The Sunday Times of South Africa yesterday carried this story (you may need to be patient waiting for the link to take effect):
Two of the ANC’s most powerful officials travelled to Iraq with a controversial Johannesburg businessman just weeks before he landed a R1.2-billion state oil deal.
Sandi Majali is one of about 270 people around the world who have been named in an alleged sanctions-busting scam involving oil from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The names appeared in Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organisation documents found after the fall of Saddam.
Majali, 41, who heads the media-shy empowerment company Imvume Resources, has for the past two weeks been reluctant to talk about his business dealings.
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The Sunday Times has established that Majali had close ties with former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and senior members of the ANC.Majali accompanied ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and the party’s treasurer-general, Mendi Msimang, to the Middle East from November 9 to 17 2001. Just two weeks later, on December 1, the Iraqi government allocated Majali’s company two million barrels of oil.
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The Sunday Times has uncovered several overseas trips on which Majali accompanied Motlanthe and Msimang. Imvume also paid a R40 000 bill in July 2002 for the ANC to host a dinner in Johannesburg for Aziz, who was in South Africa as a special guest of Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
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Msimang… said that Majali, “like all those who have the interests of the country at heart”, had made “contributions” to the ANC, although Motlanthe denied any knowledge of any such contributions.
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Majali was drawn into controversy in 2001 when a Swiss company, Glencor International, was ordered to pay the United Nations $3-million for violating sanctions on Iraq. Glencor’s South African partner at the time was Montega Trading, headed by Majali.Throughout these controversial dealings Majali has enjoyed close ties with Motlanthe and Msimang.
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Motlanthe this week confirmed that he had accompanied Majali to Iraq at least twice. “My job as the ANC secretary-general is to do party-to-party negotiations to strengthen our relationships with other parties.“We had a good relationship with the Baath party in Iraq.”
(Hat tip: DF.)