Operation Petshop

2011-05-09

 

A State witness told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Monday that two men, accused of planning to bomb ANC leaders' homes and terrorise townships, recruited him into their operation, the SABC reported.

Testifying on the first day of the trial, Dirkie Breytenbach identified the two as being among the three accused sitting in the dock.

Breytenbach, who was one of two accused that turned State witness, explained that "Operation Petshop" was designed to attack blacks in and around Phalaborwa.

The three accused, Georgios Kiratzidis, 21, Martinus Vorster, 19, and Ruan Louw, 21, allegedly planned to bomb homes of ANC leaders, buses transporting blacks and plant bombs in townships.

They face multiple charges ranging from conspiracy to engage in terrorist activities, illegal manufacturing and possession of explosives, to the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Limpopo police spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi told Sapa the accused were out on extended bail - Kiratzidis on R100 000 and Vorster and Louw on R80 000 bail each.

"They have surrendered their passports and are also reporting at Phalaborwa police station on a weekly basis."

A sixth person initially charged with them appeared separately in court last year.

Francois de Vos, 35, pleaded guilty in October to vandalising the grave of South Africa's former ambassador to Indonesia Norman Mashabane.

De Vos was sentenced to one year in prison or a R2 000 fine. At the time he told the Phalaborwa Magistrate's Court he was drunk when he and six others committed the crime.

Charges against a seventh man, Andre Stroh, 24, were withdrawn. He pleaded guilty in September last year to a charge of possession of ammunition. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, suspended for five years.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Witness-recruited-to-terrorise-blacks-20110509-3 

Cop smuggles drugs to prisoners

2011-05-09

A Western Cape police sergeant was convicted on Monday of smuggling drugs to prisoners in court holding cells.

Sergeant Thembinkosi Moriat Keya, who was based at the Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court, was found guilty by the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court

Magistrate Amrith Chabillal postponed the case to June 21 for sentencing proceedings.

Initially, Keya wished to plead not guilty, but changed his mind on the advice of defence attorney Shamiema Petersen.

Prosecutor Max Orban told the court authorisation for an undercover operation to expose corrupt police members was given in August last year.

According to the charge sheet, the trap was conducted by a police captain, who made use of two agents.

The captain obtained drugs and cash in the prescribed manner, for use in the operation.

He handed R1 000 in cash, and a packet containing the drug "tik" to one of the two agents, who gave it to Keya to hand to the second agent, named as "Otto".

At the time, Otto was booked into the cells under a fictitious case.

According to the charge sheet, Keya agreed to receive the tik, and to give it to Otto, for a R500 reward.

As soon as Otto received the tik in the holding cells, Keya was arrested and the tik sealed and sent for forensic analysis.


http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Cop-smuggles-drugs-to-prisoners-20110509

Black-Racist Assaults Old Boer Woman In Hospital

Monday, 9 May 2011

 

MRS LINA COETZEE, 85, HOSPITALISED WITH A BROKEN HIP, WAS BRUTALLY BEATEN IN HER HOSPITAL BED AT POSTMASBURG GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL – AND POLICE WEREN’T INTERESTED… 

 

POSTMASBURG government hospital, May 7 2011 – source: Die Ghaap newspaper - In a shocking racist assault, a black man walked into a women’s ward past the black patients, straight up to Afrikaner patient 85-year-old Mrs Lina Coetzee, and brutally beat her up. Her bruised face and bloodied pillow are silent testimony to the vicious assault. The frail old lady was brought to hospital that morning with a broken hip and was unable to defend herself. 

Police more concerned about welfare of arrested assailant – and left without taking any witness statements: 

One of the black male patients from an adjacent ward saved her: rushing to the old Afrikaner woman’s aid, grabbing the attacker from behind and restraining him by locking his arms around the assailant’s arms and upper body. 

Mrs Coetzee’s family members restrained the assailant of their beloved family matriarch until the police eventually bothered to show up. The journalist of the local ‘Die Ghaap’ newspaper noted that there was no sign of any of the usualy security guards at the hospital and that it took the SA Police Force an extraordinarily long time to show up and arrest the assailant.  

