Stilfontein mourns Kebble

2005-09-28 10:19

Johannesburg - The people of Stilfontein were mourning the death of mining magnate Brett Kebble, the trade union Solidarity said Wednesday morning.

"Mr Kebble's father Roger Kebble is a hero in Stilfontein so the whole town is mourning with him," union spokesperson Reint Dykema said.

Kebble was shot dead around in Melrose, Johannesburg, around 21:00 on Tuesday on his way to a dinner engagement.

His vehicle and body were found on a bridge crossing the M1 to Pretoria.

Roger Kebble, through his company Simmer and Jack, took over the mines at Stilfontein that were liquidated by Durban Roodepoort Deep.

Thousands of mine workers were left jobless after the mines closures.

It is expected that the mines will be up and running again in October.

"Mr Kebble has given the people of Stilfontein hope. When the mines start operating again 3 800 people will have work," said Dykema.

Roger Kebble had donated R50 000 to a scheme being run by Solidarity to feed the unemployed mineworkers and their families.

"Solidarity and the people of Stilfontein are shocked and send their condolences to the Kebble family," Dykema said.

A family spokesperson said the Kebble family were awaiting the outcome of an inquest into the death of Brett before commenting further.

"Everyone is in absolute shock," Gail Strauss said.

"Not much is known. Brett was driving alone. It is too soon to comment. We are waiting for the outcome of a police inquest.

"Roger (Brett's father) is on his way back from France. Until we know what is going on there is not much we can say."

The police said on Wednesday that they were looking at the possibility that Kebble was assassinated.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Chris Wilken said he could not give any further details.

"We are looking at the possibility of this being an assassination, but there is no evidence to suggest this so far," he said.

"Further than that I can not say anything else."

"We don't know if he was led into an ambush or if he was followed," Wilken said.

Kebble's advocate, Willem Heath, said it appeared as though Kebble had been deliberately murdered.

"It appears that it was probably a malicious attempt to kill him and he was in fact killed," Heath told SAFM.

- SAPA