ICT

Naspers and the trail of Mugabe’s blood money

Mandy de Waal digs into a Mugabe contract Caxton turned away – but Naspers grabbed for a subsidiary part funded by the Gates Foundation.

As Naspers prepared to release its financial results this week a small story skidded under South Africa's media lens and fell through the grates. The story was about one of Naspers' subsidiaries, Paarl Web, which printed millions of rands worth of electioneering pamphlets for Robert Mugabe's ZanuPF party.

Business Day ran a minor snippet on the story in its "The Insider" column in which it says that the print job was originally destined for CTP Caxton, which passed up on the deal after Chairman Fredrick van zyl Slabbert, threatened to resign if the printer went ahead. This after it had already received a R3m deposit from the Zimbabwean Central Bank.

A similar story ran in the international media a week back which focused on WPP subsidiary, Imago Y&R, recreating Robert Mugabe's election campaign. One of the largest ad agencies in the world, WPP expressed outrage when it heard the news with CEO Sir Martin Sorrell ordering the immediate divestiture of the 25% share held in the Zimbabwean based subsidiary. At the time spokesperson Bernard Barnett of Y&R was quoted in the London Times saying: "This is a disgraceful regime and we want no connection between Y&R and it."

Back in South Africa, the market anticipates good numbers from Naspers Limited (JSE: NPN) (LSE: NPSN) when it announces its results at 09h00 tomorrow (Wednesday 25 June 2008). According to a trading statement issued by the group, earnings per share is expected to be between 35% and 45% higher, with headline earnings forecast up between 20% and 30%.

The Cape Town based multinational media company enjoys global reach with operations that span sub-Saharan Africa, China, Russia, central and eastern Europe, the Netherlands, Brazil, the United States and Thailand. One would think that a scandal that links Napers' brand to Robert Mugabe would reach the highest echelons, capturing the attention of top leadership eager to protect the global reputation of the firm.

My first call to get conformation of the story was to Naspers' head of Investor Relations Meloy Horn who informed me she was unaware of the story but would investigate and revert back to me within an hour.

Seven hours later she would not confirm whether Paarl Media did in fact print the ZanuPF pamphlets, nor would she confirm that Paarl Media is a subsidiary of Naspers. She advised that the story: "Was not a head office issue" and that I would need to speak to Stephen van der Walt, Paarl Media's CEO.

His cellphone was off so I called his office where I was advised to speak to Paarl Media's Gauteng division, Paarl Web. The product of a BEE partnership between Paarl Media Group and loveLife!'s Kurisani Investments, Paarl Web's stakeholders include the US-based Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the South African Government, while the printer's BEE partners receive their major funding from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

At Paarl Web I first spoke to Press Manager Kevin Wright who issued a terse "no comment" and put the phone down on me. This was followed by a call to Jandré de Milander, MD of Paarl Web who advised me that the job was briefed to them by an existing South African client and that they were paid in South African rands for the job.

He refused to name his client citing that he had signed a confidentiality agreement. When asked what he felt about Paarl Web doing work for Mugabe's regime he answered: "It is irrelevant what my feelings now are. This has nothing to do with you. Is ZanuPF a terrorist organization? Why shouldn't we do business with them? I have nothing further to say to you. I can't give you any further comment."

Finally I spoke to Stephen van der Walt, CEO of the Paarl Media Group who asked that I strike all previous comments from the record, as those contacted were not part of the communications team.

Van der Walt confirmed that the print job had been given to them by an existing client. That an up front deposit was requested as the job exceeded the client's credit limit with Paarl Media. Van der Walt maintains that the quoting and the briefing on the job were done blind without the sales person or production team viewing the material in question. He went on to say that the job was then slotted into their digital production process without anyone seeing what the job was.

"I want to state categorically that we did not know at all that it was a ZanuPF job. It was printed inadvertently at Paarl Gauteng, which is part of our group. We had no interface with ZanuPF, we never received payment from ZanuPF and we have no relationship with anyone from ZanuPF. Mugabe's party placed the order, provided for it and paid for it through a South African company which is our client," said van der Walt.

Van der Walt went on to explain that the only screening policy the printing group has is against pornography which is easily identifiable. He refused to name the client but stated he would try and raise the client, to get their permission to be named or interviewed. At the time of going to press this information was yet forthcoming. When asked whether his group would do business with this client again he stated: "It would be doubtful under these circumstances. It is unlikely that we will be doing business with them again."

While this story missed local headlines, there were other stories that didn't. They include Mugabe stepping up violence, Morgan Tsvangirai seeking refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare following his withdrawal from the run-off elections, ZanuPF youth militia attacking MDC supporters, together with daily stories of the murder, torture, rape and abduction of ZanuPF opposition. This as Mugabe's stranglehold 28-year rule shrinks the Zimbabwean economy for 10th year and inflation reaches 355 000 percent.

When it is all over for Zimbabwe and the terrible losses are counted, one wonders whether there will be an international tribunal or court of law that will hold those who buoyed Mugabe's rule accountable for contributing to his reign of terror. Whether there will be a forensic investigation into the trail of blood money that has links Mugabe to companies willing to make a quick buck from his violent rule. And, whether a tribunal would consider ignorance as a justifiable defence.

• A former broadcast journalist Mandy de Waal spent twenty years in branding marketing before returning to her first love, journalism. Read Artificial Intelligence, her blog on new media, current affairs and business at: http://mdw.typepad.com/

Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mandyldewaal 

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