This story is an example of what I thought some time ago that FT Alphaville might do more of, showcase FT journalists in an open access spot on the immensely larger mothership website. With perhaps some favoritism shown toward those former residents of da Ville who have gone off to spread the doctrine of Alphavillainism to the far corners of the earth.
Here's one now, Joseph Cotterill, the FT's Southern Africa correspondent:
FT Alphaville follows a trail of pollen to South Africa.
Trafigura is backing a South African fuel company that had ties to a US-sanctioned Zimbabwean businessman, more than a year after the global commodity trader officially said it cut links with him, fuel industry players said.
Kudakwashe ‘Queen Bee’ Tagwirei, a fuel magnate and ally of Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa is at the heart of a growing corruption scandal in the southern African nation over his perceived grip on state resources and the ruling Zanu-PF party.Trafigura is a major supplier of fuel to Zimbabwe, including loans to the government to fund purchases.
For many years Tagwirei’s group Sakunda was the trader’s local business partner through a joint venture, Trafigura Zimbabwe. But Trafigura ended all ties to him in 2019 when it took full control of Trafigura Zimbabwe, acquiring Sakunda’s 51 per cent stake. The buyout, terms of which were not disclosed, took place before the US imposed sanctions on both Tagwirei and Sakunda last year.That seemed to be the end of Trafigura’s relationship with the controversial Queen Bee.
Yet....
....MUCH MORE
Mr. Cotterill is known for many things, among which is reporting on Britain with the gimlet-eye of the foreign correspondent and the mass murders in Mozambique. Quite a cross-section of humanity. Here are some of our prior mentions.
