Japan unaware of Hitachi/ANC drama

Johannesburg - A government delegation from Japan which visited South Africa last week to market Japanese nuclear power and digital television technology to government officials was blissfully unaware of the negative media coverage Japanese firm Hitachi has been receiving.

Hitachi Power Africa, a subsidiary of leading Japanese firm Hitachi, has recently been strongly criticised for choosing Chancellor House, a funding arm of the ANC, as its empowerment partner.

Chancellor House owns 25% of Hitachi Power Africa, which received contracts worth R38.5bn to build boilers for two new Eskom power stations.

On Friday a senior official in the Japanese department of foreign affairs said that his department was not aware of the controversy surrounding Hitachi and wanted to know exactly what was involved. The saga had not been covered in the Japanese media at all, he said.

He asked whether it was illegal to sell shares to political parties or their related companies, and shrugged his shoulders when told that South Africa had no legislation in this regard.

Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Katsuya Okada, visited Pretoria on a flying visit last week to participate in the 10th annual Japan-South Africa Partnership Forum. Japan is one of South Africa's biggest export destinations and over 80 Japanese companies, including Toyota, Mitsubishi and Hitachi, have operations in South Africa.

On Friday Okada met his South African counterpart, minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, to discuss various issues. These included the possibility of using Japanese technology when South Africa resumes its nuclear power programme, as well as for its conversion from analogue to digital television.

Nkoane-Mashabane also expressed the hope that Japanese vehicle manufacturers would consider further investment in South Africa, especially in the area of component manufacture expansion.

But Japanese delegates accompanying Okada on his visit were still waiting to see the department of trade and industry's final Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP), the official said.

Discussions also covered the political situation in Madagascar, where Japan has many business interests, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it has long been contributing to the peace forces. Although Zimbabwe was on the agenda, there was apparently insufficient time to discuss it.

 - Sake24