The first of 2 500 laid-off workers at troubled Pamodzi Gold’s
Orkney mine could be back at work by the end of October if the court this week
approves the R150 million buyout offer by a Chinese-South African
consortium.
The bid, announced last Friday, sees BEK Resources, a local
consortium headed by Elias Khumalo, and the SSC Mandarin Group teaming up to buy
the mine through a joint venture known as China African Precious Metals.
The bid comes after Aurora Empowerment Systems, headed by President
Jacob Zuma’s nephew, Khulubuse, lost its preferred bidder status for Pamodzi’s
assets and at a time when more than 5?300 former Pamodzi workers are out on the
street and are owed millions by Aurora.
In a rare interview in Durban this week, the publicity-shy Khumalo,
a close associate and backer of the president, was upbeat about the
acquisition.
“There are a lot of people who are saying that this is a political
transaction aimed at saving the president embarrassment and that this is
something he has asked me to do. This is not the case.
“This is a business deal that is also motivated by a bid to save
jobs and rescue people’s livelihood while making a profit in the long term.
“I have not been asked to do this by the president. I have not
formally briefed him when we have met, but I will do so, just as I have briefed
the leadership of the minerals and energy department,” Khumalo said.
Khumalo’s consortium, which already owns diamond mines in Free
State and Northern Cape, and has signed memorandums of interest in two other as
yet unnamed gold mines, is interested in bidding for Pamodzi’s East Rand
Driefontein mine if it goes up for auction.
“We are interested in the East Rand mine, which is a bigger, better
and potentially more productive mine, with a longer life span than Orkney,”
Khumalo said.
“However, it has been badly stripped and its assets have
deteriorated terribly since the last balance sheet for us to make a bid now. If
it goes on auction, we will express interest.”
Khumalo is unfazed by the letter of demand from Aurora’s directors
to joint provisional liquidators, who are administering the Pamodzi assets, for
R15?million they claim to have spent on upkeep and their threat to interdict the
sale if their demand is not met.
In it, the
directors, who include Khulubuse Zuma; Nelson Mandela’s nephew, Zondwa;
President Zuma’s lawyer, Mike Hulley; and Thulani Ngubane say they will go to
court and halt the sale if the joint provisional liquidators fail to pay
them.
Insiders believe the legal threat is an attempt by the Aurora brass
to force the hand of the current inquiry into alleged asset stripping by them.
The inquiry was appointed by the Master of the High Court in Pretoria and
continues next week.
“There is no legal standing for them to stop the sale. This is a
matter for Aurora and the joint provisional liquidators to sort out, even if it
is at court, and has no relevance over the current deal,’’ Khumalo said.
“I don’t believe that Aurora will do anything to jeopardise the
transaction as they support it.”
The lawyer acting for the joint provisional liquidators, John
Walker, said they would “vehemently” oppose any action by Aurora to recover the
money, a deposit paid on the R600?million they had failed to raise to pay for
the mine. “Your client’s threatened application ... is stillborn, vexatious
and fraught with malice,” Walker said in a letter to Aurora’s Durban lawyer,
Ahmed Amod. “As a result, our clients will seek a punitive costs order against
your client as part of their opposition to that application.”
Unions whose members are owed millions by Aurora will also oppose
any bid by its directors to secure money from the liquidators.
Khumalo told City Press that once the deal was approved, the new
owners would pump R1?billion into Orkney (up from the original R525?million they
had budgeted), starting with refurbishment of its assets and the construction of
a gold processing plant. Previously, the mine had farmed its gold ore out for
production to AngloGold.
“We have a recall agreement with the unions and will start with
re-employing workers who were laid off, who total 2?500, 500 of whom were
sourced from labour brokers,” Khumalo said. “I’m a supporter of government
policy and we’ll eventually take on those employed by brokers directly.
“This isn’t a situation where we can buy the mine on Tuesday and
start mining on Friday, but we hope to have the first of several tranches of
workers back on the job by the end of October if our timetable works out.”
Khumalo believes that in the long run Orkney can turn a profit and
that their investment will pay off.
“Yes, we are trying to help out and address
a very bad and very embarrassing situation, but we believe that we will make
money out of this in the long term.’’
Khumalo has begun talks with the National Union of Mineworkers and
Solidarity, both of which have backed the sale.
