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By Staff Writer
MTN’s paid consultant in Washington DC straddles the line between opinion writing and influence operations, raising questions about disclosure and national security.
Journalism without disclosure
The boundaries between journalism, lobbying and foreign corporate influence are increasingly blurred. Few cases illustrate this more starkly than that of Phillip van Niekerk, a former South African journalist turned Washington-based consultant.
Through his firm, Calabar Africa, van Niekerk advises MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecom operator and parent of MTN Dubai, which holds a 49 per cent stake in MTN Irancell — a joint venture with sanctioned Iranian shareholders tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
At the same time, van Niekerk has published commentary on US foreign policy in the Gulf, including critiques of Donald Trump and US policy towards Iran, without disclosing his financial ties to MTN and MTN Irancell. In one article published by the Daily Maverick in South Africa in November 2024, he compared President Trump to the devil.
Van Niekerk has authored sharply worded essays attacking President Trump in outlets including City Press (owned by News24), The Guardian in London, and The New York Times:
- “Donald Trump and the March to War in the Persian Gulf” (Premium Times, June 2019)
- “Not Everyone in the Middle East Is Sad to See Trump Go” (Premium Times, Nov 2020)
- “Trump’s Middle East Legacy: Chaos and Conflict” (2020)
- “Trump’s Iran Gamble Risks Global Security” (2019)
- “Israel’s Annexation Push and America’s Abdication” (2020)
- “Trump’s Blind Spot: How Washington Enabled Israeli Extremism” (2020)
- “America is a Bad Dream” (Daily Maverick, 2017)
- “Letter from DC: The United States Doubles Down on the Devil it Knows” (Daily Maverick, 2024)
These pieces consistently frame US actions in the Middle East — particularly under President Trump — as reckless, destabilising and dangerous to the world. Yet nowhere in these bylines is there disclosure that van Niekerk is a paid consultant to MTN, a company with billions invested in Iran in partnership with the Iranian Ministry of Defence, and facing scrutiny and litigation for financing terrorism in five cases filed under the US Anti-Terrorism Act, which allege that MTN’s actions contributed to the deaths of 505 American soldiers.
Calabar Africa: MTN’s intelligence collection and influence platform in Washington
Calabar Africa presents itself as a boutique communications consultancy, but within MTN its role is strategic: managing US reputational risk at a time when MTN faces litigation under the Anti-Terrorism Act for alleged support to militants in Afghanistan, and scrutiny by a grand jury over its partnership with the Iranian Ministry of Defence.
According to a former MTN senior executive, van Niekerk reports directly to MTN Group Chairman Mcebisi Jonas. One whistleblower said: “Jonas authorises van Niekerk’s invoices to MTN.” Sources inside MTN have provided copies of these invoices, showing payments totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars to van Niekerk by MTN over several years in consulting fees and expenses. These include payments from MTN Dubai, which holds MTN’s stake in MTN Irancell.
In addition, a former MTN executive reports that van Niekerk regularly produces reports and briefings to Jonas covering every market in which MTN operates — from South Africa and Nigeria to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Sudan, where MTN operates in areas controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which is backed by Iran.
According to one Washington insider, van Niekerk was instrumental in MTN Dubai’s appointment of the Vogel Group as a lobbyist in Washington DC, as National Security News reported on 25 July 2025.
The same former MTN executive alleges that van Niekerk’s consulting relationship with MTN began when Cyril Ramaphosa, then Chairman of MTN, introduced him to Phuthuma Nhleko, then Chief Executive of MTN. It was Ramaphosa and Nhleko who orchestrated the partnership between MTN and the Iranian Ministry of Defence in MTN Irancell.
This suggests van Niekerk’s role goes well beyond US lobbying, reputation management and geopolitical analysis — functioning as a shadow adviser to Mcebisi Jonas across MTN’s continental footprint, with visibility into sensitive political and regulatory strategies.
Reporting on Washington DC think tanks
According to a former MTN executive, van Niekerk uses his access to Washington DC think tanks as a valuable resource for reporting back to the company.
He is regularly seen attending think tank events and policy forums, inserting himself into discussions that shape US–Africa relations, sanctions policy and telecom regulation.
An MTN whistleblower alleges that van Niekerk provided reporting and briefings to MTN on South African visitors and delegations to Washington DC in 2025, including Flip Buys, Kallie Kriel, Jaco Kleynhans and Dr Dirk Hermann of Solidarity and AfriForum; international business leader Rob Hersov; and Emma Powell and Andrew Whitfield from the Democratic Alliance.
Mcebisi Jonas, MTN’s Chairman and Ramaphosa’s Special Envoy to the US, on 17 August accused South Africans critical of MTN’s partnership with the Iranian Ministry of Defence and the ANC’s alliance with Iran of being “treasonous”.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) commenced a treason investigation into the leaders of AfriForum and Solidarity when they returned from Washington DC in March 2025.
