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Mohseen Moosa

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Mohseen Moosa
Delegate to the National Council of Provinces
Assembly Member
for Gauteng
In office
May 1994 – January 2003
Personal details
BornJohannesburg
CitizenshipSouth Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
RelationsValli Moosa (brother)

Mohseen Valli Moosa (also known as Mohseen Wally Moosa) is a South African lawyer, farmer, developmental businessman and political activist who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the first Senate after 1994 as the youngest senator, and in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) from 1994 to 2003. He resigned from Parliament in January 2003 to pursue business interests in development, farming, mining and wine industries.

Early life and career

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Moosa was born in Johannesburg and formerly practiced as an attorney.[1][2] His brother is Valli Moosa, a former anti-apartheid activist who was a cabinet minister under Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.[1][3]

Legislative career

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In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Moosa was elected to represent the ANC in the Senate, the upper house of the new South African Parliament; he served the PWV constituency (a precursor to the Gauteng constituency).[4] He remained in his seat after the Senate was restructured as the NCOP under the 1996 Constitution.[5]

During his first term in the seat, Moosa chaired the NCOP's Select Committee on Security and Justice,[6] and in 1999 he was elected to chair the ad hoc committee which processed the landmark Equality Bill.[7] He later chaired the Select Committee on Minerals and Energy, which, during his tenure, processed the controversial Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Bill.[8][9] As of 2002, he was also the chairman of the ANC's internal electoral task team.[10] He was chairman of the NCOP's Select Committee on Economic Affairs in January 2003 when he resigned from Parliament and from politics to pursue a career in business.[3][11]

Business career

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African Romance

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In November 2007, Moosa founded African Romance, a South African diamond beneficiation company.[12][13] He was its chief executive officer until January 2013, when it ceased operating and resolved to liquidate.[1] Moosa blamed the company's failure on upstream and downstream deficiencies, including on the part of the State Diamond Trader.[1][14]

During its lifetime, the company received attention because of its receipt of state support: it received R97 million in funding from the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation[1] and, more controversially, a further R55-million from Gauteng's provincial Department of Economic Development.[15] The department, then led by Paul Mashatile, had guaranteed a loan between the company and ABSA bank, on which the company had subsequently defaulted; the department had paid R50 million to settle the loan, parlayed as an investment in preference shares, and at the same time had extended an addition R5 million "to provide additional funding and support to the company in order to support its immediate needs until the restructuring is complete".[15] The Auditor-General said that the spending amounted to irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in terms of the Public Finance Management Act; both the department and Moosa agreed with this assessment.[16]

Wine industry

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Moosa also entered the wine industry.[17][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "IDC-funded diamond beneficiator shuts up shop". Mining Weekly. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Fusion of wine, fynbos, cattle, sheep and passion". Wineland Media. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "KZN defectors rewarded". The Mail & Guardian. 10 January 2003. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  4. ^ South Africa: Campaign and Election Report April 26–29, 1994. International Republican Institute. 1994. Retrieved 13 April 2023 – via Yumpu.
  5. ^ "Moosa, Mohseen Wally". Parliament of South Africa. Archived from the original on 28 June 1998. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  6. ^ "View from the Gallery". The Mail & Guardian. 7 November 1997. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Election of Chairperson; Committee Programme". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. 29 October 1999. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Parliament approves tough new minerals law". The Mail & Guardian. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  9. ^ "An end to the 'Irish coffee' workforce". The Mail & Guardian. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  10. ^ "Mixed signals from parties on funding". The Mail & Guardian. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  11. ^ "ANC's brightest heading out". The Mail & Guardian. 30 April 2003. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  12. ^ "New local diamond facility launched". The Mail & Guardian. 7 November 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  13. ^ "SAfrica's African Romance diamonds challenge Cartier". Reuters. 16 November 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  14. ^ "SA diamonds languish in the rough". The Mail & Guardian. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Department funded ex-ANC MP's business venture". Sowetan. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Gauteng broke law to help ex-MP". IOL. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Basson announced CEO of new industry body SA Wine". Engineering News. 25 April 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
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