A family spokesman said: “The police showed much more concern about the welfare of the black assailant than they did towards the victim and asked lots of questions about the way he was arrested. They showed little interest in taking any statements from any of the witnesses on the ward.  

Mrs Coetzee’s family members said the behaviour of the police is unacceptable and inexplcable. Mrs Coetzee has meanwhile been transferred to a hospital in Kimberley, where she is being guarded 24/7 by family members. The doctor said while she is traumatised, she’s also strong – and hopes that she will recover from the traumatic assault, as a broken hip ‘; already is life-threatening for someone of her advanced years.  

source: submission of scanned newspaper page Sat, May 7, 2011 at 12:52 PM to  farmitracker@gmail.com

http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2011/05/black-racist-assaults-old-boer-woman-in.html

President Zuma - Sheryl Cwele

May 8 2011 

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele were briefed by intelligence bosses on the embarrassing high-profile drug trafficking case involving the minister’s wife, Sheryl, long before her arrest. 

The Sunday Independent has established that a group of intelligence chiefs, led by former National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee co-ordinator Silumko Sokupa, told Motlanthe, when he was caretaker president in 2009, that Sheryl was being investigated for drug-dealing. 

The top spy team also comprised former crime intelligence boss Mulangi Mphego and former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director-general Manala Manzini. 

The intelligence bigwigs are believed to have felt that the case would embarrass the country and erode the credibility of the spy outfits, given the suspect was the wife of a sitting intelligence minister. 

Cwele was appointed Intelligence Minister by Motlanthe in 2008, and in May 2009 Zuma reappointed him to head the renamed Ministry of State Security. 

He has maintained he was estranged from his wife during the period of the investigations. But this was contradicted by reports that he’d spent the 2009 December holidays with her in Mozambique. Sheryl’s lawyer, Mvuseni Ngubane, told the Pietermaritzburg High court last February, during her bail application hearing, that the couple had not been estranged since 2005, as claimed by the State in opposing bail. Ngubane said Cwele and his wife had spent the December holiday together in Mozambique. 

It has also emerged that after details surfaced in March 2009 that Sheryl was linked to a drug trafficking underworld, Cwele told Motlanthe he’d been told his wife was being pursued by police. A top official in the Presidency told The Sunday Independent this week that after the story that Sheryl was involved in drugs broke into the public domain, Cwele went to see Motlanthe.

“The minister did tell the president that there was a criminal investigation into his wife… He felt that he needed to talk to the president,” the official said. “But he didn’t expect the president to help.” 

The Sunday Independent understands Cwele had been briefed by Manzini about his wife. Mphego had authorised the tapping of Sheryl’s phone as part of a probe into Nigerian drug dealer Frank Nabolisa. 

Sheryl and Nabolisa were sentenced to 12 years for drug trafficking by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday. They have since indicated they would appeal against their convictions and sentences. 

It is understood that a team of intelligence officers investigating Sheryl and Nabolisa and later handed over the intercepted conversations between the two to embattled crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli. 

Mdluli used the taped conversations in his plea to President Jacob Zuma late last year to help him fend off what he called a plot by senior intelligence officers to oust him. 

In a top-secret letter to Zuma in November, copied to Cwele, Mdluli said, “These senior loyal members were also active with the interceptions on Minister Cwele’s wife”. Mdluli was “irregularly” appointed by a ministerial committee on which Cwele sat. 

Motlanthe’s spokesman Thabo Masebe could not confirm whether the deputy president had met with intelligence chiefs on the matter, and said the contents of such meetings were confidential. 

“The security chiefs do brief the president on regular occasions… In their meetings they don’t talk about individuals, they talk matters of national security,” he said. Cwele’s spokesman Brian Dube said the minister would not comment on his wife’s matter, as it was still before the courts.