Van Niekerk was seen attending a Hudson Institute session where Emma Powell and Deputy Minister of Trade Andrew Whitfield spoke in March 2025, taking copious notes. According to the Sowetan, the South African State Security Agency (SSA) subsequently produced a report alleging that Powell and Whitfield spread anti-South African disinformation. The report, according to the Sowetan, was submitted to South Africa’s National Security Council.
A whistleblower from the Sowetan, who had seen the report and objected to the way the newspaper and its owners colluded with the SSA to target Powell, revealed to NSN that the SSA report specifically referenced Powell and Whitfield’s remarks at the Hudson Institute. The report became the basis for Ramaphosa to dismiss Whitfield from the Government of National Unity (GNU) Cabinet. The same report was leaked by a senior official in the Presidency to the Sowetan to launch a media campaign against Emma Powell as a whistleblower on MTN and the ANC’s collusion with Iran.
Van Niekerk was similarly seen attending a Hudson Institute session in June 2025 addressed by an Afrikaner delegation: Corne Mulder, leader of the Freedom Front Plus; Theo de Jager, President of SAAI; and Gerhard Papenfus, President of NEASA.
His think tank presence provides access to policymakers and scholars that might otherwise be closed to corporate consultants. Adding to this influence is his wife, Jennifer Cooke, who previously headed the Africa Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), one of Washington’s leading foreign policy think tanks. This connection further cements van Niekerk’s access, raising questions about how his personal and professional affiliations intertwine with MTN’s corporate interests and the ANC’s political agenda.
Blurring the lines: from MTN to the ANC and the White House
Van Niekerk’s partner in Calabar is a former South African diplomat, Andrew Nhlapo, who until recently served as an Economic Consul at the South African Consulate in New York City and was employed as a contractor at South Africa’s embassy in Washington DC. Both Nhlapo and van Niekerk are regular visitors to the embassy, often briefing visiting ANC ministers such as Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the Minister of Electricity and Energy, when he visited Washington DC in October 2024.
Several insiders note that van Niekerk continues to advise Jonas in his role as Ramaphosa’s (failed) Special Envoy to the US, blurring the lines between MTN and the South African government. Van Niekerk was reportedly in touch with Jonas and other officials in the run-up to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s White House meeting with President Trump.
This advisory overlap further blurs the lines between his roles as MTN consultant, Washington journalist and de facto adviser to the ANC leadership.
A controversial past
Van Niekerk has been embroiled in high-profile litigation in the United States.
In 2019, he was sued by the Kazakh mining firm ENRC over allegations that he unlawfully obtained reports from a British law enforcement agency as part of an international smear campaign he allegedly orchestrated against the company.
In US court filings, ENRC disclosed that the company’s Kazakh owners had hired van Niekerk as a consultant when it was accused by the British government of fraud and corruption in operations across Africa and Kazakhstan. The company alleged that van Niekerk subsequently turned against it, allegedly stealing sensitive information to provide to Akezhan Kazhegeldin, a former Kazakh Prime Minister, who they claimed was running a worldwide smear campaign against the company.
This episode, combined with his current MTN consultancy, highlights a pattern: van Niekerk’s professional life repeatedly straddles the fault line between journalism, advocacy and influence peddling.
Ethical and legal questions
Van Niekerk’s dual role in advising Mcebisi Jonas both as MTN Chairman and as Ramaphosa’s Special Envoy to the US raises uncomfortable questions:
- Disclosure: Shouldn’t readers know when commentary on Iran or Israel comes from a paid consultant to a company in partnership with the Iranian Ministry of Defence?
- FARA Registration: Has Calabar Africa complied with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) if its work constitutes influencing US audiences or policymakers on behalf of MTN Dubai as a shareholder in MTN Irancell?
- Editorial Integrity: Are the outlets publishing van Niekerk’s work applying adequate disclosure rules?
- Governance: Does Jonas’s oversight of van Niekerk’s work and invoices create a governance conflict at the heart of MTN?
- Compliance: Do van Niekerk and Calabar Africa hold a licence for private investigations, as required by the laws of the District of Columbia?
- Corporate Espionage: Did van Niekerk’s reporting on South African delegations to Washington DC find its way into SSA reports used to target whistleblowers?
National security implications
MTN Irancell’s sustained profitability — hundreds of millions of dollars annually — flows primarily to its Iranian majority shareholder, the Iran Electronic Development Company (IEDC), controlled by the Mostazafan Foundation, itself sanctioned as an IRGC economic arm. That makes Irancell more than a business asset: it is a revenue stream to sanctioned Iranian power centres.
When MTN’s Washington consultant shapes US debate on Iran and Israel without disclosing his client’s ties, it is not just a corporate governance issue — it is a matter of national security.
Van Niekerk was contacted for comment but did not respond.
