Chancellor House (company)
Encyclopedia
Chancellor House is a South Africa
n group of companies active in the mining
, engineering
, energy
and information technology
sectors. It is named after Chancellor House
, the building where the law firm of Nelson Mandela
and Oliver Tambo
was located.
After initially being exposed as a surreptitious funding front for the African National Congress
it was subsequently acknowledged as an in-house investment firm for the party. It is best known for the controversy surrounding the award to it of lucrative black economic empowerment
and parastatal contracts.
newspaper in a 2006 article. That article alleged that the company had been formed in 2003 on the initiative of Mendi Msimang
, then treasurer-general of the ANC, with the explicit intention of raising funds for the party.
Prior to the newspaper report the company was virtually unknown; Kgalema Motlanthe, then secretary general of the party, reportedly first learned of it when contacted by the newspaper for comment.
awarded the biggest single contract in its history, for six steam generators worth R20 billion, to a consortium including Hitachi Power Africa. At the time of the award that company was 25% owned by Chancellor House.
In February 2008 the ANC said it would appoint advisers with a view to transparently exiting the transaction due to governance issues. In March 2008 the office of the Public Protector
said an investigation into the transaction was underway.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n group of companies active in the mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
and information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
sectors. It is named after Chancellor House
Chancellor House (building)
Chancellor House is a building situated at 25 Fox Street, Ferreirasdorp, Johannesburg, that once housed the law firm of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo...
, the building where the law firm of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
and Oliver Tambo
Oliver Tambo
Oliver Reginald Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress .-Biography:Oliver Tambo was born in Bizana in eastern Pondoland in what is now Eastern Cape...
was located.
After initially being exposed as a surreptitious funding front for the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
it was subsequently acknowledged as an in-house investment firm for the party. It is best known for the controversy surrounding the award to it of lucrative black economic empowerment
Black Economic Empowerment
Black Economic Empowerment is a programme launched by the South African government to redress the inequalities of Apartheid by giving previously disadvantaged groups economic opportunities previously not available to them...
and parastatal contracts.
History
The existence of the company was first brought to light by the Mail & GuardianMail & Guardian
The Mail & Guardian is a South African weekly newspaper, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a strong focus on politics, government, the environment, civil society and business.- The Mail & Guardian newspaper :...
newspaper in a 2006 article. That article alleged that the company had been formed in 2003 on the initiative of Mendi Msimang
Mendi Msimang
Mendi Msimang has been treasurer of the African National Congress since 1997. From 1994 until that time, he served as High Commissioner in London, England. He was married to former Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, until her death in 2009. Msimang had been a member of the ANC Youth...
, then treasurer-general of the ANC, with the explicit intention of raising funds for the party.
Prior to the newspaper report the company was virtually unknown; Kgalema Motlanthe, then secretary general of the party, reportedly first learned of it when contacted by the newspaper for comment.
Eskom contract
In November 2007 parastatal electricity supplier EskomEskom
Eskom is a South African electricity public utility, established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission by the government of South Africa in terms of the Electricity Act . It was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie . The two acronyms were combined in 1986 and...
awarded the biggest single contract in its history, for six steam generators worth R20 billion, to a consortium including Hitachi Power Africa. At the time of the award that company was 25% owned by Chancellor House.
In February 2008 the ANC said it would appoint advisers with a view to transparently exiting the transaction due to governance issues. In March 2008 the office of the Public Protector
Public Protector
The Public Protector is an office established by the Constitution of South Africa. It is one of the Chapter nine institutions, named for the constitutional chapter that establishes a number of bodies with the mandate to guard democracy....
said an investigation into the transaction was underway.