The dealer, the soccer boss and the 20-year riddle

CONVICTED drug dealer Vijay “Vicky” Goswami says soccer boss Irvin Khoza must explain what really happened to Soweto businessman Robert “Rocks” Dlamini, who disappeared without trace almost 20 years ago.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times in Kenya on Tuesday, Goswami washed his hands of the matter and put the ball in Khoza’s court.

“Rocks disappeared while on his way to meet Irvin. It is documented and I wasn’t even in South Africa when it all happened. Khoza must explain what happened to Rocks.

“I never asked Irvin what happened to Rocks because it’s none of my business,” Goswami said, while chain-smoking in a holding cell in the Mombasa High Court, where he appeared when he was arrested after a drug bust on November 9.

This was the first interview Goswami has given in 20 years. The Sunday Times had spent more than 15 years trying to get him to talk, without any luck.

“I gave a full statement to the South African authorities about what I know about the matter. I have nothing to do with Rocks’s disappearance.”

A source close to the original investigation confirmed that police had interviewed Goswami

HIGH LIFE: Vicky Goswami poses with Nelson Mandela about his drug trafficking and Dlamini’s disappearance.

Recordings and transcripts of these interviews have been archived. A crack team of detectives was put on the Dlamini case, travelling to Dubai to interview Goswami in prison.

But the source believes Goswami still has questions to answer. “It was getting hot for Goswami in South Africa because of the drugs and the Rocks Dlamini matter. That’s why he fled,” he said.

“Rocks did disappear — and someone doesn’t just disappear like that.”

Dlamini vanished on April 6 1995. His family claim he was on his way to meet Khoza to collect R1.5-million owed to him by Goswami. Khoza was apparently acting as a mediator for Goswami.

Yesterday Khoza, the chairman of Orlando Pirates and the Premier Soccer League, broke