Sources in the intelligence community said the conviction of Cwele’s wife had caused the country embarrassment. “This matter was very serious. It relates to a number of aspects that the intelligence community is mandated and entrusted to guard,” an intelligence official said. It was of such importance the head of state had to be informed. 

The official said at first Nabolisa’s phone had been tapped, but officials soon discovered links to Sheryl. 

Nabolisa and Sheryl, a high ranking municipal official on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, were arrested last January. 

Mphego and Sokupa refused to comment. 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/president-knew-about-sheryl-1.1065735 

Foreigners Under Threat

Viewer discretion advised!

WARNING:- GRAPHIC IMAGES!!!

 

 

May 8, 2011

This week marks three years since xenophobia in Gauteng left 62 people dead and 30000 displaced.  

RAMAPHOSA REVISITED: Images on the left taken during the xenophobic attacks in the township of Ramaphosa, on the East Rand, in 2008; on the right, pictures shot this year 

Residents laugh as foreigner burns in his own blankets

As we made our way through the Ramaphosa squatter camp in Reiger Park on Gauteng’s East Rand, a woman’s words made us freeze in horror. “They are burning people down there,” she said.

I ran to the nearest police officer and said: “The locals say they’re burning a person at the other intersection.”

Officers leapt into a Casspir and a Nyala, and drove through the debris and barricades in the road.

I ran after them, with other photographers following.

Two hundred metres down the road we found the first man. He had been severely beaten and was semi- conscious. Police thought he was dead, but later realised he wasn’t.

About 25m from him a man was on his knees. There was a mattress covering him, and it was on fire.

He, too, was alight.

Police threw the mattress off him and kicked sand onto him to put out the flames. Another officer ran over with a fire extinguisher, pointed it at him and extinguished the flames. Other officers radioed for medical help.

The man was alive, but barely. He groaned, but he could not speak.

It was all over in 20 seconds.

There was a concrete pillar lying near him, splattered with blood. We can only imagine what was done to him before he was set alight.

The police stayed with him until the paramedics arrived, doing what they could But residents gathered at the scene were laughing.

Kim Ludbrook, a photographer, admonished them, and we reminded them this was human being and that what had happened was barbaric.

 

Still they laughed.

The burn victim, whose name has not been released, died last night in hospital. 

Flames Of Hate

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

 

 

Amukelani Chauke and Caleb Melby went back to two hot spots 

Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave became the personification of xenophobic attacks when images of him being burned alive were published around the world. Despite the resulting outrage, those responsible for his death were never brought to book. 

In July last year, Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane called on police to reopen the investigation into the murder of the 35-year-old Mozambican father of four. 

On Friday, her office referred queries about the investigation to the office of community safety MEC Faith Mazibuko. 

When called for comment, provincial safety spokesman Dumisani Ngema said they were waiting for reports from the police on progress in the investigation. 

In the Ramaphosa shack settlement, which was once Nhamuave's home, the police have intensified patrols after a new standoff between local and foreign shop owners forced Somalians and Pakistanis to stop trading. 

The Times has seen a copy of a letter, handed to foreign shop owners late last month by a group calling itself the Greater Gauteng Business Forum, which reads: "You are hereby granted a period of seven days to pack all your things and leave the area . 

"Failing to abide by this humble request will result in drastic measures being taken against you.

"It's not xenophobia, we need no war, no negotiations - the same way you came in, will and must be the same on your way out." 

Reiger Park police spokesman Toni Perifort confirmed that police escorted a group of foreign businessman from the area last week after residents threatened them. 

"The community has requested that the foreigners leave the area. It's business related, not xenophobia related," Perifort said on Friday. 

"On Monday evening, they [the community] started to loot one of the shops. 

"We have confiscated those groceries and are holding onto them while we investigate everything - their licences, where they are getting the goods from." 

Perifort said that, though the community's demands were not xenophobia related, the police were concerned that they could fuel fresh attacks." 

"They want them out as traders. They do not mind if they stay, they just cannot do business. [On Thursday] there was a community meeting that lasted all day to deal with these issues," she said. 

"The police offer a humble request to the community not to take the law into their own hands." 

