By Manraaj Singh,
First published on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
First published on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
When Robert Mugabe invaded and looted the Congo, he killed Zimbabwe's economy - and accidentally started a chain of events that are set to benefit investors as well as the Congolese people. Let me explain...
Another day and the crisis in Zimbabwe deepens. Yesterday, the United Nations passed a resolution "regretting" the election violence in Zimbabwe, opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has taken sanctuary in the Dutch embassy, and dear Robert Gabriel Mugabe seems determined to steam-roll ahead to "victory". It's a sorry state of affairs in a once-promising country...
Now if you get your news from the mainstream media, you would probably think that the whole political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe started began when Mugabe and his supporters began seizing white-owned farms as part of his land-redistribution "reforms" in 2000.
To understand what's really going on in that blighted country, though, you actually have to go back a little further, to 1996 - the year that Mugabe sent Zimbabwean troops into the Congo. That set-off a chain of events that has plunged this once-prosperous country into chaos, but it also opened-up a massive profit opportunity in the Congo for savvy investors. Let me explain...
In 1996, with a civil war raging in the supposedly Democratic Republic of Congo, Robert Mugabe sent in thousands of Zimbabwean troops to prop-up the tottering regime of the country's erstwhile president, Laurent Kabila. In return, Mugabe and his cronies were given access to the enormously rich mining region of southern Congo.
It was a fabulously profitable adventure for Mugabe and his cronies who made a fortune looting the mines and selling arms to the Congolese government. But the cost of the military operation destabilised the Zimbabwean economy. Inflation skyrocketed; and with casualties mounting and the country's health system collapsing, the majority of Zimbabweans opposed the war. On the streets and in the villages, the one-time independence hero began to be mockingly referred to as "King Robert". So, Mugabe and his cronies hit on a brilliantly simple idea to win back popular support - land reform.
With about 4000 white families controlling the majority of the country's most fertile land, something was bound to happen at some point. But the timing of Mugabe's move and the way in which it was carried out was all about shoring-up support for his increasingly unpopular regime. I'm not going to focus on Mugabe and his land "reforms" though. Instead let's go back to the Congo - because that's where the old tyrant has opened-up a massive profit opportunity for us.
You see, when Mugabe sent his troops into the Congo, among the biggest beneficiaries were two of his white Zimbabwean business cronies: Billy Rautenbach and John Bredenkamp.
You might actually recognise Bredenkamp's name. Thanks to the
wonderful non-dom policy in this country, he used to appear on the
Times Rich List. In 2002, he appeared at number 33, with a personal net
worth of £720 million. He owned an estate in Berkshire and a townhouse
in Chester Square, just a stone's throw away from Margaret Thatcher's
house.
Bredenkamp once captained the Rhodesian Rugby team and married a former Miss South Africa. He made his fortune in the tobacco-broking business with his firm Casalee, and gained a reputation for his skill at avoiding the international sanctions on Rhodesian tobacco. He also helped the Rhodesian government break sanction to purchase arms for use against Robert Mugabe's African nationalist movement. But it didn't take long for him to build friendly ties with the Mugabe regime once it came into power. In fact, Bredenkamp gained a bit of a reputation as Mugabe's "white svengali".
Bredenkamp was named by a UN report investigating the exploitation of Congo's mines by Zimbabwean interest and was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office here in the UK during their investigation of arms company BAE (formerly British Aerospace). Bredenkamp was BAE's agent in southern Africa and is said to have received huge kickbacks for his efforts...
The other great crony-in-chief was Zimbabwean businessman, Billy Rautenbach. Rautenbach is a former race-car driver and transport magnate and he's now wanted for fraud in South Africa. But in the late 90's, Mugabe arranged for him to be appointed chairman of the Congo's state-run mining company.
That put him in an excellent position to engage in a bit of asset-stripping with some of the most lucrative mines in the Congo ending-up in his pocket. Crucially, for us, that broke the Congolese government's monopoly on the mining industry - and other firms have since stepped-in.
That's where our next Profit Hunter recommendation comes in. You see, following the end of the Congo's civil war, this company took advantage of the changes in the country's mining regime to secure control of mining assets that could be worth up to £128 billion! Right now, though, this company has only got a market capitalisation of about £1.38 billion - so the profit potential here is huge.
We're now getting ready to release our latest Profit Hunter recommendation. And its going to give you a chance to get your hands on a slice of the Congo's incredible mineral wealth without having to go marching in at the head of an army or running the risk of UN sanctions.
Bredenkamp once captained the Rhodesian Rugby team and married a former Miss South Africa. He made his fortune in the tobacco-broking business with his firm Casalee, and gained a reputation for his skill at avoiding the international sanctions on Rhodesian tobacco. He also helped the Rhodesian government break sanction to purchase arms for use against Robert Mugabe's African nationalist movement. But it didn't take long for him to build friendly ties with the Mugabe regime once it came into power. In fact, Bredenkamp gained a bit of a reputation as Mugabe's "white svengali".
Bredenkamp was named by a UN report investigating the exploitation of Congo's mines by Zimbabwean interest and was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office here in the UK during their investigation of arms company BAE (formerly British Aerospace). Bredenkamp was BAE's agent in southern Africa and is said to have received huge kickbacks for his efforts...
The other great crony-in-chief was Zimbabwean businessman, Billy Rautenbach. Rautenbach is a former race-car driver and transport magnate and he's now wanted for fraud in South Africa. But in the late 90's, Mugabe arranged for him to be appointed chairman of the Congo's state-run mining company.
That put him in an excellent position to engage in a bit of asset-stripping with some of the most lucrative mines in the Congo ending-up in his pocket. Crucially, for us, that broke the Congolese government's monopoly on the mining industry - and other firms have since stepped-in.
That's where our next Profit Hunter recommendation comes in. You see, following the end of the Congo's civil war, this company took advantage of the changes in the country's mining regime to secure control of mining assets that could be worth up to £128 billion! Right now, though, this company has only got a market capitalisation of about £1.38 billion - so the profit potential here is huge.
We're now getting ready to release our latest Profit Hunter recommendation. And its going to give you a chance to get your hands on a slice of the Congo's incredible mineral wealth without having to go marching in at the head of an army or running the risk of UN sanctions.
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