{"id":2495,"date":"2021-01-16T18:23:44","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T18:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?p=2495"},"modified":"2021-01-16T17:28:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T17:28:58","slug":"cyril-ramaphosa-was-used-to-politically-protect-mining-giant-state-capture-inquiry-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cyril-ramaphosa-was-used-to-politically-protect-mining-giant-state-capture-inquiry-hears","title":{"rendered":"Cyril Ramaphosa was \u2019used\u2019 to politically protect mining giant, state capture inquiry hears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Johannesburg – Former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe on Friday laid into President Cyril Ramaphosa and accused him of effectively being used by mining giant Glencore for political protection and to peddle his considerable influence.<\/p>\n

Molefe told the commission of inquiry into state capture that Ramaphosa was aware of what Glencore wanted to achieve when it made him chairperson of Optimum Coal Mine (OCM) in 2012 after it acquired the company that it subsequently sold to the controversial fugitive Gupta family.<\/p>\n

\u201dRamaphosa must have known about what Glencore sought to achieve; he was the chairperson of a company that was bought without a due diligence, he was chairperson when the penalties were imposed, he was still chairperson of OCM when the unlawful agreement that sought to increase the price of coal from R150 and set aside the penalties negotiated with certain members of Eskom staff in 2014,\u201d Molefe testified.<\/p>\n

He was referring to the R2 billion in penalties that Eskom issued to Glencore.<\/p>\n

\u201dHe knew that he was being used for his political standing and hoped to influence matters in Glencore\u2019s favour,\u201d said Molefe.<\/p>\n

The former Public Investment Corporation and Transnet chief executive added, \u201cHe is not na\u00efve and has been dealing with corporates which gave him his riches\u201d.<\/p>\n

Molefe\u2019s testimony is not the first time the claims about Ramaphosa using his political clout to favour Glencore have been made.<\/p>\n

In his 2016 book, Murder At Small Koppie: The Real Story of the Marikana Massacre, photo journalist Greg Marinovich writes that an interviewee, who wanted to remain anonymous, told him that a Glencore executive informed business partners that, \u201cI don\u2019t want to be crude, but we made him\u201d and that Shanduka Coal, which was Ramaphosa\u2019s company at the time, was Glencore\u2019s front.<\/p>\n

When the book was published, Ramaphosa was the country\u2019s deputy president and his office denied the claims.<\/p>\n

Molefe said Glencore made Ramaphosa rich.<\/p>\n

\u201dGlencore is a multi-billion rand company, their black economic empowerment partner Ramaphosa subsequently became the deputy president and president of the country.<\/p>\n

And this happened without any cooling-off period, it is rumoured that his campaign to be president of the ANC was financed to the tune of R1 billion, this was unprecedented in the ANC, and I dare say, was not in line with the culture, values and ethos of the ANC that I had come to know and which I continue to be a member of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Molefe, mere mortals like him simply do not stand a chance when they pit themselves against these powerful forces who were trying to extort R8 billion from a state-owned entity Eskom.<\/p>\n

The R8 billion is what Glencore\u2019s demand, that Eskom increase the price of coal per ton from R150 to R530, would have cost the power utility over three years and the writing off of R2 billion in penalties, incurred by the company.<\/p>\n

Molefe also expressed his displeasure at ex-Public Protector Thuli Madonsela for her 2016 state of capture report that led to the establishment of the commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear that Glencore had unfettered access to Thuli Madonsela and were able to impress on her what their beef with Eskom was,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Molefe accused Madonsela of not bothering to interview him for his side of the story, as required by the Public Protector Act.<\/p>\n

\u201dShe did none of that, proceeded in unprecedented haste to write and label as final a report which has been used to lynch certain people including myself and which gave rise to this commission. This commission is a child of a report that was written in very suspicious circumstances,\u201d he complained.<\/p>\n

Molefe could not complete his testimony on Friday after commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo announced that an official working closely with him tested positive for Covid-19, forcing the country\u2019s second most senior judge to self-isolate.<\/p>\n

Political Bureau<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Johannesburg – Former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe on Friday laid into President Cyril Ramaphosa and accused him of effectively being used by mining giant Glencore for political protection and to peddle his considerable influence. Molefe told the commission of inquiry into state capture that Ramaphosa was aware of what Glencore wanted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-2495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nCyril Ramaphosa was \u2019used\u2019 to politically protect mining giant, state capture inquiry hears - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Johannesburg - Former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe on Friday laid into President Cyril Ramaphosa and accused him o ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cyril-ramaphosa-was-used-to-politically-protect-mining-giant-state-capture-inquiry-hears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cyril Ramaphosa was \u2019used\u2019 to politically protect mining giant, state capture inquiry hears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Johannesburg - 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