Three years ago, Ramaphosa's main road was littered with debris from burning shacks.

Mothers fled carrying their children. Police fired rubber bullets at looters, using a nearby bank of post office boxes as a shield. 

In 2008, many locals complained that foreigners were taking their jobs and houses, but today it appears to be all about business. 

Hawkers trading a few metres from where Nhamuave burned to death said they did not want foreigners to trade in the area because their prices were too low. 

"We don't want them here," said Reiger Park resident Allister Swanepoel. "Their businesses are too cheap. 

"Had they not left, the community would have hurt them. Back then it was jobs. Now it is business." 

A Zimbabwean hawker, who would not reveal his name for fear of victimisation, said it was unfair to remove Somalian and Pakistani shop owners and that the root of the problem was that the locals hated competition. 

"These Pakistani shops are now locked up because of this. They employed locals and contributed to fighting unemployment." 

Perifort said the police and tax inspectors were investigating the origins of the goods confiscated from the evicted shop owners. They were also probing allegations of tax dodging. 

"Some have said that we have taken sides. This is not true. If anyone breaks the law, they will be arrested," she said 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article1057167.ece/Foreigners-under-threat 

 

Limpopo Mayor - Taxi For Tender Row

2011-05-08 

 The wife of a prominent Limpopo mayor received a brand new minibus taxi worth almost R300 000 .00 from a company that was awarded a multimillion-rand tender by her husband’s municipality.

Capricorn district municipality mayor, Lawrence Mapoulo, and his wife Dedenkie are embroiled in a taxi-for-tender row after businessman Malope Mogashoa bought Dedenkie a Toyota 

Quantum minibus.

 Lawrence Mapoulo

The minibus was registered in the name of Valobex 93, a close corporation of which Dedenkie Mapoulo is the only member, as at February 11.

Three months earlier, Mogashoa’s Malo-Thabi Civil Construction (Pty) Ltd was awarded a R6m tender for sewerage-pipe installation by the Capricorn municipality.

Lawrence Mapoulo is known to be a staunch supporter of President Jacob Zuma, and is a political ally of both Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale and ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema.

Denial

Mapoulo last week confirmed that his wife received a taxi, but denied that it was a kickback to reward him for giving Mogashoa a tender.

He said his wife was an "“independent businesswoman by right", and had an ongoing business relationship with Mogashoa even before he became mayor.

Mogashoa also says he bought the taxi for Dedenkie Mapoulo because she was his business partner in a company, the name of which he refused to provide.

"I have known Dedenkie for a long time. She is a sub-contractor of another project of mine. She is a partner in the business and if she says: 'Of the money we have made, let us buy a taxi' there is no problem," said Mogashoa.

Neither Mogashoa nor the Mapoulos were willing to provide more details of the "project" Dedenkie Mapoulo was working on for which she was supposedly given the minibus.
An independent search by City Press showed that Mogashoa and Dedenkie Mapoulo were business partners in a company called Limpopo Road Repairs, but that Mapoulo resigned as a director in January last year – long before the water-reticulation tender was awarded.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Mayor-in-taxi-for-tender-row-20110508 

The lid is lifted on another toilet saga

May 7, 2011

ANC-run local municipality has left loos open since 2003 

 OUT IN THE OPEN: A toilet installed in 2004 and left unenclosed in Rammulotsi, outside Viljoenskroon in the Free State

For months, the ANC kicked up a stink over open toilets in the Western Cape - now it appears the ruling party has its own share of shame in this department. 

It has emerged that 1600 toilets, some built as far back as 2003, in parts of the ANC-run Moqhaka local municipality in the Free State have been left uncovered for years. 

Some of the toilets in Rammulotsi, outside Viljoenskroon, are in a state of disrepair. Many have cracked, while pipes have also vanished. 

This situation mirrors the widely publicised toilet saga in Makhaza, Khayelitsha, in the DA-run city of Cape Town. 

