Man bitter after R1m Anglo American fronting spat

A Northern Cape businessman is alleging he was used as a front in a transporting business to get R1 million in funding from mining giant Anglo American, which was later abused by his business partner.

And Donald Kilelo is now accusing the mining house of colluding with his business partner to take his business away from him.

More than a year after the complaint was lodged with the mining company, its empowerment arm – which funded the business with R1m – is washing its hands of the fronting scandal.

Kilelo says Anglo American’s Zimele Community Fund sponsored his company, Malelo Transport, because it was an empowerment initiative.

But he alleges that after the deal was secured, his business partner, Maritjie van Jaarsveld, snatched control of the company and exploited its finances – allegedly taking inflated salaries and using the company’s expense account to fund her lavish lifestyle.

And he alleges that she transferred the ownership of the corporation’s three taxis without his consent or knowledge – and that Anglo provided the necessary ownership documentation to facilitate this.

But Anglo American is refusing to step in or explain how Kilelo’s assets were transferred, saying Zimele only guides entrepreneurs and does not manage its businesses’ day-to-day running.

Spokeswoman Hulisani Rasivhaga argued that when the corporation applied for funding no fronting was evident.

Rasivhaga refused to comment on allegations that Anglo had facilitated the transfer of ownership documents from Malelo Transport to other entities.

Van Jaarsveld’s lawyer, Angelo Da Silva, dismissed the allegations as “factually incorrect”.

“Kilelo took no serious interest in the business, and in many respects failed to comply with his agreed obligations pertaining to the business,” said Da Silva. According to Da Silva, Van Jaarsveld had to step in against her will.

The Sunday Independent has seen a copy of the letter sent from Kilelo’s legal representatives to the head of security at Anglo-Operations.

“Our client is concerned about the manner in which the buses were transferred to Tau Mining without his consent and knowledge.

“Furthermore, the existing loan agreement was between the members of the Malelo Transport and Anglo American. How was it possible for Tau Mining to sign and allow the buses to be transferred without our client’s signature?

“We view the matter in a serious light as it demonstrates the hardship black emerging individuals have in the mining sector where connected individuals abuse the system of loan funding for their benefit. We anticipated Anglo American financed the corporation with a view to Mr Kilelo growing the business to his own benefit not to fulfil the agendas of Tau Mining… Anglo American’s financing was, therefore, misappropriated and we, therefore, thought it was prudent to bring the matter to your attention.”

Kilelo had worked as operator with mining contractors Tau Mining Consultants before he was approached by the company’s managing director Chris Wood to open his own business.

Wood had reportedly suggested funding from Zimele. And before Kilelo had finalised the deal, Wood told Kilelo to partner with Van Jaarsveld, who he is in a relationship with, to assist the business’s start-up for a year. Malelo Transport used three taxis to transport miners employed by Tau Mining to and from the mine in Kathu in the Northern Cape from 2008.

But, according to Kilelo, by last year Van Jaarsveld had full control of the company.

According to Kilelo, he never received any profit shares and there were inconsistencies in their salaries. Van Jaarsveld took home close to R14 000 more in salary payments over a seven-month period.

She also allegedly used the company bank card without his consent to pay a R4 000 accommodation bill at a guest house, used the company drivers without his consent and deposited R10 000 into Wood’s account.

Van Jaarsveld also allegedly deducted income tax and unemployment levies from workers, which were not paid over to the relevant authorities.

But Da Silva, who also represents Wood and Tau Mining, said the taxis were purchased at market value by Tau Mining from Malelo Transport as the company could not pay its monthly installments.

No profit shares were paid out and any increased salary that Van Jaarsveld received was “probably” due to overtime she worked.

He said any accommodation payment that Van Jaarsveld had made was “most probably” work-related accommodation and any money given to Wood would “probably” have been for the repayment of a loan he had made to the business.

Da Silva said Kilelo’s attorney had sight of the documents relating to the company and were satisfied that all was in order.

But Elijah Ramonyai, of Koikanyang Incorporated, representing Kilelo, disagreed, saying the documents, were not in order. They would reconsider their position and course of action.

candice.bailey@inl.co.za

Sunday Independent