thanks to jollygoodjokes.com
Just heard that there is an advert being aired here in South Africa where someone asks “Steve” if he was the one who gave Zuma a bond!!
For those who dont live here in SA the Steve advert is run by FNB promoting their products above those of other banks.
In the on-going saga in South Africa of our esteemed President Jacob Zuma it is strange how certain names just keep cropping up.
With the furore being caused by the upgrading of Nkandla (Jacob Zuma’s home) to the tune of R200 million of which he says he will be paying 20% (R4m for those who don’t automatically do calculations), it is strange how certain people who were mentioned in court records during the weapons procurement corruption trial just seem to have track records lately which makes one wonder if the President of South Africa needs to be friends with them?
1) Nora Fakude-Nkuna
It seems that Fakude-Nkuna left the economic development agency in 2007 under a cloud, but was later offered a position as board member, which she refused on grounds that she was too busy. Is it just here in SA that you can leave a senior position under a cloud, yet be offered a higher position later on? I know the normal thing is to transfer the person with a promotion, to some other department. Some of our overseas diplomatic posts have been filled like this.
Anyway I digress.
Seems that Fakude-Nkuna had granted a company, Interstate Clearing, a loan of R1,4 million. Now Interstate Clearing trades under the name of Bohlabela Wheels, a company of which she was a director. Now if this isn’t a clash of interests I don’t know what is! Anyway the loan WAS WRITTEN OFF AND NO ACTION TAKEN AGAINST HER!
Now as I previously blogged about having friends in influential places, it would seem that Ms. Fakude-Nkuna has over the years had a “personal” relationship with President Jacob Zuma, as reported in 2003 in the Mail and Guardian. It is reported that Zuma stayed at Fakude-Nkuna’s home when he was on ANC business in Mpumalanga.
Back to Bohlabela Wheels: During the arms trail Zuma was asked if he had received any benefits from Bohlabela Wheels. Now we know that R140,000 was given a construction company doing some building at Nkandla. Wonder if this was part of the R1,4 million loan given to Interstate Clearing, and then written off by the province with no claim against Fakude-Nkuna?
2) Vivian Reddy
In the “I have a bond”, “No you don’t have a bond” saga surrounding President Jacob Zuma it came to light that businessman Vivian Reddy had signed surety for R400,000 for a loan and had been paying the repayments during 2003 and 2004. I wonder if this is tax deductable?
From all accounts Reddy has funded various ANC politicians and is hereby politically very well connected. It seems that Reddy has in the past had “successful relationship” with Eskom and various municipalities in South Africa. His contacts have undoubtedly smoothed the way for many tenders and contracts going to his Edison Group (Edison Jehamo Power) which was recently renamed EJ Power.
Now is seems as if EJ Power is under threat of liquidation.
Durban North branch of FNB has frozen all the companies bank accounts. (As far as I know the Edison Group works from Gauteng so why accounts in another province?)
One of the founding directors of EJ Power, Russell Broadhead, also is director of another company. See further on.
The directors of Gauteng-based Edison Jehamo Power – recently renamed EJ Power – say they have a serious cash flow problem and that the bank has called in the company’s overdraft facilities, “freezing” all its bank accounts held at the Durban North branch of First National Bank.
But they are attempting to stave off several winding up applications with a proposal that the company be placed under “supervision” and be allowed to trade its way out of trouble.
Reddy – controversial for his funding of ANC politicians, including President Jacob Zuma, and for the government deals his Edison group of companies have scored – founded EJ Power in 2005 with project manager Russell Broadhead. Now that the company is heading for financial trouble it seems as if Reddy has resigned as a director. His son Shantan seems to have moved into Vivian Reddy’s previous position.
Now after some serious musing on my side it seems to me that Vivian Reddy is pulling a fast one.
There are various companies which have applied for the winding up of the company due to non-payment. It is alleged that EJ Powers had been paid by Eskom and various municipalities for work done, and that they had not paid the monies over to their sub-contractors.
(Sounds like a case of the company who installed the ducting in Soccer City for the World Cup not being paid for their work by the company who had won the contract – BEE and all that…)
When the matter of liquidating EJ Power was supposed to go to court (which EJ Power had not filed full opposing papers for) it seems that suddenly out of the woodwork, two directors of EJ Power, Broadhead and Wilkinson, asked the Johannesburg High Court in the name of another company, Power Network Contractors, to place the firm under “business rescue”. Seems as if both Wilkinson and Broadhead are directors of Power Network Contractors, and that they actually own a 33.3 % of EJ Power.
Now this all seems to be very suspicious to me. We have companies who are preferred providers due to their political affiliations. Directors of one company being directors of another company which seems to be “ letting” equipment back to the other company. To a normal person in the street it would seem as if they are just moving monopoly money around to cover any possible wrongdoings, and doing it with impunity due to who they know.
Just some random musings.
The saga about the upgrading of Jacob Zuma’s cultural village just won’t go away as he may have hoped.