On Friday, several toilets in Metampelo section, built in 2004, still stood unenclosed. Many had makeshift covers ranging from rusty corrugated iron sheets to pieces of plastic sheets.

Resident Nomsa Kantweni said she had never used the toilet outside her home. Since it was built in 2004, it stands like an ornament next to the enclosed pit toilet the family use. 

"We have small children. These pit toilets are just not safe to use at all," said Kantweni. "This is not right. We really don't deserve to live like this." 

She said she and two of her immediate neighbours could not afford to enclose their toilets and always assumed that the council would at some stage complete the project. 

Moqhaka municipality's executive mayor, Mantebu Mokgosi, refused to comment and referred questions to acting technical services manager Mike Lelaka. 

Mantebu Mokgosi

Lelaka said the council took a resolution late last year to provide cover for all toilets left unenclosed since 2003. 

"Our audit indicated that there were 1620 toilets which were left unattended to, the so-called open toilets." 

Lelaka said the council had since covered 378 toilets, while another phase of the project would result in a further 200 being covered shortly. 

He said while it would cost the council more than R8-million, it had only R4.2-million available at present. 

R 8-million to enclose toilets??? 

 

"Everything is dependent on funding, but we have approached the departments of water affairs and human settlements. We are still awaiting a response from them." 

In another part of Metampelo section, opposite Mokgosi's house, cement was still drying on the newly built walls around two toilets on Friday. 

Lelaka said those had been recently done as part of the council's second phase in the project.

Resident Maria Mafabatho has tried to cover her toilet using rusted metal sheets as a basic "wall" and a corrugated-iron sheet as a roof. 

She said she still needed bricks and rocks to secure the "roof" in bad weather, because she feared it could tumble over at any time. 

"I tried my best to cover my toilet because I realised that nobody was coming back to complete it," she said. 

Lelaka claims that there was an agreement with residents that the municipality would provide only sanitation and residents would put up the enclosures. 

The Sunday Times has established that a complaint has been laid with the Human Rights Commission over this matter. 

The commission's spokesman, Vincent Moaga, said: "At this stage, the commission is still investigating the matter." 

ANC national spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the party was "not aware" of the existence of open toilets in Rammulotsi. 

"Do you want to tell me that it's the same situation like the one caused by the DA in Makhaza?" he asked. "Whatever the circumstance, it's unacceptable. We will investigate, and whoever is responsible will have to answer. We cannot allow our people to be disrespected like that. 

It's even worse if that's being done by an ANC municipality." 

The High Court in Cape Town last week ordered the city of Cape Town to enclose all open toilets at Makhaza in Khayelitsha, after the ANC Youth League sued on behalf of the 1300 residents who were saddled with the toilets. 

The city was accused of undermining the residents' basic right to dignity by not enclosing the toilets. 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/specialreports/elections2011/article1055734.ece/The-lid-is-lifted-on-another-toilet-saga 

Champagne and Sushi

May 7, 2011

The ANC is seducing voters in Johannesburg's northern suburbs by throwing pool parties and treating them to high tea and sushi platters - and a private viewing of designer Malcolm Kluk's winter collection. 

 

Malcolm Kluk

http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/user/5763 

While Julius Malema and Helen Zille are firing up crowds in mainly poverty-stricken South Africa, the "comrade women" are adding a dash of elegance to the campaign trail ahead of the local government elections. 

"In Soweto, you will have a mass meeting in Thokoza Park. Here you can have high tea at the bowling club or a cocktail function at the Park Hyatt," said Joyce Dube, the ANC candidate in ward 74, which includes one of the country's most affluent suburbs, Melrose, in northern Johannesburg.

Joyce Dube

 

Dube, whose mother, Elizabeth Motloung, used to work in Melrose as a maid, is gearing up for her first shot at public office . 

She said her well-heeled neighbours included former cabinet minister Essop Pahad and businessman Ndaba Ntsele of mining and investment company Pamodzi Holdings. 

                                                              Essop Goolam Pahad

Racist anti-White policies of the South African ANC govt. 

