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The mysterious Nick Linnell appears before the Zondo Commission, a virtually unknown individual who was nevertheless trusted enough to meet with former President Jacob Zuma and serve as Dudu Myeni’s consigliere. But who is Linnell really?
“My sirs, then there is the shadowy figure of Mr. Nick Linnell, a ‘Mr Fix It’ who in the late 1970s was operating in the illegal racist white minority regime of Ian Smith in then-Rhodesia …”
Those were the words of the Labor peer Peter Hain, addressing the British Parliament in 2017.
That may have been the first and only time that Nicholas Linnell came to the attention of the House of Lords, but in South Africa, his name had made headlines two years earlier.
It was Linnell who was announced by former Eskom chairman Zola Tsotsi in 2015 as the man who would preside over an independent investigation into parastate power, despite the fact that Linnell was virtually unknown and seemed to have no obvious experience to match him. for such daunting and highly technical work.
It would also be Linnell’s job to implement the unexpected suspensions of four key Eskom executives at the time. Here Linnell was on firmer ground. In fact, she was the perfect person for that mission, because, as. a Working day editorial He noted, he had done the exact same thing at South African Airways at the behest of the same State Capture great lady, Dudu Myeni.
By 2015, Nick Linnell had carved out a lucrative niche role for himself. Myeni would call him at whatever state institution he was running at the time, in order to “coordinate an investigation” into some kind of petty crime by the executives. His role would be expanded to that of a quasi-legal advisor, spokesperson and attorney.
But actually, it seems there was an easier way to describe Linnell: as Dudu Myeni’s henchman.
From Rhodesia to the stars
Nicholas Hugh Linnell was born in what was then Rhodesia in 1951. HHe attended the elite Prince Edward School in Harare and earned degrees in law and commerce from the University of Zimbabwe and the University of Cape Town.
Linnell practiced as a lawyer in Zimbabwe. What it appears to be your LinkedIn profile it also records that he served as a magistrate to the tail of the government of Ian Smith. Thereafter came a stint in “corporate South Africa,” he told the Zondo Commission on Monday, before a recommendation from a colleague intertwined his fate and that of Dudu Myeni.
Only in 2011 can any Linnell record be found online in the South African media. That year she is referred to as Myeni’s “spokesperson and advisor” while she was the executive director of the Umhlathuze Water Board in KwaZulu-Natal.
When asked by Judge Raymond Zondo how he came to hold this position, Linnell responded somewhat opaquely that he “took over from a colleague.”
It clearly didn’t take long to win Myeni’s favor. From Umhlathuze, she would take him with her to the heights of SAA. Not officially, it should be said: City press reported in 2015 that no one at SAA seemed to be sure what Linnell’s role really was. But it earned her an average of R167,000 a month, at a time when the airline’s fragile financial situation was leading it to prepare to lay off 10% of its staff.
Although Linnell’s exact job description may not have been clear, it appears that he kept busy. City press reported that he was writing press releases and answering questions from the media, despite the fact that SAA already had a dedicated and highly paid spokesperson at the time. Linnell was also reported to be “reviewing forensic reports, legal opinions, and affidavits, building case files, and establishing contacts with the ENSAfrica law firm,” even though he had no reputation as an attorney or auditor, and the SAA already had with the legal services of ENSAfrica in retainer.
Lawyer or not?
The question of whether or not one is a lawyer has not traditionally been considered an ontological scratch. But for Linnell, things have been a lot more complicated.
Throughout the Zuma years, Linnell was repeatedly described as a “lawyer.” When Eskom President Tsotsi announced the Eskom investigation in 2015, it was widely reported that “attorney Nick Linnell” had been selected to coordinate the investigation.
Linnell told the Zondo Commission this week that he knew he was often called “legal counsel.” However, she admitted that she was not actually a lawyer, at least not in South Africa.
“That title often refers to me,” Linnell stammered Monday.
“I feel uncomfortable with that. Previously I was a lawyer in a neighboring country. [Zimbabwe]… I have not introduced myself as a lawyer. ”
When questioned, he acknowledged that he was introduced to the Eskom board as a lawyer.
“I think the narrative was that I was a lawyer by profession, or professional training, but that was followed by the statement that I was a consultant,” Linnell explained, in a way. She did not elaborate on whether her retrospective discomfort led her to correct the clear perception at the time that she was a lawyer.
Interface with Dudu
When Linnell appeared before the Zondo Commission on Monday, it was the first time that most South Africans had the opportunity to see the man Myeni and former President Jacob Zuma trusted so much that he could be summoned at any time to attend meetings. at the Zuma residence.
the 69 years, who appeared via a video link, turned out to be a white-haired guy with thin-rimmed glasses and a high-pitched voice. If your appearance matches something on your CV, it is your presidency of the Mdala Trust, which supports “Rhodesian and Zimbabwean pensioners residing in the Western Cape”.
He spoke in a careful corporate style, describing his relationship with Myeni as one that flourished when they “interacted on a regular basis” at SAA.
Daily maverick Associate editor Ferial Haffajee first became aware of Linnell’s interaction in the heyday of State Capture, when Myeni was running Mob-style collections from SAA’s top contractors. Haffajee recalls:
“It came to my attention when I reported it back then that Linnell provided the financial structuring muscle for all of this to happen, kind of a servant to the major players in State Capture. This job consisted of drafting agreements, contracts and all the paraphernalia that gave a veneer of legality to the exercises that we now discovered were completely illegal. It was Ashu Chawla from Dudu, Gupta’s lieutenant who played a role similar to what we see now in the Zondo Commission and as you saw in Gupta Leaks. He was listed at the time as a leading management consultant, although I could not easily find that pedigree and could not be reached through ‘normal’ means of contact. ”
When asked by test leader Pule Seleka what he thought of being called Myeni’s “Mr. Fix It”, Linnell showed no obvious annoyance when he replied:
“I think it is an unreasonable association or narrative to put it. I was involved in a number of cases where things worked out, in the right sense … but the narrative itself is probably not reasonable. “
Linnell’s testimony at the Zondo Commission was interrupted Monday for technical problems, but continues Tuesday. DM
