State CAPTURE: Ramaphosa tells Zondo he held no mining shares
President Cyril Ramaphosa resigned as non executive chairman and disposed of his shares in the Glencore consortium before he took up his post as deputy president of the country and responsibilities related to Eskom.
This was the evidence Ramaphosa presented to the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture on Wednesday.
“There is one particular issue on which I wish to comment now since it has received widespread attention and can easily be disposed of. This relates to allegations made by Mr Brian Molefe and Mr Matshela Koko in relation to the stake that I held in the Optimum Mine prior to my entry into government and my later responsibilities with respect to the Eskom war room”
– Ramaphosa to the Zondo Commission
Ramaphosa explained that while he was in business, he had participated in a commercial consortium with Glencore in the acquisition of Optimum Holding, which was concluded in June 2012.
Ramaphosa said that after his election as ANC Deputy President in December 2012 he had initiated a review of his business interests to avoid potential conflicts. He said he had resigned as a director of Optimum Holdings on 6 June 2013 and disposed of his shareholding in Optimum Holdings on 22 May 2014, before his appointment as Deputy President.
“I had no further involvement or interest in Optimum after that point.
In December 2014, President Zuma assigned me responsibility to oversee efforts to turnaround several SOEs that were in dire straits.
I was asked to give guidance and direction to existing governance structures, focusing on the unique challenges of each structure,” he said.
“Only recently have we started to truly make progress on the challenges that SAA, Eskom and other SOEs face. As part of this responsibility, I chaired an Inter-Ministerial Committee on resolving the country’s severe energy challenges,” he said.
“The Technical War Room was under the day-to-day direction of Deputy Ministers of relevant departments and comprised representatives of Eskom and relevant departments. I was not a member of the Technical War Room,” he said.
He said in response to the allegations made on the matter, it was necessary to make the following points:
- My acquisition of shares in Optimum Holdings was a straightforward commercial transaction, done in accordance with regulations of the JSE.
- As non-executive chairperson of Optimum Holdings, I was not involved in operational matters of subsidiary companies, including contractual matters between, for instance, Eskom and Optimum Mine.
- By the time President Zuma assigned certain Eskom-related matters to me in December 2014, I had disposed of my shareholding in Optimum Holdings and had no other business interests in mining or energy.
- As is evident from the documents provided to the Commission with my statement, the Eskom technical war room was not involved in Eskom management or operational issues. I had no interest in, nor any opportunity to, influence Eskom’s decision-making process in matters pertaining to Optimum.
Ramaphosa also responded to Koko’s allegation that he had improperly interfered to procure his dismissal from Eskom in January 2018.
“As I detail in my statement to the Commission, Eskom was in a severe crisis at the time. Its domestic and international lenders were threatening to call on their loans, in part because of concerns about Eskom’s leadership and its reaction to allegations of corruption,” he said.
“Eskom’s predicament threatened its very existence as a going concern. It also threatened the country’s sovereign rating and the country’s ability to access much needed lines of credit.”
– Ramaphosa to the Zondo Commission
He said an urgent meeting was held at the President’s official residence on 19 January 2018, attended by President Zuma, Ministers Lynne Brown, Malusi Gigaba, and Ramaphosa.
“The meeting resolved that urgent action was necessary to avert a national disaster, to restore Eskom’s credibility, and instil confidence in Eskom. This would require changes to Eskom’s Board and its leadership. The Board would further be directed to remove all Eskom Executives facing allegations of corruption and other acts of impropriety, including Mr Koko,” he said.
However, he said Koko had contended that his removal was an instance of unlawful interference in Eskom’s affairs, executive overreach and state capture.
“The suggestion that government cannot lawfully intervene in Eskom’s affairs, even to avert a crisis, is completely incorrect,” Ramaphosa said.
“The mere fact that Mr Koko was removed does not mean that his removal was intended to achieve corrupt ends or to somehow capture Eskom.”
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