre le roux acquired a majority shareholding in tiffindell ski in 2007, then rigged some deals and persuaded the state bank of india to lend them r19m against the security of a bond. but creditors liquidated the company and now the bond's been nullified, leaving the bank r19m out of pocket.
marney van zyl's latest guesthouse victim was mulling over some strange discoveries about her new guest, when a detective arrived at her gate waving a copy of noseweek. now the silver-tongued scoundrel has been arrested and reunited with the inmates of sun city (johannesburg prison) ... yet another extraordinary chapter to a remarkable tale.
david bullard has a tale about johnnie walker blue and one eager member of the youth league of an influential political party - breitling watch dangling from his wrist, fetching beret on his head.
lawyers bottle out in case against coke –but still charge their client r500,000, writes mark thomas
port elizabeth transport mogul dawie van der westhuizen found himself biting off more than he could chew when his legal team, including a senior advocate, led him to believe he had a winnable case against coca-cola.
even in the arcane world of intellectual property (ip), politics dominates. in september, stellenbosch university hosted a conference on ip law – the law on patents, trademarks and copyright. it celebrated the creation of a chair in ip law, occupied by ip attorney owen dean, and sponsored by johann rupert, so it was no surprise the organisers were able to attract a handful of very credible foreign speakers.
stan ferreira and jorge lourenco were both born on the island of madeira. they also shared a birthday as well as the name estanislau (stan). in south africa they became friends and business partners and together they forged a mighty business empire - but one partner ended up a broken man.
take responsibility for your actions – isn’t that what we’re all brought up to believe? cabinet ministers and other senior government functionaries are, of course, exempt from this rule. and when it comes to buying property, a bank's word is not its bond, it turns out.
certain politically connected parties are planning to get rich by destroying rare and protected vegetation on lion's head. property development stories seem to follow a clear pattern. well-off whites raise environmental objections while ruthless developers do what it takes to get their plans approved – be it by buying off venal politicians or by mobilising local support. he who pays the piper calls the tune.
when it comes to poaching, woolworths has moved beyond the egg section. woolworths recently threw its weight behind rhino conservation with its myplanet scheme that encourages customers to contribute to the myplanet rhino fund (an endangered wildlife fund initiative) by swiping their cards at participating retailers. well done woolworths - but take a deeper look, because a leopard doesn't change it's spots.
allesio rastani, the young stock market “day trader” who in september livened up a bbc business programme with what he had to say about how the world’s financial markets operate and what their prospects for recovery are, is it transpires, not a very successful trader - but he certainly managed to touch a nerve that sent shivers across the globe.
auto & general rejected a claim filed by magdeline ramatsobane ledwaba for a vw polo that had been written off – on the basis that she had “falsely” listed her cousin as the regular driver even after he stopped living at her house. the ombudsman found against a&g. butt he way these things work is questionable.
a quick scan of just one day’s edition of any south african newspaper, gives a thumbnail sketch of the frightening extent of corruption in the country. the condensed format of online newsletter legalbrief heightens the effect of the flood of corruption that has become a tsunami.
trapped in paradise tells how the pleasant filipino couple looked genuine enough, but those pearly white teeth pack a nasty bite. here you can read all the supporting documents here as promised in the latest october 2011 issue #144 of noseweek
• property for sale • property to rent • property wanted • property services • overseas holiday accommodation • overseas land for sale • local holiday accommodation • personal • travel, food & leisure • wanted • for sale • legal, insurance & financial • services • courses • health & fitness • businesses for sale •
now i seem to remember sir laurens van der post departing this miserable ball of mud a few years ago, but i can’t be sure. you see, his departure would not have been such a shattering event as, say the demise of jfk, mahatma gandhi or dr verwoerd.
enemies rage as mr clean tackles fraud and corruption, writes chris bateman
corruption-buster for the eastern cape health department, dr siva pillay, is an unabashed multi-millionaire property developer who is using his considerable business clout to “turn the department around" - and not to add to his fortune via "jobs for pals".
white candidates are being snubbed despite their high merit.
when president jacob zuma told the nation who it was he wanted to see as the next chief justice, it was a surprise to many, as justice mogoeng mogoeng had clearly failed to make a name for himself. even the president couldn't find much to say about him.
ever had that feeling that your bank’s talking absolute crap? well, the chances are it probably is. noseweek reported on how fnb’s media man gave some palpably nonsensical answers when questioned about commissions charged on maintenance payments coming from abroad. well now it is standard bank's turn.
stick to your guns when the bank tries to fob off your complaints as they shoot from the hip with any old repsonse that will absolve them of responsibility.
next time you want to call in the fumigators, think again, says adam welz.
towards the end of 2010, leslie and lorryn steenkamp realised they had a problem – lots and lots of tiny little problems in fact; after ripping up some old carpet in the nice house they’d bought they discovered a borer beetle infestation in teh floorboards.
so common are building disputes that they rarely make news, even when they end up in the courts. but if the builder tries to stop his disgruntled ex-client from telling people about their bad experience, or from posting photos on facebook, then it's a noseweek story. house of ill will
brickbats are flying in a pricey building dust-up and both sides say they won, so it's probably a draw.
relatives of the 11 passengers who died when two albatross aircraft flew into a mountain near tzaneen after an airshow in august face a massive courtroom battle for compensation for the loss of their loved ones. the tragedy has now become a quagmire of legal technicalities when reading through the clauses in the two insurance policies. one clause covers the pilot even if he breaks every law.
