Zuma ‘tried to save’ Aurora, wants payback

Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma’s nephew Khulubuse Zuma will be looking to recover about R35 million that he claims to have lost in the Aurora mining debacle.

His spokesman Vuyo Mkhize said Zuma wants to be included in the list of people owed by Aurora after he personally spent a significant amount of cash to handle the company’s financial obligations.

He claimed the matter had been portrayed as a disaster managed by Zuma which left workers to suffer, yet the liquidators’ own affidavits showed that the Pamodzi mines were already in trouble when Aurora took over.

Zuma and other directors of the liquidated Aurora Empowerment Systems, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zondwa, are facing a R1.7 billion claims by Pamodzi liquidators, who want them to be held personally liable.

Problems with Aurora’s bid to buy Pamodzi’s mines became evident when the company failed to pay workers, who were plunged into poverty after going for months without being paid.

Mkhize said Zuma had actually put in his own money to try and get the salaries and wages of the workers paid, and also to protect the assets of the mines so they would not be stripped off.

“In cases like these it’s unlikely he will get all of the money, but some of it must come back,” said Mkhize.

Zuma lists a number of payments he made on behalf of Aurora, amounting to about R35 million, and wants to be included in the list of creditors who were not paid while the Bhana family, who were Aurora advisers and consultants, when they made payments to themselves.

The North Gauteng High Court last week made an order setting aside those payments.

During the inquiry by Aurora liquidators into the collapse of Aurora’s attempts to buy Pamodzi mines, Zuma also reveals that he lost a business opportunity to buy a goods delivery ship from Daewoo because of the bad publicity he was getting from the Aurora deal.

“The fact is that by the time Aurora took over, workers were already not receiving wages and salaries.

“It was actually Mr Zuma who realised their plight and put up R5 million to create some relief for them while trying other means to save the mines,” said Mkhize.

Some of the money Zuma had spent “from his own pockets” included the repayment of an R8 million loan that had been acquired by the directors.

He had also paid for security at the mine when he learnt the mine was being stripped off its assets, which he alleged was being done by illegal miners.

According to Zuma, he had put up the money as he believed the mines could still be saved and had already worked hard to make sure the deal was not jeopardised.

“Mr Zuma had managed to secure funds from Chinese investors, and while they were in the country the liquidators removed Aurora from the mines.

“He had worked hard and it fell apart,” said Mkhize.

The North Gauteng High Court last week ordered Sulliman Bhana, his son Faizel, his wife Zubaida, daughters Shamilla and Feroza and their friends Mohamed Limbada and Zeenat Laher, to pay R15.5 million to Pamodzi liquidators.

About R16 million worth of unlawful payments that were made to them between 2009 and 2010, were set aside as they were made when the company was already insolvent and employees were not being paid their wages.

Though noted as a small victory for the liquidators, the main case is the R1.7 billion rand claim that the liquidators want the directors of Aurora, including Zuma, to be held personally liable for.

The affidavits from Zuma and more recently Thulani Ngubane, a former director Aurora, have seen what appears to be a blame game about who was responsible for the reckless management of the company and the stripping of its assets.

Zuma has laid the blame of the other directors, claiming he was not involved in the day-to-day activities, and that all his actions during his tenure as the chairman of the Aurora board were based on information supplied to him by the directors.

Ngubane, in his affidavit submitted to the Gauteng High Court, Ngubane refutes fraud allegations made by Pamodzi liquidators, saying at the time they made the bid to purchase the Orkney and East Rand mines, they believed they would be able to purchase it.

Like Zuma, he claims that they would have been able to secure $100 million from Chinese investors had the liquidators not kicked them off the mine. The case has been postponed to March next year.

mogomotsi.magome@inl.co.za

Sunday Independent

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