The Central Energy Fund (CEF) is auctioning its contentious research branch, Enerkom, at a fraction of its worth, amid speculation about why the state oil agency wants to get rid of it.
The CEF has approached a well-known auction house, Aucor, to sell Enerkom to the highest bidder, citing commercial reasons for disposing of the company.
Enerkom has been steeped in scandal since the Mail & Guardian broke the story last September that it had funded at least R80-million in trials of a coal-based HIV/Aids immune booster, Oxihumate K, on Tanzanian soldiers.
At that point Enerkom released a statement heralding Oxihumate K as a possible treatment for HIV-infected people. Now it is being sold without a word on the Tanzanian trials or the commercialisation of the HIV/Aids booster. The results of the Tanzanian trials remain a mystery.
The sale of Enerkom comes with a whopping loss of R100-million with the decision taken by CEF to pull the plug before commercialisation of Oxihumate K can take place.
Chico da Silva, director of Aucor, says Enerkom will not only be sold at a bargain but it will be a “steal”. He says the sale will include the intellectual property, pharmaceutical and agricultural pilot and processing plants, vehicles and all the patents for oxidative coal conversion technology. He speculated that the package could sell for anything from R30-million to R50-million.
Whether the buyer will continue with the research into Oxihumate K and coal oxidation remains to be seen.
“Its [Enerkom’s] greatest asset is the R100-million losses that can be used as a tax write-off,” Da Silva said.
Oxihumate K has been at the centre of criticism after being compared to the notorious Virodene drug. Both were used in trials in Tanzania under the auspices of the University of Pretoria.
The now-discredited Virodene involved two South African medical technicians, Jacques Zigi Visser and his wife Olga, who trumpeted the drug as a miracle anti-Aids substance despite worldwide concern that its active ingredient, dimethyl formamide is highly toxic and banned for use on humans.
In a report, acting CEF chairperson Coen Kruger denied that the sale of Enerkom was in any way influenced by the Tanzanian expose. He did not acknowledge a request by the M&G for the results of the Tanzanian trials. The M&G understands that an independent assessor has been called in to evaluate the research thus far.
He did not comment on why the CEF invested huge amounts of money into the research of Oxihumate K without maintaining investment until commercialisation. Part of the CEF’s mandate is to research and develop projects in the field of energy and to commercialise these technologies.
Other questions not addressed are how much Enerkom lost on the Oxihumate K project and whether the substance is still being sold in South Africa as a nutritional product.
Sources say that the reason for the secrecy is that the Tanzanian trials may not have been as successful as planned and the CEF may have something to hide so as not to become embroiled in another Virodene scandal.
Scientists familiar with Oxihumate K say the chromium levels of the drug were too high for human consumption.
The Department of Minerals and Energy failed to comment on whether it was briefed on the outcome of the Tanzanian trials or on its role in the sale of Enerkom.
The auctioning of Enerkom flies in the face of last year’s statement that: “Due to the devastating impact of HIV/Aids pandemic … Enerkom has undertaken research aimed at treating people suffering from Aids/HIV.”
But certain questionsremain unanswered. Why have the results of the Tanzanian trials not been made public? Who is accountable for the loss of R100-million that could have been used for anti-retroviral treatment or other health care needs? Is the CEF trying to cover up another discredited attempt to produce an Aids cure for Africa?
The auction will take place in Pretoria on October 30.