Cape Town – Duduzane Zuma said on Tuesday he plans to donate his share from the sale of the Oakbay media companies to the Youth Development Programme.
This comes after President Jacob Zuma’s son said he was selling his shares to focus his time on clearing his name.
“Last year I committed to sell my shares in Oakbay companies and this process is currently underway,” he said in a statement.
“I have decided that ALL (100%) of the money from the sale of the shares in the media businesses will go to a new Youth Development Programme specifically focused on creating real and sustainable jobs.
“While this new programme has a specific interest in graduates, it will be for ALL young people, male and female, regardless of background.”
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Oakbay – which is majority owned by the Guptas - announced the sale of ANN7 (Infinity Media) for R300m and The New Age (TNA Media) for R150m to a firm owned by Mzwanele Manyi. However, Manyi was not required to pay for the firms, as the deal was done via vendor financing, which is a type of a loan from the seller to the buyer.
It is therefore unclear how Zuma will accrue the money from this sale. In addition, it is unclear how many shares Zuma had in these media companies.
Zuma's main shareholding was linked to Oakbay’s Tegeta Resources, which is 64% owned by Mabengela Investments, which in turn is 45% owned by Zuma.
The mining company bought Optimum Coal Mine in 2016 for R2.15bn in a deal that formed the central focal point in former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture report and now Parliament’s inquiry into Eskom.
With the blacklisting of the Guptas’ bank accounts and a rising call for their firms to be investigated for corruption, Oakbay announced the sale of Tegeta to a firm owned by Dubai-based Amin Al Zarooni for R2.97bn last month.
“The sale is subject to regulatory requirements and the fulfillment of the conditions in the agreement, which are expected to be concluded within 12 months,” Oakbay said in a statement.
If the Mabengela stake is part of the Tegeta sale – Bloomberg reported that this is not clear – then Zuma could stand to earn at least R850.3m from this sale.
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