NOVANEWS
Eddie Cross, a Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP who has proved to be well-informed on security matters in the past, told the Mail & Guardian that he had been informed by security sources that the company, Nikuv International Projects, is working on the roll at Defence House, the headquarters of the Zimbabwe Defence Force. The MDC also alleged that Nikuv was a front for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, although it offered no evidence to support the claim.It is unclear what Nikuv’s involvement in this coming election is but it specialises in population registration and election systems.Cross said the source told him that the company is working under the direction of Daniel Tonde Nhepera, the deputy head of the Zimbabwe’s dreaded internal security arm, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).…Top executives of a Nikuv associate company, ISC International Security Consultancy, have an Israeli intelligence background and Nikuv has been linked to other cases of collaboration with the Zimbabwean security services…It also appears that individuals linked to Nikuv played a role in helping the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) obtain riot control equipment and motorbikes, which would have been difficult for the ZRP to access at the time, given international sanctions.On August 2 2001, Zimbabwe’s Financial Gazette reported that, before the 2002 presidential elections, which the government feared that Mugabe would lose, the ZRP [ruling party] contacted Eli Antebi, who represented a company called Beit Alpha, about the purchase of the vehicles and water cannons.
We don’t even have to rely on Eddie Cross, because my confidential Israeli source has confirmed that Nikuv is closely tied to Israel’s security interests. Not just that its personnel were former Mossad agents, but that the company continues to pursue the interests of the Mossad in its ventures and consulting work.Nikuv has been accused of election rigging and improper contract bidding in several other African countries where it plies its trade:
In Zambia, where Nikuv was brought in to manage and computerise voter registration, the United National Independence Party (Unip) accused the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) of trying to rig the 1996 election with the company’s help. Unip eventually boycotted the poll.The Zambian opposition also accused Nikuv of landing the contract without proper tender procedures. The process was allegedly managed by the office of Vice-President Godfrey Miyanda rather than the electoral commission.The Zambian High Court found that the registration process was flawed…Nikuv’s offices in Lesotho were raided in March, apparently in connection with an identity document contract awarded last year in controversial circumstances…The raid took place “because the ministry found a letter to the ministry from Nikuv saying that the project [which also includes a contract for e-passports] would cost $25-million, but the ministry presented a different figure of $29-million to the Cabinet.” The discrepancy sparked suspicion of corruption and prompted the raid, he said.
Yossi Melman writes in the Jerusalem Post Hebrew edition about the upcoming Zimbabwe elections and Nikuv’s tainted role. He also offers some added connections between the firm and Israel’s intelligence services. For example, he tells us the founder of the company, Emmanuel Entebi, is a veteran of the IDF’s cyberwarfare command, Unit 8200.While Melman acknowledges African opposition claims that Nikuv is a Mossad front company. He parries those claims by noting that the Mossad would have little interest in a place like Zimbabwe.
This may be Melman’s way of denying such a connection, but clearly any country’s intelligence services would be interested in a country with the mineral wealth and natural resources of Zimbabwe. Not to mention that the Mossad is always looking for safe harbors overseas from which it can launch operations in hostile countries or environments. It could find a great deal of use for a place like Zimbabwe as a home base for its agents.Melman also flat-out rejects the contention that Nikuv offers any security assistance to Mugabe. Support for his claim: that the Defense Ministry has forbidden Israeli companies from doing so. Again, this begs the question, because Mossad activities are always covert and not bound by the strictures placed on any Israeli company by any Israeli ministry.Returning to the Globe and Mail investigative piece, it presents further evidence of the tight connection between Nikuv personnel and the Mossad:
…All ISC’s [a company affiliated with Nikuv] founders and senior associates appear to have once served at the highest levels of the Israeli intelligence services.
The president and founder of ISC is Dani Issacharoff. A former colleague, who asked not to be named, said: “Dani was with Mossad – he was very, very senior.”
He is also described as a former head of security for Israel’s airline El Al and the founder and president of what appears to be ISC’s forerunner, a company called International Consultants for Targeted Security.
It should be noted that El Al’s foreign security is maintained by Israeli security agents (though from Shabak, not Mossad). So Issacharoff’s former career would be a perfect fit for him. I wonder what relation Issacharoff is to former Haaretz Arab affairs reporter, Avi Issacharoff, whose reporting I’ve been known to criticize for its over-familiarity with Israeli intelligence interests.