/ 22 May 2010

Cosatu: Chancellor House buys stake in Swazi mine

The ANC's investment arm, Chancellor House Holdings, has acquired a 75% stake in the Maloma Colliery in Swaziland, Cosatu said on Friday.

The ANC’s investment arm, Chancellor House Holdings, has acquired a 75% stake in the Maloma Colliery in Swaziland, Cosatu said on Friday.

“Cosatu calls upon its ally, the ANC, to immediately instruct Chancellor House Holdings to sell its stake in this mine and join the international campaign to expose and isolate this monarchist dictatorship,” Congress of South African Trade Unions international secretary Bongani Masuku said in a statement.

Citing a Swaziland newspaper, Masuku said Chancellor House Holdings bought the share from Xstrata.

According to the report the transaction was endorsed by the Swaziland government whose Natural Resources and Energy Minister, Jinnoh Nkambule, confirmed the deal.

“It is true that Maloma Colliery mine shares have finally been purchased by ANC’s Chancellor House Holdings. The signing deal was completed recently and only the legal processes are being finalised at the moment,” he told the Times of Swaziland.

“Government is looking forward at meeting the new management in the near future.”

Masuku said the people of Swaziland were subjected to inhumane treatment “at the hands of an entrenched and ruthless absolute monarchy”.

Political parties in the country remain banned, opposition parties and movements were outlawed and laws were used to prevent democratic activity, he said.

The Swaziland Democracy Campaign was supported by South African unions, particularly those affiliated to Cosatu.

“The SDC would naturally expect the African National Congress, with its rich traditions of mass struggle against dictatorship and apartheid, to be in the forefront of a campaign for democracy and human rights in our neighbouring country,” Masuku said.

“Swazi democrats will therefore be devastated if it is indeed true that the ANC is now propping up a strategic part of the country’s economy.”

ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa, could not immediately be reached for comment. – Sapa