Concor linked to Zambian deportation of competitor

a battle over a stone quarry seemingly in the middle of nowhere has seen a real-life david having to defeat his goliath, again and again.

when zambian-born south african citizen raymond brian freestone returned from south africa to the country of his birth after a number of business ventures, he believed he could contribute to building a strong business sector in his struggling homeland.

but that optimistic spirit has been wrecked by a harrowing experience in which he was bullied out of his business interests and rudely kicked out of his birthplace back to south africa.

"the whole thing, everything there, just reeks of corruption," he says.

in june last year freestone sold his interests in a restaurant, butchery and delicatessen in zambia to focus on zambezi development, a quarry mining business. he had acquired the rights to exploit stone from katombora quarry, about 54km outside livingstone, and had imported the necessary crusher equipment from hong kong and south africa.

at first most of freestone's clients were builders in the booming tourist lodge business in the region. he was also lured into the quarry business by plans to build a bridge between zambia and botswana which promised to stimulate even more business.

things seemed to be looking up when concor roads, trading as zambezi road contractors-joint venture, which had been awarded the contract to renovate the livingstone-sesheke road, approached zambezi development to supply the stone. concor roads is a subsidiary of jse-listed concor.

freestone alleges that concor then simply bypassed him and went straight to the minister of public works and supply, ludwig sondashi. sondashi declared that the road was of national interest, giving his ministry the right to exploit stone from the quarry directly.

sondashi granted this quarrying right to concor/zambezi road contractors-joint venture, which extracted 4 900m3 of stone from the katombora quarry. freestone felt his rights to the quarry were being infringed and he took the matter to the high court.

on september 5 last year the livingstone high court ruled in his favour, ordering zambezi road contractors to stop working the quarry and to pay freestone $98 266 plus interest in compensation for past exploitation.

the court also ordered the company's consulting engineers, gauff, to pay freestone $50 000.

zambezi road contractors failed to show up in court to oppose freestone's application and subsequently refused to pay the compensation. freestone asked the court to attach its goods in lieu of payment. on february 19 this year the court ordered the sheriff of zambia to confiscate goods to the value of the amounts owing plus interest.

nine days later, on february 28, freestone was deported from zambia.

"i was at the immigration office checking on applications by some zimbabwean businessmen when they told me. i was blown away. my wife went hysterical," said freestone.

he was bundled out of the country without even being given a chance to tell his wife; his attorney had to inform her later.

the deportation order stating that freeman "is in my opinion by his presence likely to be a danger to peace and good order in zambia" was signed by the acting minister of home affairs, who happened to be one ludwig sondashi, the selfsame minister of public works and supply
.

sondashi is no stranger to controversy. he was kicked out of the cabinet of frederick chiluba for accusing the former president of smoking dagga, a charge he later had to withdraw publicly. he joined the ranks of the opposition and was only recently recalled to the position of minister of public works and supply by chiluba's successor, president levy mwanawasa, who won a controversial election last year.

"i'm actually disgusted; especially for the warrant of deportation carried out after i won my court case. it's like they can change the rules anytime to suit themselves," said freestone.

"i spent a night in jail with no blanket, food or water. it was a 3-by-3 cell which i shared with 12 other people. we had to sleep on a cold, hard cement floor. i wa


s treated like a common criminal," he added.

freestone said he was driven to the airport in a mercedes benz bus, with a south african registration, which had a concor logo on the side. the driver wore concor livery.

south african embassy spokesperson setlakalane mokou said he had been called by freestone's attorneys to intervene at the time of the deportation order and was told to meet freestone at immigration headquarters at kent house in lusaka.

"i saw a mercedes benz bus registered in gauteng. i was interested because it was a car from home," mokou said.

but he was told freestone was not at kent house and was directed to chilanje police station, where he was again turned away. "i was running around like a headless chicken."
two days after being dumped at johannesburg international airport with only r48 in his pocket, freestone made his way back to victoria falls in zimbabwe, across the border from livingstone, with a ticket bought by his wife. taking some basic necessities with her, his wife met freestone in the no-man's land separating the two countries, and the couple drove the 1 200km back to johannesburg.

meanwhile, a lusaka court overturned the earlier court order attaching the goods of concor and gauff.

the court argued that since freestone had been deported from the country, he needed to pay $50 000 for costs in the event of his court action failing. the lusaka court appeared to be unaware that freestone's action had already been successful.

freestone this week persuaded the original livingstone court to overturn the lusaka court's decision, reimposing the order for concor and gauff to pay compensation. despite this, they still had not paid and were trying to settle with him directly, freestone said.

the zambian anti-corruption commission confirmed it was investigating concor and sondashi regarding the awarding of the livingstone-sesheke road renovation contract.

"we received a complaint just more than a month ago and all people involved in the matter are being investigated," said commission spokesperson sibalwa mwaanga.

the south african embassy in lusaka said freestone's deportation would be taken up with the zambian ministry of foreign affairs.

both concor and sondashi have refused to comment on the matter. - independent foreign service