Court interdict after military seizes weapons
A PRETORIA weapons dealer won an interim interdict against the SA military in the North Gauteng High Court last night after officials from Defence Intelligence and the Military Police yesterday seized a container filled with weapons intended to be used by his company for demonstration purposes.
The weapons, worth around R15 million, were attached at the Wallmansthal Special Forces military base outside Pretoria yesterday. The attaching of the weapons was effected without a search warrant, apparently on the basis of concerns around national security and the possibility of the weapons allegedly being used in a coup d’etat by forces the military described as “Boeremag” – claims which the owners of the weapons describe in court papers as “slanderous”.
But in seeking an urgent interdict against the military yesterday, Johan Erasmus, operations manager of the Armscor-vetted and registered military importer/exporter New Generation Ammunition – which is 80 percent black owned – claimed the seizure of his weapons consignment was merely the latest in a series of moves by “shadowy interests” in the SANDF to put NGAM out of business.
The application was made on the basis of intelligence received that the weapons were to have been destroyed ahead of being used in a demonstration planned for early June.
But the long-term goal, Erasmus believes, is to hijack the company’s potentially lucrative agency agreements with Bulgarian weapons man-
Goal is to hijack agreement with Bulgarian arms company
ufacturers. Erasmus’s contract with the Bulgarians is due to run until 2015, but with a multimillion-rand contract for rocket propelled grenades (RPGS) to be used by SANDF Special Forces currently in the pipeline, he claims “shadowy interests in the SANDF and their private sector partners have moved to edge him out and hijack his business for themselves”.
The seizure of the weapons followed the lodging of substantial court papers before the North Gauteng High Court in which NGAM – picking out Special Forces procurement officer Colonel DB Smit as first respondent – traces a long history of alleged moves to discredit and otherwise harm the company’s business.
Among other issues, Erasmus highlights the following in the court application:
That the same seized consignment – brought in ahead of a demonstration exercise for the SANDF’S infantry – had earlier been sealed for some months in Luanda after Department of Defence officials and the SANDF had failed to accredit it despite the fact that paperwork authenticating the import was incontrovertibly in place.
That around an earlier contract for RPGS, Armscor – with Special Forces’ Smit integrally involved in the process – held up, allegedly without legal basis, the issuing of an irrevocable letter of credit authorising payment for the material for longer than a year, whereas the tender agreement specified this was to have been within 30 days.
Erasmus is currently in litigation to claim back on losses incurred in the delay.
That while accompanying him on a trip to Bulgaria to inspect weaponry for potential purchase, Smit (there as a representative of the logistics department of the SANDF) held a series of side meetings with the Bulgarian manufacturers apparently aimed at securing a deal that would cut Erasmus out.
That, back in South Africa, Smit was instrumental in securing Armscor accreditation for a new company ATL Atlantic SA Technology, which despite having no experience in the South African weapons procurement environment, was invited to tender on behalf of the Bulgarian suppliers in a new and still pending multi-millionrand tender for a new consignment of RPGS for Special Forces.
ATL Atlantic SA Technology is fronted by one Eytan Nevo, an Israeli with dual South African citizenship, who also serves as head of security for Bidvest Bank’s security operation at OR Tambo International Airport.
In his response to the seizure of his weapons, Erasmus also claims that the head of the Special Forces base at Wallmansthal, a certain Colonel Mudau, is slotted to be drafted as defence adviser to the South African embassy in Bulgaria.
The SANDF has 30 days to respond to the interdict – which was delivered with costs payable to the applicant.