Chancellor House is a South African holding company managing investments in themining,engineering,energy andinformation technology sectors.^[3][4] It is named afterChancellor House, the building where the law firm ofNelson Mandela andOliver Tambo was located.

After initially being exposed as a surreptitious funding front for theAfrican National Congress (ANC) it was subsequently acknowledged as an in-house investment firm for the party.^[5] It is best known for the controversy surrounding the award to it of lucrativeblack economic empowerment andparastatal contracts.

The existence of the company was first revealed to the public in 2006. AMail & Guardian newspaper article alleged that the company had been formed in 2003 on the initiative ofMendi Msimang, then treasurer-general of the ANC, with the explicit intention of raising funds for the party.^[3]

Prior to the newspaper report the company was virtually unknown;Kgalema Motlanthe, then secretary general of the party, reportedly first learned of it when contacted by the newspaper for comment.^[6]

In September 2021, the company itself admitted that it served as a funding vehicle for the ANC.^[7]

On 10 November 2021, Mamatho Netsianda and Zwelibanzi Nzama, a senior executive, were implicated in a politically connected real estate development project dating back to 2008. Land aboveSandton station had been transferred by the City of Johannesburg, but payment had never been received.^[8]

In November 2007 parastatal electricity supplierEskom awarded for six steam generators worth R20 billion, to a consortium includingHitachi Power Africa. At the time of the award that company was 25% owned by Chancellor House.^[9]

In February 2008 the ANC said it would appoint advisers with a view to transparently exiting the transaction due to governance issues.^[10] In March 2008 the office of thePublic Protector said an investigation into the transaction was underway.^[11]

Following charges under theForeign Corrupt Practices Act by theSecurities and Exchange Commission,Hitachi agreed to a $19 million settlement in September 2015.^[12] These perceptions of poor accountability, transparency and management associated with the ANC also attracted criticism from theDemocratic Alliance, an opposition party.^[13]

The ANC had received large donations from the Putin linked Russian oligarchViktor Vekselberg, whilst the party's investment arm, Chancellor House, has a joint investment with Vekselberg in a South African manganese mine.^[14][15] This has been linked by the media to South Africa's allegedly friendly diplomatic stance to Russia during itsinvasion of Ukraine and theLady R incident.^[14][15]

• Companies based in Johannesburg
• Investment management companies of South Africa
• African National Congress

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022