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Johannesburg - Businessman and son of President Jacob Zuma, Duduzane, has defended his involvement in black economic empowerment deals and vowed to give away 70% of his stake in ArcelorMittal SA [JSE:ACL] (Amsa).
"I am very pleased to announce that I have decided to forgo 70% of my proposed allocation and spread it among other South Africans who are needy and disadvantaged like I once was," Duduzane Zuma said in a statement.
The value of this divestment was R1bn, according to Zuma, although based on Amsa's prevailing market value the figure is closer to R770m.
A nervous Zuma, son of President Jacob Zuma, made the announcement on Friday in the somewhat empty but luxurious Sandton offices of his Mabengela Investments.
He had invited media representatives there for interviews, but declined to answer questions about anything other than the announcement of the donation.
The donation will be handed in lots of 20% each to the widows and dependants of police members who died in the course of their duties after April 27 1994; to a bursary fund for black students at South African universities; to the most destitute MK veterans; to women in rural communities; and to a fund for the education of orphans in all nine provinces.
According to Zuma's statement his company and that of the Gupta family, Oakbay, will together receive 3.41% of the entire 26% in the Amsa BEE scheme – 2.1% goes to him and 1.31% to the Guptas.
This is the first time that that the size of their stake in the Amsa transaction has been disclosed. Zuma said it was the first BEE deal in which he has become involved.
When Sake24.com pointed out he was also a BEE shareholder in the mining contractor group JCI Mining, he stated that this was the first transaction "outside the group". The Amsa deal, he said, was the first broad-based empowerment transaction in which he had been involved.
The value that he had added by becoming a BEE shareholder was according to him "technical and mine-management expertise", but he did not wish to expand on where he had acquired the expertise.
Standing on own feet
In his statement the 28-year-old Zuma said that he had been in business long before his father became president.
He had established Mabengela at the end of 2007 and early in 2008. (His father became ANC president at the end of 2007.)
He said both he and his family had been treated "like lepers" during the time that his father has been out of government. As a young South African he sought his place in life despite the obstacles and challenges facing his father at the time.
He tried to establish himself as a businessman and stand on his own feet, according to the statement that accompanied his announcement.
He said he had established himself in the business world through hard work, diligence and determination. He was working 16 to 18 hours a day through the week.
He travelled through time zones several times a month to build his business, he said.
He said he had never done business with government, never had a government contract, had never tendered for a state project and had never received a cent from the government.
He said he believed in broad-based black economic empowerment.
In answer to the question why he was not giving all of the money from the Amsa deal for BEE purposes, he replied that that was a very good question.
- Sake24.com
