President Cyril Ramaphosa might have to answer for a lucrative Eskom contract reportedly awarded to an individual who had donated to his CR17 campaign.
According to Independent Online, a company called Seriti Resources Holdings is in line to be the country’s biggest coal supplier to Eskom after acquiring a bulk of South32’s SA Energy Coal’s (SAEC) shares.
The publication has cited SAEF as claiming that both companies could end up supplying more than 70% of Eskom’s coal. Mike Teke, an executive at Seriti Resources Holdings, is alleged to have donated as much as R600 000 to Ramaphosa’s campaign for the ANC leadership.
IOL has also quoted a spokesperson for the company as denying any links between Teke’s donation and the merger.
“This was not connected with either Masimong Holdings or Seriti in any way. Any suggestion of a connection between the transaction and the donation is both far-fetched and spurious,” said Charmane Russell.
The SAEF has said small mining companies would suffer, as a result of the transaction
“Ignoring the concentration risk making Seriti the largest coal supplier to the only electricity provider at excessive cost-plus coal is not in the social or economic welfare of South Africans. The commission is creating the largest coal supplier to Eskom, in complete disregard of its role to create SMMEs,” it said.
Eskom, one of the country’s most critical entities, is said to have been a breeding ground for corruption – with a number of contracts having been linked to the controversial Gupta family under former president Jacob Zuma.
CR17 Campaign Funding
As much as R1 billion was donated towards Ramaphosa’s campaign – with some of the more prominent donors including Nicky Oppenheimer and Raymond Ackerman, who are among some of the wealthiest people in the country and have donated R10 million. An anonymous donor stuck out like a sore thumb for contributing a staggering R120 million.
The issue around his campaign funding has proven to be an albatross on Ramaphosa’s neck, as he is now locked in a legal battle with Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, in a bid to keep the records delving deeper into the donations, sealed from the public.
A number of prominent African National Congress (ANC) leaders have often accused, or at least hinted at Ramaphosa buying votes at the party’s 2017 elective conference, to secure victory against current Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamin-Zuma.
Read the original article on The South African
