Community 'basically tricked' into signing R10m 'agency fee'

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Comrades fleece poor villagers
Community 'basically tricked' into signing R10m 'agency fee'
Dec 19, 2009 11:24 PM | By Rob Rose

The Sunday Times has seen a contract struck on November 22 last year between a leader of the Baphalane ba Mantserre community and five "agents", which shows how members of the ruling party alliance solicited kickbacks from the vulnerable rural community.

According to the contract, the five agents were represented by Taurock, a company owned by businessman and ANC benefactor Aubrey Tau, and included the Limpopo arm of the ANC Youth League, the SA Communist Party, the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans' Association (MKMVA) and the ANC Women's League.

The deal was to give the agents 50% of the proceeds of the R26-million mining deal with German metals company Cronimet - a handy R10-million after deducting expenses.

The community leader's lawyer says his client was "basically tricked" into signing the agreement.

The "agency agreement" implies that politicians should get money for restoring the community's land rights.

It says the agents, "through various means at their several and collective disposal, assisted the community in restoring such rights to them so as to enable them to lawfully and profitably alienate the said rights for the benefit of the whole community".

Tau's lawyer Andries Nkome claims this deal was never implemented, and was replaced by a new agreement with just the MKMVA and the ANC Women's League from North West.

This revelation incensed community members, who believed they had struck a lucrative deal last year to set up a chrome mining company with Cronimet that would benefit the community - not fatten the wallets of politicians.

Lemi Monene, one of the members of the community, said: "We had no idea that the ANC or these political parties were involved here, and now it emerges they are due to get half the money. For what?"
Cronimet was surprised when approached. In written answers to queries, Cronimet SA said it was unaware of any political party involvement in the deal.

"Cronimet has at no time entered into any negotiations with ANC groups, the SACP, Umkhonto weSizwe or any other political entities, nor have these entities ever provided any services of whatsoever nature to Cronimet," it said.

It added that "there were no negotiations with Mr Tau or Taurock" and was also "not aware of the agency agreement or other agreements entered into between the Baphalane community or its trust with any other legal entities whilst negotiating" the deal.

The "agency agreement" describes the fee as an "agency fee", but it does not say what the ANC Youth League, the SACP, Women's League or MKMVA did for this money.

These details emerged because the community "only paid" R2.5-million to Taurock, as confirmed by bank statements in the Sunday Times's possession.

Taurock sent a letter of demand to the community demanding "the balance due to our client, in the sum of R7.5-million".

But Nhlanganiso Fesi, the lawyer representing the community, said the rest of the money was not paid to Taurock precisely because some of the trustees of the community's money became uncomfortable with the involvement of the political parties.

"We did not understand the legal basis for giving them money, so that was one of the reasons why this payment was disputed by the other trustees. The community also said we should oppose it," Fesi said.

The Sunday Times met Tau this week, but his attorney Nkome said "this letter of demand was withdrawn".

But he said a new deal was struck and the details were "confidential".

Tau admitted signing the "agency agreement" with a community leader that committed to share the R10-million with the political parties, but said it was redrafted.

Nkome said there were "mistakes" in the agreement - such as referring to the Limpopo ANC and SACP structures when the community was actually based in North West - and the new deal only involved the ANC Women's League and the MKMVA.

Again, he said this new deal was "confidential", and would not provide a copy to the Sunday Times. But Fesi said he did not know of a new deal.

Tau is adamant that of the R2.5-million he was paid by the community only the ANC Women's League and the MKMVA from the North West benefited.

In a later meeting, he described the ANC Women's League and MKMVA as "beneficiaries" of his "donations".

Alfred Motsi, the chairman of the North West arm of the MKMVA, said the initial "agency agreement" was redrafted partly because he was not consulted on the deal.

"We didn't sign that first agreement. We also felt that paying 50% to the agents was too high, when the community was supposed to get most of the benefit," he said.

When asked why the first deal was done, which agreed to give a large chunk of the proceeds from the Cronimet cash to those ANC structures, Nkome said: "The community wanted it that way. We were led by the villagers, and they wanted to look after these political parties as a village. They wanted the ANC to benefit because they belong to the ANC and they love it."

Sub-chief DS Ramakoka, who signed the deal agreeing to give R10-million to the political parties, referred questions to Fesi, who described Ramako's decision as a "spur of the moment thing".

"He was under pressure and was basically tricked into signing it, but he realised later he had committed a serious breach of governance," Fesi said.

But there are mixed messages from the community. Paul Marakalla, the chairman of the Baphalane board of trustees, said that the community had indeed wanted to give something back to the political groups.

"They did a very good job for us together with Aubrey," he said, without specifying what exactly the job was.

When asked what these politicians did, Nkome deferred questions to the MKMVA and Women's League.

The MKMVA's Motsi said his organisation did not negotiate with Cronimet, but assisted in rooting out illegal mining in the Baphalane ba Mantserre community generally.

Lina Miga, the ANC Women's League general secretary for North West, said: "We (worked) together with MKMVA to ensure the people in this area benefit ... If there is anyone who says we haven't done much, what we know is we have done a lot."
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article238136.ece