Bici said the “purpose of the visit was to listen to Rosgeo’s proposal, which they have been in talks with PetroSA on for five years or so”.
Another senior government official told the Sunday Times that Kunene and McKenzie were introduced to Rosgeo CEO Roman Panov, in the presence of Mahlobo, on August 28 as suitable BEE partners.
The senior government official said Mahlobo’s presence was to “strengthen their credibility” as business people.
An official in the security cluster said: “Mahlobo has been running around and organising deals for Gayton and Kenny. It is still not clear whether they are his proxy or they are blackmailing him to do as they say.
“Gayton and Kenny used Mahlobo as a master key to infiltrate the security cluster.”
Mahlobo did not respond to questions yesterday.
It is not clear how McKenzie and Kunene learnt about the deal, but two months before it was signed, their close ally Leanne Williams, who was a Johannesburg city councillor for their political party, Patriotic Alliance, was appointed to the PetroSA board. She has since resigned, after blowing the whistle on corruption at the state entity.
News of the Russian trip has been doing the rounds in ANC circles. A national executive committee member told the Sunday Times that the two were earmarked as BEE partners in the PetroSA deal – and the deal itself was “seen a consolation to the Russians because the president [Zuma] has so far not delivered the nuclear deal”.
Rosgeo had not responded to questions at the time of going to press.
McKenzie and Kunene’s trip to Moscow came just a month after Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi led a delegation of senior officials to an international forum in Russia. While there Kubayi and her Russian counterpart discussed “various options in the nuclear and energy space”.
She also met state-owned energy company Rosatom’s executives to discuss issues around the nuclear build programme. The Department of Energy could not be reached for comment yesterday.
This week a fuming Kunene, who has in the past worked as a PR consultant and lobbyist for mining companies, refused to answer questions about the trip or confirm a meeting with Rosgeo. Instead he threatened legal action against the Sunday Times.
“I am not going to f*****g answer … I am not going to answer to your agenda … Do you ask your boss Cyril Ramaphosa where he has travelled?” he said.
McKenzie did not deny travelling to Moscow, but denied travelling with Mahlobo and declined to comment on the purpose of the trip. He only admitted to meeting Makasi and Bici in Dubai for coffee.
“Since when do I report my deals to you or anyone in media? Your paper last week intimated that I am getting training to be a spy, this week I’m signing a deal. Stay on story.”
PetroSA is yet to announce who the local partner will be in the Rosgeo deal, which will allow the company to conduct exploration work for the extraction of 4million cubic metres of gas daily, to be delivered to the gas-to-liquid refinery in Mossel Bay.
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