The Sunday Times has reported that ‘friends’ of president Jacob Zuma, Kenny Kunene and Gayton McKenzie, have been linked to a R5 billion BEE deal with Russian firm Rosgeo.<\/p>\n
Former convicts, Kunene and McKenzie have an \u201cincreasingly cozy relationship\u201d with the president, the paper reported.<\/p>\n
It alleged that Kunene and McKenzie travelled to Russia recently, along with security minister David Mahlobo, to discuss a R5 billion gas deal with the Russian state geological company.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, state-owned PetroSA announced it had clinched a $400 million (R5.3 billion) deal with Rosgeo to drill for gas off the southern coast of South Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project envisages extraction of up to 4 million cubic metres of gas daily. This will subsequently be delivered to the gas-to-liquids refinery in Mossel Bay,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The Sunday Times reported that Kunene and McKenzie were introduced to Rosgeo CEO Panov as potential BEE partners by Mahlobo in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cMahlobo has been running around and organising deals for Kunene and McKenzie,” it said.<\/p>\n
ANC insiders told the paper that Kunene and McKenzie have access to \u201cthe big house\u201d \u2013 Zuma\u2019s official residence.<\/p>\n
According to the Sunday Times, McKenzie and Kunene are said to be the ‘masterminds’ behind e-mails published in the Sunday Independent allegedly showing that deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa was having a string of affairs.<\/p>\n
Gayton McKenzie will fight allegations that he is a \u201cnew Gupta\u201d with \u201cevery legal means at [his] disposal\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not a Gupta, new or old,\u201d McKenzie declared in a statement released on Sunday after the Sunday Times for the second week running carried stories that McKenzie, a controversial businessman and leader of the Patriotic Alliance, and his friend Kenny Kunene stand to benefit from a cosy relationship with President Jacob Zuma in a way similar to that of the Guptas.<\/p>\n
This week the Sunday Times reported that McKenzie and Kunene stood to benefit as BEE partners to a Russian company in a multibillion-rand gas deal.<\/p>\n
McKenzie denies these, and other allegations levelled against him and pointed out that he does not do business with the state or any SOE\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing labelled a \u2018Gupta\u2019 is possibly the most defamatory label that can currently be attached to a person in South Africa, but that goes 100-fold for anyone who is in business or politics, and I am in both,\u201d read McKenzie\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is that the name \u2018Gupta\u2019 has become a swearword and a curse in South Africa. The Guptas are not even able to hold a bank account. They lost their JSE sponsor. They have been forced to sell their businesses simply because of the profound hostility towards them in the South African context. Which sane human being would want to be a Gupta in South Africa? You may as well shoot yourself in the head, it would be less painful,\u201d said McKenzie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI therefore take huge exception to Kenny and I being called the \u2018new Guptas\u2019. The danger of this to my reputation is so profound it risks my entire livelihood and the thousands of people who rely on the success of my businesses. I will not leave the label unchallenged.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKenzie believes he is the victim of a smear campaign by \u201cthose who want Cyril Ramaphosa to be the next president of South Africa [and] are very upset by the leaks that emerged of all the deputy president\u2019s many extramarital affairs\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have blamed Kenny and me for this, but I had nothing to do with those leaks, and as far as I know Kenny only published the videos of one of Cyril\u2019s girlfriends after he was sent that footage, which was also sent to many other people in the media,\u201d said McKenzie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI refuse to be turned into a weapon in the ANC\u2019s factional wars. People think I am an easy target because of my criminal past, which I\u2019ve never tried to hide from.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI obviously don\u2019t fit the \u2018acceptable mould\u2019 of the black businessman in South Africa. Not only do I not criticise Zuma, I admire the man openly. That doesn\u2019t make me his \u201cpal\u201d, it merely means I hold a contrary view to the mainstream media,\u201d reads McKenzie\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy trouble with the media clearly started the moment I wrote an opinion piece questioning the agenda of the anti-Zuma cabal. But I will not change my political opinions simply because of bad press.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a fight on their hands,\u201d warned McKenzie. \u201cI shall fight these groundless attacks with every legal means at my disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by\u00a0News24<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
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