A Pretoria weapons dealer has won an interim interdict against the military hours after Defence Intelligence and Military Police officials seized a container of weapons intended for demonstration purposes.
The weapons, worth around R15 million, were seized at the Walmansthal Special Forces military base outside Pretoria on Wednesday.
This was done without a search warrant and apparently on the basis of concerns around national security and that the weapons might be used in an attempted coup d’état by forces the military described as “Boeremag” – claims that the owners of the weapons said in court papers were “slanderous”
In seeking the urgent interdict against the military, Johan Erasmus, operations manager of the Armscor-vetted and registered military importer and exporter New Generation Ammunition (NGAM) – which is 80 percent black owned – alleged the seizure of his weapons consignment was merely the latest in a series of moves by “shadowy interests” in the SANDF to put the company out of business.
The long-term goal, Erasmus believes, is to hijack the company’s potentially lucrative agency agreements with Bulgarian weapons manufacturers.
Erasmus’s contract with the Bulgarians is to run until 2015. A multimillion-rand contract for rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) to be used by SANDF special forces is in the pipeline, however, and Erasmus alleges that “shadowy interests” in the SANDF and their private sector partners have moved to edge him out and hijack his business.
The seizure of the weapons followed the lodging of substantial papers in a North Gauteng High Court application in which NGAM names Special Forces procurement officer Colonel DB Smit as first respondent and traces a long history of alleged moves to sabotage the company’s business.
Erasmus highlights the following allegations in the court papers:
* That a consignment of weapons, brought in before a demonstration for the SANDF infantry, had been sealed for some months in Luanda after Department of Defence officials and the SANDF failed to accredit it, although the paperwork authenticating the import was incontrovertibly in place.
This was the same consignment that was seized on Wednesday.
* That an earlier contract for RPGs was hindered by Armscor, which held up for longer than a year, allegedly without legal basis, the issuing of an irrevocable letter of credit authorising payment for the material. The tender agreement specified this was to have been within 30 days. Smit was allegedly involved in this process.
Erasmus is pursuing litigation to claim back on losses incurred through this delay.
* That while accompanying Erasmus on a trip to Bulgaria to inspect weaponry for potential purchase, Smit – undertaking the trip as a representative of the SANDF logistics department – held a series of side meetings with the Bulgarian manufacturers apparently aimed at securing a deal that would cut Erasmus out.
* That, back in SA, Smit was instrumental in securing Armscor accreditation for a new company, ATL Atlantic SA Technology. Although it did not have experience in the SA weapons procurement environment, this company was invited to tender on behalf of the Bulgarian suppliers for a still-pending multimillion-rand contract for a consignment of RPGs for Special Forces.
* ATL Atlantic SA Technology is fronted by Eytan Nevo, an Israeli with dual SA citizenship, who also serves as head of security for Bidvest Bank’s operation at OR Tambo International Airport.
In his response to the seizure of his weapons, Erasmus also alleges that the head of the Special Forces base at Walmansthal, a Colonel Mudau, is slotted to be drafted as defence adviser to the SA embassy in Bulgaria.
The SANDF has 30 days to give reasons why the interdict, granted by the North Gauteng High Court with costs, should not be made final. - Pretoria News