DRUGLORD'S SANDTON HQ?

In the early 1990s, Ngengelezi Zaccheus Mngomezulu was a taxi driver,
shuttling commuters to their destinations.

Within a few years he had become a multimillionaire, owning properties
in KwaZulu Natal and plush suburbs of Sandton.

But his opulent lifestyle has attracted the attention of the police,
who allege he is a major druglord.

On July 4, he was arrested with another suspect, Ngcobondwane Vuyani,
for manufacturing and dealing in drugs.

Yesterday, the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA) seized multimillion-rand assets in Sandton and KwaZulu
Natal belonging to Mngomezulu and his wife, Nontando. These included a
dozen properties with a combined value of about R16,75-million.

However, most of the valuables at his double-storey mansion in
Morningside, Sandton, had been removed by the time the authorities
arrived yesterday.

In the late 1990s, the 54-year-old Mngomezulu, described in news
reports as "an Umkhonto weSizwe cadre", was linked as an investor in
the Virodene scandal. Touted as an Aids drug, it was found to be an
ineffectual, toxic industrial solvent.

NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the Organised Crime Unit had
swooped in July on one of Mngomezulu's properties in Kevin Close,
Rivonia, after an investigation into alleged drug trafficking.

"In the house, the two suspects (Mngomezulu and Vuyani) were found in
possession of a large amount of methaqualone (the active ingredient in
Mandrax)."

He said police also found a large number of Mandrax tablets, equipment
used to make Mandrax, machines that could produce 70 000 tablets an
hour, metal funnels, electronic scales, heat-sealing machines, face
masks, scoops and fans.

Nkosi said the Mandrax could have been sold on the streets for about
R18-million.

"From their observation, the police could conclude that the property
was used to manufacture or package Mandrax tablets for sale. It was
also clear that the house was not used as a dwelling, but as a Mandrax
factory."

Nkosi said Mngomezulu was out on R100 000 bail and Vuyani on R30 000
bail. They would appear in court again on October 28.

During the bail application, Nkosi added, the alleged druglord had
failed to account for his opulent lifestyle, which included sending
two of his children to a school in Switzerland, and one abroad to
study for an MBA.

As the media approached the R4-million Morningside property yesterday,
Mngomezulu dashed into a white Toyota Conquest parked outside and drove off.

Gauteng provincial police commissioner Perumal Naidoo remarked:
"Thath' a machance thina thatha zonke", loosely translated as "if you
take chances by benefiting from the proceeds of crime, police will
repossess your properties".

These are the immovable assets of Ngengelezi Mngomezulu (including
houses and cluster houses) which will be placed under curatorship
pending the outcome of his criminal trial.