Russian-linked mining company funded ANC elective conference

A manganese mining company to which sanctioned Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg is linked helped pay for the electoral conference held by the ANC in December. 

United Manganese of Kalahari, in which Vekselberg is an investor alongside the ANC’s investment company Chancellor House, paid R15 million to the Johannesburg Expo Centre, where the conference was held. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected for a second term at the gathering. 

The payment made the company the joint biggest donor to the ANC in the quarter ending December, according to a statement this week from the Electoral Commission of South Africa.

The ANC-linked Batho Batho Trust paid R15 million toward the party’s tax bill while Naspers Ltd. donated R2 million to the party.

The ANC has been struggling to meet its costs in recent months, making late payments to its staff who at one stage planned to refuse to work at the conference

South Africa, whose ruling party has historical ties to the former Soviet Union, has irked some of its biggest trading partners in the form of the US and European Union by abstaining on United Nations resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last month the African country’s navy held joint exercises with the Russian and Chinese navies.