Friends in High Places: Nhlanhla Gasa became an influential businessman


NHLANHLA Gasa, whose body was found in the Tugela River after he was apparently murdered at his home in Umhlanga, north of Durban, was a prominent and politically well-connected businessman. He was 62.

Gasa was linked to the arms deal scandal through his directorship of a company called Hivex, which received a R24-million investment from British arms multinational BAE Systems, a major beneficiary of the arms deal. One of Gasa's fellow directors at Hivex was Fana Hlongwane, notorious as an adviser to former defence minister Joe Modise and an arms- deal "consultant" who received millions from BAE for helping the company to secure lucrative fighter jet contracts.

Arms-deal investigators from the Scorpions looked into Gasa's possible role a few years ago, but he was not mentioned in a ny of their subsequent search-and-seizure documents, suggesting that they did not find any evidence that he had received any money from BAE.

Hivex was a KwaZulu-Natal-based company formed in 2000 to promote a bogus treatment for HIV I Aids patients. This involved a Russian-designed machine that supposedly used electromagnetic radiation to damage the ability of HIV to attack the CD4 blood cells, which are crucial to the body's immune system.

Although there was no scientific evidence at all to suggest that it might work, Hivex touted it as a "magic cure" for HIV/Aids and used its political connections to persuade the government to get BAE to give the company R24-million as part of its offset obligations in the arms deal.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal medical school conducted clinical trials that showed that the treatment, which cost patients a "donation" of R1 000 a pop, had no beneficial effect.

Hivex continued to promote it as an alternative to anti-retrovirals until 2011, when the Treatment Action Campaign finally succeeded in getting the Advertising Standards Authority to stop it from advertising.

Gasa was also a director of the black economic empowerment company Vulindlela Holdings, which was linked to ANC interests through a 50-50 joint venture with the eThekwini municipality to develop Durban's Point waterfront.

Schabir Shaik tried to displace Vulindlela. But even with the backing of Jacob Zuma, who was KwaZuluNatal's economic affairs MEC at the time, he failed - an indication of how strong Vulindlela's ANC connections 1950-2013 were. Instead, Vulindlela was seen by some as a partial front for the ANC. similar to Chancellor House or, indeed, Shaik's Nkobi Holdings.

Ten years and at least Rl-billion of ratepayers' money later, the project had conspicuously failed to live up to promises that it would rival Cape Town's Waterfront.

Gasa, who began his working life as a physiotherapist before becoming an executive with the Tongaat Hulett Group, held 19 directorships at one stage. One of them was with a politically well-connected entity (a fellow director was the Northern Cape's then-premier Manne Dipico) called Blue Horizon 39, which was controversially included in a R4.5- billion BEE deal with Richards Bay Minerals. Local communities complained that Blue Horizon 39 had been foisted on them and secw·ed a lion's share of the deal.

Gasa was on the board of, and at one point chaired, Umgeni Water, Absa bank KwaZulu-Natal and Digicore Fleet Management, among others. His daughter Mbali, who was Miss SA in 1997, married South African Airways CEO Khaya Ngqula in 2005. Gasa hosted the lavish wedding ceremony at the exclusive Zimbali Golf Estate. The guest list boasted many of South Africa's political and business high-fliers. Another daughter is television personality Noni Gasa.

Gasa, born on May 26 1950, was divorced and lived alone.

Nothing was stolen from his home and his burnt-out Jaguar was found near his body.

With acknowledgement to Chris Barron and Sunday Times. 

It is ominous with the Seriti Commission coming up that another BAe BEE expert is found in a river.

In 2003, just as the Scorpions were starting their Arms Deal investigations into BAe, chief BEE trough filler Richard Charter's body also extracted dead from a river.