The fraud and corruption trial of his former friend Schabir Shaik is revealing where some of the funds for his home “Nkandla” came from. It seems that some outside sources (French weapons manufactures) helped the President pay a bill of R1,3 million towards the costs of this village. There was also an amount of R140,000 paid from Bohlabela Wheels to the construction company working on the Nkandla site. (I will blog about Nora Fakude-Nkuna later)
Banks bending the rules.
Now the saddest part of the latest report has to do with the alleged financing of a housing loan from FNB.
Evidence revealed during the trail that President Zuma got a housing loan of R900,000 and that a businessman stood surety for nearly half of the loan, R400,000. From court records it seems that the businessman, Vivian Reddy, also made repayments during 2003 and 2004 to this home loan. (I will blog about Vivian Reddy later)
It would seem that a FNB home loan official made the cardinal sin of putting in writing “I’m convinced that the appropriate authorities will help us bend the rules slightly.”
Now it would seem that the rules really got bent by the bank! Firstly from all reports and rumours doing the rounds it would seem that the actual ground does not belong to Zuma. One story has it that the ground belongs to Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini. Another story has it that the ground belong to a tribal trust. A search of the Deeds Office has not revealed any deed over the property in the name of Jacob Zuma. So in who’s name did the bank register the bond? And why was it necessary to bend the rules according to the bank official?
If my memory serves me, I seem to recall that at one stage Jacob Zuma was living way above his means and Schabir Shaik was even paying his children’s school fees and debts. Now if this was the case, surely the bank would have been aware of the state of Zuma’s affairs? They do all these checks to see if you can afford to repay the loan. And heaven forbid that you are on ITC and paid an account late! Your loan will not be approved.
So it seems as long as you have the political connections you can get the banks to break the rules but what is the payback? You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours? And at the time of the alleged loan Mac Maharaj’s was a director of FirstRand, the holding company for FNB.
Personally I think the President should get his spokesperson, Mac Maharaj, to keep his comment to himself. His ducking and diving in this matter is just making matters worse!! Also check the following article for Mac’s involvement in various deals (especially the new toll roads).
http://mg.co.za/article/2011-11-25-the-evidence-that-damns-mac
Bank refutes giving Zuma a loan:
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-20-fnb-we-couldnt-have-given-zuma-a-bond-for-nkandla
On Sunday my wife sent me an article that appeared in one of the local newspapers.
Luckily I only opened my mail this morning or my Sunday would have been ruined!
As I have blogged about previously we are the only country where the majority are protected from the minority. Our rainbow nation is supposed to represent a nation united in change, moving forward as one.
Well, we know that jobs, bursaries and tenders are reserved for the black people in our country even though our constitution states we are to be treated equally. The current treatment of the white population is proof that the ANC led government is applying far worse draconian rules than the last white government did.
And now the ANC government has sunk so low that they are even lower than the shadow of snake poo on the bottom of the deepest ocean!!
The ANC now wants to apply new BEE (Black Empowerment Equity) codes to those companies who make donations to welfare organisations. If a company wants to deal with the government or any local council they need to have a high BEE score. If you have a low score you lose out on tenders and the possibility of doing any business with them.
NOW – what Mr Rob Davies, minister of trade and industry, has just made public is that any company who donates money to any welfare organisation that assists any whites or foreigners with any type of aid, will not get any BEE points.
These new codes will affect welfare organisations such as churches, Childline and a host of other welfare organisations.
What Mr Davies fails to take note of is that the NG Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) gives assistance to more than 1.3 million people of which nearly 90% are black. Childline help more than 1.7 million children of all colours. These figures are also applicable to other institutions where the majority of those needing help are from the black community. So if these new codes become law the ones who will be disadvantaged the most are black people. The government is saying that according to the latest census the majority of the poor in South Africa are found in the black population. Now who is to blame for that? 18 years after they came to power they have NOT uplifted the general population to anything better than what they had under the previous white government. Only a selected few have gone on to be millionaires and billionaires.
Why is it when we need to do some serious nation building, the government comes up with something that only disadvantages the whites of South Africa? When is the world going to wake up and see what is happening here? In the 1930’s Hilter started implementing laws which slowly but surely ended up with the Jewish population being rounded up and put in concentration camps. Since 1994 when the ANC came to power, there have been so many (small) changes made to the laws in South Africa as well as to the supposedly world acclaimed constitution.
Government is supposed to be for all the people and accountable to all the people. There was so much rhetoric in 1994 when the black government came to power (note, I did not say elected) that never again would there be any discrimination in South Africa. Now the proof of the pudding is that they are applying rules and laws against a minority, which would never be allowed in any other civilized country. Integration is moving further and further away from our multi-faceted population.
Maybe it is time for those whites who want to adopt a child to start looking at their own kind. Let’s leave our government to look after their own.
And the ones who will ultimately suffer, will be the children of all colours
paulsmusing2 