Area served South Africa Founded 2003 | Headquarters Johannesburg | |
Key people Popo Molefe (Chairman)
Mamatho Netsianda (CEO) | ||
Chancellor House is a South African 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.
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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.
History
The existence of the company was first brought to light by the Mail & Guardian 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.
Eskom contract
In November 2007 parastatal electricity supplier Eskom 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.