"Don't pee on my leg and tell me its raining" well the same can be said for the blacks " They mustn't have 10 kids and tell me they are poor"

Ndaba Ntsele

Dube kicked off her campaign with a gathering at a trendy Norwood restaurant last week to address some of the country's black diamonds. She roped in tycoon Sello Rasethaba as a guest speaker. 

Sello Rasethaba

 Brett Kebble's Empowerment Partner

"We served sushi, but I promise it was on a platter, not on anyone's body," said Dube, a media and marketing specialist. 

She said she also threw a pool party at her home, adding that her ward was made up of "old and new money" . 

Fellow candidate Slauzy Mogami agrees on the need for a fresh approach to electioneering.

A wealthy businesswoman, Mogami said: "We realised that it cannot be business as usual. We had to look for creative ways of campaigning." 

Slauzy Mogami

In ward 90, which covers the ultra-expensive suburbs of Hyde Park, Sandhurst and Dunkeld, Mogami kicked off with a cocktail function for businesswomen at her home in Sandhurst. 

"I realised that people no longer love red wine as they used to. These days it's champagne." 

On Tuesday, she hosted the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, as a speaker at a breakfast. She served a spread of salmon rolls, fruit kebabs and a hot buffet to about 50 guests at her home. 

Pravin Gordhan

Her neighbours include Airports Company of SA boss Monhla Hlahla and MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa . 

Airports Company of SA boss Monhla Hlahla

 

MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa

Today, she is scheduled to trek to nearby George Lea Park to host a Mother's Day picnic for domestic workers in the area. 

Socialite and business executive Judi Nwokedi is another who hopes to win over voters in her area, known as "The Parks". 

Judi Nwokedi

She has already treated domestic workers to a braai at Zoo Lake and hosted a dinner at swanky Bellagio on Friday night. 

Nwokedi's ward, which includes the suburbs of Parkwood, Parkhurst and Saxonwold (home to the wealthy Gupta family), also arranged a private viewing of designer Malcolm Kluk's winter range on Friday night- with 10% of sales going towards her campaign. 

Today, she is hosting a morning of "coffee and croissants" in Parkhurst, where, among others, Tselane Tambo is expected to attend. 

Tselane Tambo

On Thursday night, the ANC's candidate in ward 73, Nomaswazi Mohlala, mingled with guests at businessman Khehla Mthembu's mansion in Orchards. 

Nomaswazi Mohlal

Mohlala drew about two dozen residents and had her niece, the Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo, as a guest speaker. 

Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo

Part of the evening was dedicated to raising funds to set up an ANC ward office in the area. 

Ward 73 includes the suburbs of Houghton, Killarney, Norwood and Oaklands, and boasts among its residents former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. 

Joe Makhafola, Altech's group executive of corporate affairs and government liaison, signed a cheque for R50000. 

 

Joe Makhafola

Said an impressed guest Malusi Kekana: "Our branches meet at schools in Mawhwelereng. This is advanced."

http://www.timeslive.co.za/specialreports/elections2011/article1055696.ece/Champagne-and-sushi-to-woo-the-wealthy-vote 

Roux Shabangu

 Roux Shabangu

Controversial billionaire Roux Shabangu went from being a mealie meal salesman to one of the country's youngest property moguls. 

The 36-year-old, who has been hogging the headlines over a R500-million government rental deal, says it all started the day he changed his name. 

His father, Johannes "JB" Shabangu, told his children they would inherit property when he died - with the exception of the son called Ngwane. Instead, the boy was asked to change his name to Roux, which he did while he was in matric. And Johannes, who didn't explain why he wanted the change, told his son it would make him millions one day.

Today, Shabangu jnr owns a string of shopping malls worth billions of rands. 

Roux Shabangu And The Land Bank Loot 

The businessman who stands to make a fortune from controversial leasing deals with the police is himself the target of a police investigation into millions of rands that went missing from the Land Bank.

Roux Shabangu, the owner of Roux Property Fund, has been implicated in a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) forensic audit in connection with R10-million "irregularly" paid to him from the bank's contentious AgriBEE fund. The Hawks are investigating money paid to him and others from the Land Bank for projects for which there are few or no records.

