The African National Congress is developing a new policy that will limit the number of empowerment deals its members and their spouses may make, the Sunday Times reported.
The newspaper said new evidence has emerged that the party’s executives are richer than ever.
The Sunday Times published its ”Rich List”, which includes details of five members of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) who have a combined wealth of R1,5-billion in shareholdings alone.
The party’s deputy secretary general, Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, handed a discussion document on members’ business interests to the ANC’s 66-member NEC two weeks ago.
The ANC is considering imposing a five-year cooling-off period to bar officials from doing business in the area they managed while in the government.
Mthembi-Mahanyele, who is heading the ruling party’s committee drafting the proposed limits, told the Sunday Times: ”We ask, as the ANC, can our cadres be active politicians and also have business interests? Those in business, how do we relate to them?”
The newspaper’s ”Rich List” — calculating wealth by March 31 this year — shows that white men remain the wealthiest South Africans.
Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal tops the list with a fortune of R14,6-billion, followed by Nicky Oppenheimer (R14-billion), the Rupert family (R8,5-billion) and Patrice Motsepe (R7,9-billion).
The ANC’s five wealthiest NEC members are Saki Macozoma, ranked 35th on the list; Cyril Ramaphosa, 36th; Popo Molefe, 64th; Mohammed Valli Moosa, 65th; and Smuts Ngonyama, the head of President Thabo Mbeki’s Luthuli House office, whose Elephant Consortium is ranked fifth on the list.
The list, compiled from publicly available information on listed investments, boasts 20 billionaires and 130 South Africans worth more than R100-million.