Goldrich chief accused of lying

Published May 2, 2014

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Carletonville - Employees of the distressed Blyvooruitzicht mine near Carletonville will hear the outcome of the court battle by provisional liquidators to cancel the sale of the mine this month.

Judge Haseena Mayat is scheduled to hand down judgement on May 12, after leading arguments at the South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The provisional liquidators want the court to cancel the sale of the mine to Goldrich Holdings, because the sale agreement had lapsed due to late payments.

If the court rules in favour of the liquidators, Goldrich will be evicted from the mine, and new buyers found.

The court heard how three agreements for the payment scheduled for December 6, January 13 and January 30 had lapsed before Goldrich deposited the money.

Goldrich paid the money on February 6.

To date Goldrich has paid R11.4 million towards the deal. Goldrich was given control of Blyvoor, which is in provisional liquidation, for R70m in December.

Michael Antonie, SC for the liquidators, called Goldrich chief executive Bonginkosi Mthethwa a “blatant liar under oath” following his testimony about the contract details on Wednesday.

Mthethwa said in a sworn affidavit that the handing over ceremony of the mine was held on February 7, when in fact it was held on January 30, before payment was made.

Antonie also grilled Mthethwa on why he had called Nicola Nolan, a lawyer for the liquidators, to agree to sign an affidavit confirming that the agreement had lapsed, and later backtracked.

Mthethwa said he had called Nolan because he was not happy with the business rescue practitioner and also to attempt to get the mine under Goldrich’s control.

Mthethwa owns a 50 percent shareholding in Goldrich and Thulani Ngubane, the chairman, holds the difference.

“Goldrich is not Aurora, but a new company that wants to grow,” Ngubane said on the sidelines of the court case. He is a former director of Aurora Empowerment Systems.

Fazel Bhana, Goldrich’s advisor, was also an investor in Aurora.

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