Patrice Motsepe denies benefiting from brothers-in-law Ramaphosa and Radebe

18 February 2019 - 13:42
By Ernest Mabuza
Patrice Motsepe says his companies have not received any preferential treatment because of his relationship with President Cyril Ramaphosa and energy minister Jeff Radebe.
Image: ALON SKUY Patrice Motsepe says his companies have not received any preferential treatment because of his relationship with President Cyril Ramaphosa and energy minister Jeff Radebe.

Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe has denied that his renewable energy business has benefited from his relationship with his brothers-in-law - President Cyril Ramaphosa and energy minister Jeff Radebe.

Motsepe, chairman of African Rainbow Energy and Power (AREP), called a media briefing on Monday to address allegations made in the past that Ramaphosa was pursuing the inclusion of independent power producers because Motsepe was benefiting from the project.

Brian Dames, the CEO of AREP, said the company did not participate in the department of energy's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer (REIPP) project relating to the provision of electricity to Eskom under rounds 1,2,3 and 3.5, the total equity value of which was R47.2bn.

"The total equity value of AREP's current renewable energy projects is approximately R800m or 3.9 percent of the total equity value of the department of energy's round 4 REIPP programme which is R20.6bn," Dames said.

Motsepe said when Radebe was appointed energy minister last year, he had told Dames that AREP, which was formed in 2012, had a major and serious perception problem.

"The perceived conflict is a fundamental problem for AREP,"  Motsepe said.

Dames said for AREP, the market for its growth was in the rest of the continent.

Motsepe said in the past, his companies had avoided doing business with government.

He said some of the allegations made against him were "excessively ridiculous", such as that he had had a hand in the recent power outages.

Motsepe said he had people he employed who worked at the mines and power cuts also had a negative effect on his mining business.