Molefe 'helped Guptas' hijack coal mine, says Ngoako Ramatlhodi

South Africa’s former mineral resources minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi has accused Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe and chairman Ben Ngubane of helping the Gupta family “hijack” a coal mine. The explosive allegations were revealed on Tuesday by the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism and published by Eyewitness News.  The allegations surface a day after Molefe resumed his job as CEO of the electricity utility after a dispute over his multi-million rand “golden handshake”. Ramatlhodi told amaBhungane that he was pressured to effectively blackmail Glencore‚ owner of the Optimum coal mine which supplied coal to Eskom’s Hendrina power station. Optimum was placed under business rescue after Molefe reportedly refused to renegotiate a coal supply contract and imposed a R2 billion penalty against the company. South Africa was experiencing load-shedding at the time. Ramatlhodi said he resisted pressure to suspend the company’s mining licences and was soon afterwards removed as mini...