who’s your pick for villain-in-chief in the caster semenya saga? former athletics south africa (asa) president leonard chuene, julius malema or former sports minister makhenkesi stofile? the main victim was of course caster, but there was another victim in the saga, namely laraine lane. she was tarred with the same brush as chuene even though she wasn't guilty of anything.
finally, more than three years after sylvia ireland first wrote to the health professions council of south africa, angrily accusing her former psychiatrist dr ray berard of cape town of having, for two years, used her paid-for therapy sessions for sex with her, he is to face charges
ssg tactical assures clients on its website that it undertakes “a comprehensive interview process and extensive background check” before offering anyone a job. but what of warren goldblatt, the head of ssg? he seems to have lead a charmed life with authoritiesturning a blind eye to all deviant ways.
a good-hearted mpumalanga lawyer has stepped forward with an offer to represent the family of the young boy who had his penis amputated by a doctor at barberton general hospital back in 2008.
three south african children under four were left stranded in dubai after their parents were thrown into prison in mauritius on trumped up charges laid by investec’s ceo on the island. the pleasant filipino couple looked genuine enough, but those pearly white teeth pack a nasty bite, writes mark thomas.
we speak of power, sexuality, derring-do – and leadership. mostly clout, actually, but opportunistic mention of raging hormones is more or less obligatory, if there is to be any hope of attracting readers in this era of short attenion span. let the modified heavy breathing begin: in a desperate attempt to catch up with a range of time-tied review books (they mostly involve running stories which could well be superseded by latter-day developments) it seemed a good idea to focus on the works of, and/or about, influential individuals figuring in the headlines.
the great telephone hacking scandal rocking the murdoch media empire jogged vivid memories for noseweek’s jack lundin in his fleet street days.
the latest revelations of dirty tricks at the news of the world have brought it all flooding back: newsrooms clouded in cigarette smoke, pounding typewriters, thundering presses shaking the whole building – and stuart kuttner.
kuttner was managing editor of the now mercifully-defunct news of the screws for more than 20 years, until his abrupt removal in 2009 after a former private detective accepted cash payments from the paper’s royal editor for stories harvested by hacking into prince harry and prince william’s voicemails.
was luxury property construction group mkb driven into liquidation by investec in order to protect the bank’s favourite – if massively-indebted – client zunaid moti? yes, say andrew botha and jonathan killik, the youthful pair who founded mkb in 2002.
sensational allegations of dirty tricks routinely conducted by specialised services group (ssg), the controversial gauteng private investigators headed by warren goldblatt, have been made by the spooks’ former logistics manager, debra smart.
ssg’s favourite client, investec, features again in the latest revelations.
liberty life and discovery compete for most hellish insurer to work for award.
it must be hell to work in insurance, but have you ever wondered which is worse: working for liberty life or for discovery? liberty life! says pawel jurkiewicz, who was “employed” by liberty life as a “tied agent”.
many moons ago, jaco (jakes) den haan earned a living toiling away for standard bank as a director of wealth creation. so promising was he, one presumes, that in 1990 the bank paid for his mba studies at uct’s graduate school of business. but considering what he’s been involved in of late, – ripping off unsuspecting members of the public through a fraudulent scheme – it’s no surprise that the bank felt it best for him to move on.
the list of companies whose names have been used to market the scam is available here.
it was love at first sight, but the handsome stranger had sticky fingers. brenda margach met marney van zyl at a saturday evening dance club for lonely over-40s, and yes, when she set eyes on the tall, dark and handsome man she fell in love.
marney van zyl introduced himself as a retired advocate who was also a wealthy stockbroker and part-owner of the colony boutique hotel in sandown, joburg. and although a mischievous twinkle in his eyes might in retrospect have signalled danger, brenda was swept off her feet.
for the next five years they had a blissfull relationship as marney won brenda’s trust and she didn’t think twice when he suggested that she hand over r22,000 so he could buy sasol shares for her.
when mild-mannered bishops old boy colin chaplin told his friends that the surprise domestic-violence order the police had served on him at work was obtained by a woman he’d threatened to unfriend on facebook, many found it hard to believe – there had to be a more serious reason.
even more bewildering is that the purported victim – a woman with whom he’d “shared a kiss or two” in the space of a week, years ago – said she’d been advised to seek the order by his ex-girlfriend, well-known cape town attorney lauren fine.
last august a case was lodged with the equality court in durban on the grounds that the ethekwini municipality is racist in its debt-collecting practices by writing off all sorts of debt incurred by black people but that they are extremely diligent in chasing debt owed by their white/indian residents.
the good news: as a result of our last article, a white knight rode to the rescue of judy jurgens, in the form of a johannesburg town-planning firm which did her property rezoning application free of charge.
things have moved rather quickly since our last story was published. the members of the hermanus tourism bureau called a special general meeting on 18 july to vote on a motion of no confidence in the committee, (the committee saved itself the embarrassment and resigned en masse) which has been replaced by one that is regarded as more representative.
cape town businessman russell burnett had been put through the wringer by deloitte when one of the partners messed up a valuation of a business burnett bought in 2002, but instead of admitting the mistake and making right the financial loss incurred by burnett, litigation took years.
