Publication: The Times Issued: Date: 2008-02-24 Reporter: Buddy Naidu

New ANC Probes Old Guard's Shady Deals

 

Publication 

The Times
Date

2008-02-24
Reporter Buddy Naidu

Web Link

www.thetimes.co.za

 

'Heads will definitely roll if anything untoward is unearthed, as expected'

Phosa warns that law will take its course if criminality is found *1

The ANC'S new leadership has ordered a forensic audit of all empowerment deals and tenders worth billions acquired by the party's controversial investment company, Chancellor House.

The Sunday Times has established that the auditing firm Ernst & Young has been appointed to look into the company's books and unravel a series of "questionable" transactions.

The investigation, started by the ANC leadership elected at the December conference in Polokwane, is also expected to look into the roles played by President Thabo Mbeki's inner circle, including his deputy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and former treasurer-general Mendi Msimang, husband of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

In a move that could be seen as post-Polokowane vengefulness, insiders say all the party's secrets could be revealed and those who benefited could be named and shamed.

One said: "Heads will definitely roll if anything untoward is unearthed, as expected."

Some of the big deals clinched by Chancellor House include:
A 10% shareholding in the engineering company Bateman *1, whose chief executive, Sivi Gounden, was also a founding director of Chancellor House. Gounden was director-general of Public Enterprises from 1999 to 2003.

It has also long been suspected within party ranks that Chancellor House was one of the many beneficiaries of the empowerment stake in Telkom in 2006, especially after revelations that Msimang wrote a letter to Telkom shareholders saying Mbeki had approved the deal .

ANC luminaries associated with Chancellor House include former National Council of Provinces chief whip Henry Makgothi, advocate Edith Kuzwayo, businessman Tebogo Makgatho, Irene Charnley, now a billionaire shareholder and director of MTN, and Professor Taole Mokoena, the chairman. Chancellor House's managing director is Mamatho Netsianda, who worked under Msimang in exile in London and is a former deputy secretary of defence.

On Friday, the ANC's treasurer-general, Mathews Phosa, confirmed that the audit was designed to establish the exact value of these deals as well as to ascertain whether there were any conflicts of interest.

He said it was being done to protect the party's reputation and promote " ethics and good governance in business".

He hinted that criminal investigations might follow if anything untoward was uncovered.

"The law will have to take its course," he said.

Chancellor House Holdings was formed in March 2003, three months after the ANC's national conference in Stellenbosch. Questions have since been raised about funding received by the ANC, with the party lurching from one scandal to the next.

Funding was so secretive that Msimang was reputed to have reported only to Mbeki ­ often keeping secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe in the dark.

Motlanthe, now the party's deputy president, said last year he had first learnt of Chancellor House when he read about its existence in the Mail& Guardian in 2006.

There have been questions within the party about why it could not pay its bills when it was involved in so many deals.

Founded by historian Professor Bernard Magubane, the company is owned by the Chancellor House Trust. The trustees are Msimang, former North West Premier Popo Molefe and businesswoman Salukazi Dakile-Hlongwane.

After persistent denials by company directors, Msimang admitted in December that the company was an "investment vehicle" . In his report to the ANC conference in Polokwane he announced a remarkable turnaround in the party's financial affairs, from an operating deficit of R76-million in the 2002- 03 financial year to an October surplus of R67-million, with assets and investments totalling R1.75-billion.

Insiders, however, are now questioning whether he misled the party.

In 2005, for example, Chancellor House signed a manganese mining deal with a company associated with Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg in which its stake is estimated at well over R1.8-billion.

Questions have also been raised about the role of Mbeki in facilitating the deals.

Phosa announced last week that the party had ordered Chancellor House to withdraw from the Hitachi deal with Eskom because of "ethical considerations and corporate governance reasons".

With acknowledgements to Buddy Naidu and The Times.



*1       What an absolute arsehole.

In the case of his hero, Jacob Zuma, the law has taken its course and criminality has been found (and not just on a prima facie basis, but the real thing proven in the High Court and confirmed unanimously in the Supreme Court of Appeal).

Now the Head must roll convincingly into the wicket basket at the end of the due process.


But in this case, it is a clear case of some people are more equal than others.


2.      Refer :
Ready to Execute Aluminium Expansion : BHP Billiton in Southern Africa
http://www.miningweekly.co.za/article.php?a_id=108313
And things start getting alot clearer.


But, in general, this is the alpha, but not yet the omega, of the post-1994 politics of corruption in this once beloved land.

First the Amabunu, then the Amabantu.