A coal company may have admitted on live radio that it paid the ANC's Youth League (ANCYL) to assist in preventing its contract with Eskom being terminated.
In an interview with Radio 702 on Monday, Just Coal CEO Joe Singh reportedly admitted to paying R500,000 to the ANCYL in return for help with a political solution to the firm's problems with Eskom.
The Sunday Times reported that ANCYL president Collen Maine accepted the donation and promised to help stop the contract being terminated.
This came after the parastatal had given notice that it would terminate its R8 billion contract with the company. Maine had allegedly not delivered on his end of the deal.
Singh admitted he expected that after paying the donation, his company's contract would be saved.
"When the main contract was terminated, we had to seek help...We did give to the ANC Youth League half a million Rand. But what was asked that the ANCYL needs certain donations and we are interested in youth so it is not as dirty as it looks," Singh told 702 host Eusebius McKaiser.
"Nothing came of it...We did have an expectation, it was that someone politically aligned could deal with [Matshela Koko]."
He said the money was donated to the league and not to any individual in their personal capacity.