Johannesburg - Billionaire businessman Christo Wiese has applauded moves by the government which will allow private players to contribute to solving South Africa’s energy generation problems.
Wiese said the government had finally seen the light and was optimistic that the country was now moving in the right direction.
Wiese was speaking to Talk Radio 702’s Clement Manyathela on Thursday during a wide-ranging interview.
Wiese said: “We are seeing now things are changing.”
He said after more than a decade or two of government “dragging its feet”, he was pleased by the change in approach which now saw the state concede to greater involvement of the private sector.
“The government has finally come to the conclusion that the solution for our energy problems is to get the private sector involved, let them generate clean energy and build power stations.
“We see this happening all through the economy.
“There are still people clinging to the old terrible policies of socialism and communism and thinking that the state can do everything, but they are in the minority, I believe,” Wiese said.
In July, as a result of unprecedented stage 6 load shedding, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced new measures, including the procuring of power from private players such as mines, paper mills and shopping malls, as well as excess power from neighbouring countries in the SADC region.
Ramaphosa has also announced private companies would be allowed to build power plants without requiring a licence. They would be able to generate electricity for their own needs and would be able to sell it to Eskom.
Said Wiese: “If the previous government had changed its policies 20 or 30 years before they finally did, this country would also have been vastly different, and I believe, vastly better, so nobody can deny that it took far too long for people to see the error of their ways.
“But rather than concentrating on that, we are grateful that finally it appears that we are moving forward in the right direction.”
Wiese also revealed that he disposed of his farm, the Lanzerac Wine Estate, to former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste who offered him Steinhoff shares in exchange.
Wiese said he was willing to “give him back his worthless shares” in exchange for Lanzerac.
Wiese admitted that the Steinhoff scandal was the biggest challenge of his life, having lost over R59 billion. He recovered R8bn.
“Fortunately, I made up my mind about how to deal with that and so far it’s working out,” he said.
On forgiving Jooste, he said it would require Jooste owning up to him before he could consider it.
“I will only consider forgiving him, because I am a Christian, when he owns up to what he has done.
“If he stops playing games to try stay out of jail and he owns up to what he did, I will consider forgiving him,” Wiese said.
Wiese, who also served on the Steinhoff board and was at one stage the executive chairperson, described Jooste as a “clever schemer” who worked with colleagues in Europe to get his way.
“He constructed this very carefully over a long period of time.
“It’s not only top business people including myself that he managed to defraud, but he managed to get through the internal auditors at Steinhoff, component auditors all around the world, and the statutory auditors and Deloitte, one of the largest firms in the world, and he managed to get through the Reserve Bank,” he said, adding that ratings agencies and regulators were also duped. .
“He managed to mislead all those people.
“As we know it’s a highly complicated matter. People often criticise our prosecuting authority for having not put him in the dock yet, but the Germans have been looking for six or seven years and they haven’t put anyone in the dock. But the wheels are turning,” he said.
Wiese said he was optimistic and patient, that Jooste, would one day have his day in court, as the matter was complex.
“I have no doubt, at the end of the day, money always leaves a trail, you cannot just make it disappear in some cloud,” he said.
IOL