The department denies that Shabangu had a mandate at any stage to buy land for the government.

Yet it is the furore following his landing of the R500-million contract last year for the lease of an 18-storey office block in Pretoria's CBD to the South African Police Service that he is probably best known for.

The deal is the subject of two investigations, one by the public protector, and the second as part of a broader probe by the Special Investigating Unit into irregular government leases. 

He revealed he was once a light-heavyweight boxer, with Dingaan Thobela - the "Rose of Soweto" - a regular sparring partner in the '90s.

"Boxing taught me discipline, honesty and to be sharp on your feet," said the father of five. 

Now the former fighter runs Roux Property Development Africa from plush offices in Irene, Pretoria.

His weekend retreat is a 28-bedroom house in Mpumalanga, worth about R20-million.

The house, on a 1200ha farm, boasts an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a lapa that can accommodate 100 people and garages for 12 vehicles.

Shabangu said the fact that he had never been knocked out in his 21 fights had helped to make him a shrewd businessman.

Boxing also gave him a ticket to the world of business. "I wanted to raise money, and boxing was the quickest way to do it without stealing from anyone," he said.

Shabangu grew up in rural Dennilton, in Mpumalanga, but having 20 siblings meant he was forced to earn his keep. 

His father, who had children by five wives, gave each child a plot of land to cultivate while they were still in school in an attempt to teach them to become independent. 

After matriculating in 1993, Shabangu stayed at the YMCA in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, while training with Thobela's manager and trainer, Norman Hlabane. 

His first business venture was a mealie meal distribution outlet in Kwaggafontein. 

When he was 22, the monthly turnover from his mealie meal business was R4-million, which included a net profit of between R1.2- and R1.4-million. 

"To be honest, I made a fortune selling mealie meal." 

Armed with cash, he started snapping up land for development, and soon built his first shopping mall, Matsamo Plaza in Mpumalanga, for R40-million. 

He has built 10 other shopping malls, including the R320-million Jabulani Mall in Soweto and the R300-million Tsakane Mall near Brakpan. 

Other malls under construction include:

• The R110-million Modjadji Mall in Limpopo; and
• The R1.5-billion Mbabane City Mall in Swaziland, which will also boast a casino and hotel.

Shabangu's portfolio includes three office blocks in Pretoria and Durban, and several mining interests, including a share in a diamond mine in Swaziland. 

A staunch Jehovah's Witness, I DOUBT THAT........WITH 5 WIVES!!!!  Shabangu has plans to build a training centre for welders and boilermakers in President Jacob Zuma's village, Nkandla, saying it was a token of appreciation "for having a leader like Zuma, who was able to unite the nation". 

Admitting that he knew Zuma well, Shabangu was reluctant to elaborate on this friendship, simply saying: "But this has nothing to do with Zuma. I am not going to go into that. 

"I am not going to deny that I am politically connected, because one day you are going to see me at a function with ministers." 

But Shabangu vehemently denied signing the R500-million lease with the police commissioner, General Bheki Cele.

"I will pay a million rand to anyone if they can prove that I signed a lease with Bheki Cele." 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article853310.ece/The-roots-and-rise-of-Roux-Shabangu 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article910088.ece/Dodgy-deal--probe-exposes-Shabangu
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article839665.ece/Rouxs-R20m-bungle
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article853311.ece/Public-works-must-pay-up
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article866462.ece/Its-D-day-for-Cele-on-shady-cop-HQ-lease

How Cele drove the deal with Roux Shabangu 

September 30 : Cele issues a directive that he must approve any procurements over R500000.

March 23 2010: He repeats the directive. 

March 24 : Police procurement head Lt-Gen Hamilton Hlela says Cele ordered him in a Boksburg parking lot to move the police top brass to a new building in Pretoria, and to expect a call from the owner. Roux Shabangu calls Hlela to arrange an appointment. 

