ZANU PF’s ‘bread & butter’ Bredenkamp still in custody

By Violet Gonda

24 July 2006

Businessman and close Zanu PF associate John Bredenkamp was arrested after returning to Zimbabwe. According to news reports, Bredenkamp was picked up from his Thetford Estate outside Harare early Friday morning. He was said to have been taken to Harare Central where he was interviewed by the fraud squad, before being transferred to a suburban police station, Rhodesville.

The businessman, who is believed to be one of the richest people in Africa, was entitled to apply for bail at the magistrates court in Harare but failed. Journalist Peta Thornicroft told us the courts are paralysed due to the economic situation and with no fuel and no transport Bredenkamp remained in custody.

He is allegedly being probed on allegations of flouting exchange control regulations, tax evasion and contravening the Citizenship Act. It’s been reported that Bredenkamp had more than one passport - a Zimbabwean passport expiring in 2013, a South African passport expiring in 2011 and a Dutch passport.

The state mouthpiece – The Herald Newspaper - reported early last month that the National Economic Conduct Inspectorate (NECI) raided Bredenkamp’s companies to investigate cases linked to economic crimes.

The arrest has surprised many as the mogul was regarded as a major financial supporter to the Mugabe regime. He is also well known as a key collaborator and business associate of many heavyweights in the ruling Zanu PF, like Emmerson Mnangagwa, and is believed to have in the past been spared scrutiny because of these links.

Reacting to the investigations on Bredenkamp last month foreign journalist Andy Meldrum said; “He was involved in many business deals, many arms sales with government contracts in the DRC - at the time of the Zimbabwe arms involvement in the DRC, and also involved in trying to broker a land agreement between some white farmers and the government about three to four years ago.”

Before aligning himself with the Mugabe regime, Bredenkamp was reportedly involved in sanctions busting for the Smith regime in return for a highly profitable concession to smuggle tobacco out of Rhodesia. Rhodesia also had an arms embargo but Meldrum said this did not deter Bredenkamp; “When he became adapt at evading international sanctions he then learnt that instead of selling tobacco you could do much better – according to reports – if you sold international arms.”

Soon after independence in 1980 Bredenkamp is said to have switched horses and became an associate of Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF.

Educated at Prince Edward School in Harare, he is estimated to have a personal fortune of over £440 million. A few years ago he was listed in the UK Sunday Times as having one of the largest fortunes in Britain.

But despite being one of those believed to have kept the Mugabe regime in power it seems his days of living in style in Zimbabwe are numbered.

Observers say he is probably being targeted now because of his close links with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the ZANU PF chef who is considered to have lost favour with the party’s top officials.

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