South Africa: Shaken Up

How to lose an oil tanker

It took three years, but the South African public finally learned in some detail last week how its government lost $30.5 million in what has been called the biggest maritime fraud in history. The disclosures were made during a three-hour parliamentary debate in Cape Town, after which the government of Prime Minister P.W. Botha tried to prevent both its critics and the press from discussing the matter any further. Its grounds: all information concerning South African purchases of oil, which are in contravention of a world embargo designed to block such sales, is a...