Finance minister Nicolas Kazadi has allegedly contracted a debt of $1.5 billion from South Africa to partly pay-off the purchase of 300 dump trucks in what sources say is another of the many financial scandals out of Kinshasa under President Felix Tshisekedi’s leadership.
According to a report from Kinshasa, Kazadi has completed the $1.5 billion funding facility which some government officials claim will benefit the Democratic of Congo.
The deal was signed and orchestrated through collaboration with a Mr. Robert Gumede, a businessman with very close to the South African ruling party – the African National Congress.
The terms and conditions of the loan facility remain unknown, but officials in government say it was executed in total violation of the budget law as it was not approved by the Congolese parliament.
Kazadi, acting with his fraudster cousin Nozy Muamba – a well known shady dealer who was arrested in South Africa for issuing counterfeit currency – have used an address in the South African business structure.
Mwamba is not new to fraudulent activities as he was also arrested in Johannesburg in 2010 after being placed on an international arrest warrant. He allegedly facilitated the Congolese oil rights co-owned by the Moseneke family’s Encha Group and the Divine Inspiration Group of South African businesswoman Andrea Brown serving as a consultant to Divine Inspiration.
Swollen debt under the eyes of the IMF
Since Kazadi’s arrival as Head of the Ministry of Finance, experts have noted that the Democratic Republic of Congo is engaged in a new path of perilous debt. The fall in cobalt prices may be particularly detrimental to the health of the finances and the repayment capacity of the country. In this new loan that inflates the Congolese sovereign debt. Observers are concerned that there is a complacent attitude by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other donors as Congolese officials steal from national coffers. The practices of the Congolese Finance Minister have been brought into question as they lack the most basic tenets of good governance, transparency and accountability.
Kazadi is the only one responsible
Initially, the file of South African financing was supported by former Budget Minister François Muamba, who now holds an eminent position as advisor in charge of economic strategies for the Presidency of the Republic. The project funded by South Africa includes several components, including USD 450 million for reference hospitals, USD 500 million for agriculture all of which will need an electricity service in return. Four months, Nicolas Kazadi invited the sectoral ministers of Health, Agriculture, Infrastructure and the plan relating to the use of the funding was hatched at the Congo River Hotel. Faced with the reluctance of his colleagues, Nicolas Kazadi finally resolved not to involve them in his program.
Trucks… made of concrete
Thus, 300 Chinese trucks were acquired on this line of credit. These machines do not meet the technical specifications and requirements of civil engineering work. In order to cover the irregularities of the operation, Kazadi instructed the supplier to paint the effigy of Félix Tshisekedi on the doors of the dump trucks. When the machines arrived, neither the Presidency of the Republic nor any ministry had been brought up to speed with the secret of the operation. To the great displeasure of the presidency, the handling invoice for the delivery of the 300 vehicles was sent to him by the importer. Not knowing that he had ordered the trucks, the Chief of Staff of the Head of State immediately got hold of Kazadi to find out what he was doing. Made aware of the funding from South Africa, the Presidency of the Republic has decided to endorse the importation of vehicles under the guise of the PDL-145 territories program, which is the project to ensure the re-election of the President for his second term. It is therefore in the most perfect improvisation that these 300 dump trucks have been acquired and will have to be transported to 145 territories at the rate of two machines per territory.
The thorny question of the management of the tank was asked. In the absence of an appropriate government entity, the issue has not yet been resolved. The scheme by the Ministry of Finance is now to force all companies that have obtained contracts in the PDL-145 program to rent the machinery imported by the government. After the 100 days scandal, RAM, Tshilejelu and so many other programs that have failed, a new way of embezzlement and corruption that has just been discovered by Kazadi
