What is "oilgate"

Oilgate is a South African political scandal in which the petrol company Imvume Holdings was accused of paying R11 million of state money to the ruling African National Congress shortly before the elections. The money had been received from a state oil company, PetroSA, as part of an advance payment for a quantity of oil condensate that had been procured from Glencore, an international company.

The scandal broke in an article written by the newspaper the Mail and Guardian. Imvume was able to get a court order restraining the Mail and Guardian from publishing the article, but was subsequently outmanoeuvred when the Freedom Front Plus, an opposition political party, revealed the same information in Parliament. Under South African law, political groups making representations in parliament may not be subjected to legal action for the content of their statements. Since the information was now in the public realm, the Mail and Guardian was able to print the article.

Imvume Holdings has since become embroiled in the United Nations Oil for food scandal, but no immediate connection seems to exist between these two events.