Johannesburg - The end of the road has arrived for the then directors of the now defunct Aurora mining company as the Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled against them.
This is according to Solidarity, which on Thursday issued a victorious statement saying the ruling “brings an end to Aurora directors’ evasion of the justice system and they will now have to cough up”.
Towards the end of last year, Khulubuse Zuma (President Jacob Zuma’s nephew), Zondwa Mandela (former president Nelson Mandela’s grandson) as well as Thulani Ngubani, Solly Bhana and Fazel Bhana, were found liable in their personal capacity for Aurora’s looting of the Pamodzi mining assets worth R1.7 billion by the North Gauteng High Court.
Aurora took over Pamodzi’s liquidated Orkney and Grootvlei mines in 2009, and were responsible for running the mines.
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In its statement, trade union Solidarity says the directors’ application for leave to appeal has now been dismissed by the Supreme of Appeal.
The union’s General Secretary Gideon du Plessis says this signals the end of five years of evading and frustrating the justice system and it means the Aurora directors have to cough up for damages and pay the outstanding salaries of the 5 300 workers without delay.
“Should they fail to do so, they would be sequestrated. More criminal investigations into corruption and gross mismanagement and possible prosecution will follow straightaway,” Du Plessis says.
Aurora was liquidated in October 2011.
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The directors had been accused of running down the infrastructure at the mines and causing the loss of more than 5 300 jobs.
Aurora was named the preferred bidder to manage the Pamodzi mines in Gauteng and the North West when the company was liquidated in 2009.
The Pamodzi liquidators wanted the Aurora directors to pay about R1.7 billion after allegedly stripping the mines and selling items like headgear from the shafts as scrap, and for failure to pay the salaries of employees.
The mines then fell into disrepair and were ravaged by illegal miners.
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