South Africa: Own goal — Unpaid soccer player thwarts PetroSA’s offshore gas deal

In December 2023, PetroSA entrusted a potential R21.6-billion gas infrastructure deal to notorious wheeler dealer Lawrence Mulaudzi.

Three months later the deal was dead, killed not by environmental groups or Russian sanctions, but by 34-year-old soccer player Cheslyn Chase Jampies.

Last year, Jampies asked the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg to liquidate Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila Football Club (TTM), after the club failed to pay his R35,000 a month salary.

With…