Cape Town - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan conceded he was mystified by Chancellor House, and said it was imperative to get the facts about the ANC's investment arm as well as its reported 25% stake in Hitachi Power Africa.
Speaking to journalists on the sides of a briefing to parliament's finance committee meeting, Gordhan acknowledged that even he was trying to establish what Chancellor House was.
He also didn't know who its shareholders were, where exactly the ANC fitted in to the investment company, and what entity had a stake in Hitachi which had secured a R38bn contract to supply boilers to Eskom's Medupi power station.
Chancellor House, he said, apparently had its own board and its own CEO, and was an independent entity of the ANC.
Once the facts had been established, and if there was indeed any conflict of interest, Gordhan said that the shareholders should "do the right thing" and "deal with it".
"So can we put all the facts on the table, so we can understand what the proportions are before we wildly wave flags about it," said Gordhan.
His comments follow conflicting opinions in the party leadership on what should be done about Chancellor House's investment in Hitachi.
ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa has stated that the party will be disposing of this investment, but ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe later disagreed.
Aside from arguing that the decision to disinvest did not belong to Luthuli House because Chancellor House had its own board, Mantashe also argued that Chancellor House's stake in Hitachi did not mean the ANC had a stake in the consortium.
- Fin24.com