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Ramatlhodi grilled over shares

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Ngoako Ramatlhodi
Ngoako Ramatlhodi

Johannesburg - Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi was grilled about a potential conflict of interest related to his shareholding in a platinum mine.

Ramatlhodi was put on the spot regarding his shares by Bridgette Radebe of the SA Mining Development Association during President Jacob Zuma’s mining sector consultative forum. She is married to Ramatlhodi’s Cabinet colleague Jeff Radebe, and her brother is mining magnate Patrice Motsepe.

Radebe raised concerns about Ramatlhodi playing both sides as the minister and as a shareholder in platinum mining, and said this was a potential conflict of interest, which concerned the industry.

However, Ramatlhodi, who last year said he intended to divest from Atlatsa Resources, told Radebe that a conflict of interest did not exist because his interests were placed in a blind trust. Atlatsa Resources is a BEE partner of Anglo American Platinum.

Zuma, who was chairing the meeting, interjected and said he was satisfied with Ramatlhodi’s answer and asked for the matter to be discussed in a different forum.

The meeting, which was attended by mining bosses, unions and more than 10 Cabinet ministers from security and economic clusters, was called by the president in a bid to save thousands of jobs in the mining sector.

A spokesperson for the SA Mining Development Association, who confirmed the encounter, said Radebe was not available to comment on concerns raised at the meeting because she was abroad.

Ramatlhodi’s special adviser, Advocate Mahlodi Muofhe, defended the minister and said there was nothing the minister had done since taking office that would constitute a conflict of interest.

“Here’s a minister who has issued almost 400 notices to mining companies that were not complying with the prescripts of the law. He’s a minister who suspended a licence for a coal mine that supplies Eskom during the time when we’re talking load shedding. Can we still say it’s because he’s playing on both sides?” asked Muofhe.

He said Ramatlhodi’s shares were being disposed of as part of the divorce settlement with his wife.

“The process of managing and agreeing on the disposal of the assets of the said marriage is and has been ongoing, but it’s not a simple process.

“The process [of dissolving] a marriage that has substantive assets sometimes takes far longer.”

The criticism of Ramatlhodi’s share ownership comes as the minister is sparring in a court battle with the chamber over his decision to release the 2014 results of an assessment of theMining Charter, which found that only 90% of mines met the 26% black-ownership target the charter set in 2004.

The chamber, which is unhappy with the findings’ release despite an agreement that the department would hold off on the announcement, has referred the matter to court, as it believes its members have met the equity target.

Muofhe said the minister had welcomed the Chamber of Mines’ court challenge on the Mining Charter to put the matter to rest.

The minister’s interests

Ngoako Ramatlhodi is listed as a director in six companies. According to Companies and Intellectual Property Commission records, he is listed as the sole shareholder of a company called Michmel. He resigned from a property investment company called Nokokwena Property Investment, and he and Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe are listed as directors of Sechaba Research Institute. Ramatlhodi is also listed as an active director in Maruapula Capital.


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