CAPE TOWN - After eight years 300 of the 5300 former employees of Aurora Empowerment Systems would begin to receive partial payments this week, according to trade union Solidarity.
“These funds form part of their overdue salaries, which will be paid out after an eight-year legal battle against the former Aurora directors,” said Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis yesterday.
This follows after Aurora Empowerment Systems was appointed by the Pamodzi liquidators in October 2009 to manage the mines of Pamodzi Gold that had been placed under provisional liquidation.
“Aurora was finally liquidated in October 2010 and since then, Solidarity, together with the liquidators, has been trying to recover the workers’ overdue salaries and to hold the former Aurora directors responsible for the total destruction of the mine assets,” Du Plessis said.
He said unfortunately, according to the Insolvency Act, a maximum of R28000 could be paid to an employee as preferential claimant, regardless of the magnitude of the claim.