Response from Tegeta Resources on Sunday Times story

13 SEPTEMBER 2015

There is an often used taunt in the media industry that one should not let the facts get in the way of publishing a good story.

It would seem that the Sunday Times has taken this to heart with its poorly researched, factually bankrupt story and editor’s comment in today’s edition (see here).

In addition to their coverage of ourselves, recent serious shortcomings in their approach can be confirmed by their recent apologies to Ronnie Kasrils and Graeme Smith where the Press Ombud found them wanting in their application of the Press Code.

For example, today’s editor’s comment makes very serious factual errors in its attempt to link the Gupta family to the Presidency.

1. It claims one of the President’s wives is employed within the group. None of the President’s wives are currently employed by the group

2. It states as fact that the Gupta’s paid for the house of the President’s wife when this is factually untrue.

3. It states “two of Zuma’s children have big jobs with Gupta firms” – again, factually untrue

4. It claims we are supplying Eskom with sub-standard coal – again, the daily testing at Eskom-controlled labs will prove this to be untrue. The discrepancy in quality only came up in August 2015, despite daily testing.

In its lead story, assumptions abound with little reference to fact.

Most importantly, the Sunday Times again tries to place the Gupta family in the middle of its reporting. Oakbay Investments, the family’s primary vehicle holds less than 50% of the shareholding in Tegeta, so to place the Gupta’s in the headline is once again mischievous and misleading. It is also worth noting that Oakbay is run by a team of competent and professional managers. It is insulting and demeaning to the Oakbay management team or that of any of its subsidiaries when media constantly refer to the family in the decisionmaking.

Since the start of the supply in April 2015 testing has been conducted on an ongoing daily basis.

Up to the end of July 2015, test results from our internal lab and that of Eskom’s were in kilter and surpassed by a good margin the required quality requirements as set down in our contract with Eskom. The Sunday Times claim that two months into the contract problems arose with quality is therefore without factual basis.

In August 2015, unexplained discrepancies arose around the levels of sulphur.

Our mine management was perplexed by this drastic change in the results as the mining was being conducted in the same seam in the same pit and even the same area of the pit.

Eskom then undertook further investigation into the discrepancies as is their responsibility.

Eskom sent samples to a third laboratory, also Eskom-controlled, and received the same results. These still remained at odds with the results from our internal laboratory.

Of its own accord, Eskom then appointed the South African Bureau of Standards to test samples. It is important to note that the SABS lab results we believe were consistent with the results from our internal lab.

While the Eskom investigation was underway, Eskom suspended all collections from Tegeta until it had completed its internal investigations. We accepted Eskom’s decision and the processes they opted to put in place once they received results from the SABS.

Once its investigation was complete, Eskom on its own volition opted to reinstate supply from Tegeta and we complied with their request.

The Sunday Times allegation that Tegeta failed quality tests four times before the agreement was signed is also without any basis of fact, and interestingly flies in the face of the allegations of the Gupta family being politically-connected. One must wonder how can a business in which the family which is said to be that connected struggle for almost four years to secure a supply agreement from Eskom.

Statement issued by Nazeem Howa, Director Oakbay Investments, September 13 2015