March 26 : Shabangu takes Hlela for a site inspection of Sanlam Middestad, presenting himself as the owner. No public works officials are present. Later, Lt-Gen Bonang Mgwenya and Lt-Gen Julius Molefe - officials in Cele's office - inform Hlela that Cele wants police units moved to Shabangu's building immediately. 

March 31 : Shabangu gives a presentation to police supply chain managers. Further meetings and a site inspection follow on April 1 and 9. No public works officials are present. 

April 22 : Shabangu writes a letter to the SAPS, confirming two floors of Sanlam Middestad will be made available immediately if Roux Properties receives written confirmation that SAPS will lease the whole building for 10 years. 

May 3: Police supply-chain management boss Lt-Gen Matthews Siwundla informs public works that Cele wants police units and top brass in Sanlam Middestad - the first time police have approached public works about the matter. 

May 10: Cele approves and signs a memo authorising funds for Sanlam Middestad. A needs assessment for the whole building is attached. 

May 14: Hlela and two generals meet public works acting director-general Sam Vukela. Hlela hands Vukela a letter confirming Cele urgently wants office space in Shabangu's building for the World Cup in June. Vukela signs a note agreeing the need is urgent, so no tender is needed. 

June 4: Public works sends Shabangu an approval letter to lease his building for 10 years at R2.7-million a month. 

June 11: Start of World Cup. 

July 5: Shabangu does a presentation on his building to Cele. An extra 20% of space worth R500 000/month is agreed. No public works officials are present. 

July 6: Shabangu buys the building for R220-million. 

July 11: World Cup ends. No one has moved into the building. 

July 13: Shabangu submits a signed lease to public works with handwritten amendments reflecting the inflated rentals. 

July 20: Public works official signs Shabangu's lease. 

July 22: Another official writes to Shabangu to rectify the inflated rentals. 

July 26: SAPS sends public works its revised needs assessment reflecting the inflated rentals, signed by Cele. Public works writes a letter to funders, stating all procurement processes were complied with. 

August 1: Sunday Times reporters Mzilikazi wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter expose the shady deal. 

August 2: A complaint against Cele is laid with the public protector. 

August 3: Cele calls a press conference and insists he did not clinch a deal with Shabangu but merely signed a needs assessment that public works used to procure the building. 

August 4: Wa Afrika is arrested without a warrant at Avusa headquarters in Rosebank, Johannesburg, for what police claim is a fraudulent letter of resignation from Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma. Wa Afrika's house is searched without any search warrant and his computer, notebooks, files and a cellphone are seized. 

August 5: The Public Protector launches an investigation into the deal, joined later by the Special Investigating Unit. 

August 5: Prosecutor says there is insufficient evidence to prosecute. 

August 6: After Wa Afrika spends a night being interrogated by police in Mpumalanga, the Sunday Times brings an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court. Judge Johan Kruger orders his release with these words: ''One minute spent in custody is one minute too much." 

August 16: Public works minister Geoff Doidge suspends the lease, based on a damning legal opinion by Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr. 

September 7: The National Prosecuting Authority provisionally withdraws the charges against Wa Afrika. 

October 31: President Jacob Zuma fires Doidge, replacing him with Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde. 

November 22: Public works receives a second legal opinion, by senior counsel Pat Ellis, which says the lease is unlawful. Public works tells funders the lease will be honoured. 

December 7: Mahlangu-Nkabinde reinstates the lease. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa says Cele has been "vindicated". 

January 21 2011: Sanlam Middestad is registered in the name of Roux Property Fund. In a written submission, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan tells the public protector the lease must be reviewed, and this could include initiating "criminal prosecution". He stresses the lease should not have been signed with Shabangu before he had actually bought the building. 

February 22: Public Protector Thuli Madonsela releases her report which finds Cele guilty of maladministration as well as "improper and unlawful" conduct. 

February 24: Cele calls another press conference and tries to pass the buck, blaming public works and his former deputy, Hlela, who was a key witness in the public protector's and SIU investigation. 

Shabangu Exposed