ANC still benefiting from Eskom

Johannesburg - The ANC's investment arm, Chancellor House Holdings, has, 20 months after the ANC declared it would disengage itself from Eskom contracts in which it had an interest, failed to do so.

Mamatho Netsianda, managing director of Chancellor House, declined to speak to Sake24 on Friday. He declared that he did not have to speak to any white person if he did not wish to.

"No white person will force me to say anything," he asserted, before slamming down the phone.

At that point Sake24 had not even asked a question. Chancellor House has a 25% stake in Hitachi Power Africa, a company that has received two multi-million rand contracts from Eskom.

Chancellor House's direct interest in the Eskom contracts was worth about R6bn last year.

Hitachi spokesperson Pamella Radebe confirmed that the Chancellor House shareholding in Hitachi Africa was still unchanged.

She referred Sake24 to Chancellor House for further comment.

"Shareholding is a shareholder and not a management issue," she observed.

Chancellor House was Hitachi's black economic empowerment partner at the time the company tendered for the Eskom contracts.

It is understood that Chancellor House bought its Hitachi shares for cash in 2007. The amount has never been disclosed. The contracts were for boilers for Eskom's two power stations under construction - Kusile in Mpumalanga and Medupi in Limpopo. The total value of the contracts awarded to Hitachi was R40bn-odd.

Eskom's total capital construction programme is worth R385bn. ANC spokesperson Brian Sokutu, as well as others from Eskom, also referred all enquiries related to the matter to Chancellor House, resulting in Netsianda's attack on Sake24.

The Mail & Guardian in 2007 unmasked Chancellor House as an ANC funding front. In 2008 it emerged that the company had acquired an interest in Eskom's contracts.

ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa then, in February 2008, said that Chancellor House would dispose of its interest in the Eskom contracts because "corporate management is at issue here".

On Friday Phosa declined to comment. "Chancellor House must speak for itself," he declared.

Phosa expressed regret at Netsianda's action and said that Netsianda did not represent ANC interests or speak on behalf of the party.

Early last year Medupi and Kusile's initial estimated costs were R70bn each.

Today their estimated costs are about R110bn, which implies that the value of the Chancellor House investment has since risen 36%.

- Sake24.com

For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.