Latest victim in succession struggle

enkamp has always courted controversy. He was a noted sanctions-buster and gun-runner for Ian Smith’s Rhodesia in the 1970s. After Independence he became Mugabe’s gun-runner – heavily involved in the DRC war. His interests were widely spread and included diamond mining, fuel importation, tobacco farming and the hospitality industry in several countries in the region as well as the UK.

He was one of a handful of white commercial farmers whose land was not stolen under Mugabe’s chaotic and corrupt ‘land reform programme’.

Named as one of Britain’s 50 richest men, with a vast fortune estimated at between £400m and £700m, Bredenkamp flew out of Zimbabwe last week. His officials have denied local media reports that he fled to escape possible arrest.
Officers from the National Economic Conduct Inspectorate raided his offices last week reportedly to gather evidence of allegations that Bredenkamp had flouted exchange control regulations, evaded tax and contravened the citizenship act by having Dutch, British and Zimbabwean passports.

He has been closely associated with senior Zanu (PF) officials, including Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was jockeying for the position of vice-president before the appointment of Joyce Mujuru. But he denied having provided an aeroplane to ferry the six Zanu (PF) provincial chairman for the notorious Tsholotsho meeting which heralded the fall from grace of both Mnangagwa and former information minister Jonathan Moyo.
Political observers believe Zimbabwe is seeing the second phase of the purge which followed the Tsholotsho saga. – Own correspondent