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Johannesburg - Aurora Empowerment Systems, the company that
brought Pamodzi Gold's East Rand and Orkney operations to their knees, was
liquidated on Tuesday morning, trade union Solidarity said.
Solidarity said the liquidation order - which was granted by
the North Gauteng High Court after ratifying a R9m liquidation application of
Copper Eagle - paved the way for legal action against the directors for the
Aurora disaster.
The first such claim is expected to come from the joint
provisional liquidators of Pamodzi Gold, who are expected to hold the directors
accountable for R1.7m worth of losses at the mines.
Aurora took over management of the still operational mines
in late 2009 but in the two years that they were under the company's
management, the mines have been looted to the point where huge capital
expenditure is necessary to restore them to operational level.
The four directors in the firing line are President Jacob
Zuma's nephew Khulubuse Zuma; Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa Mandela;
President Zuma's attorney Michael Hulley and Thulani Ngubani, Aurora's
commercial director.
On Monday these directors and their related consultant
witnesses were accused of derailing an inquiry into Aurora's dealings.
Having failed to produce documents to the commissioner of
the inquiry - despite being required to do so in terms of the summonses - the
directors were seen as purposely aiming to drag out the process.
"The joint provisional liquidators express their severe
disappointment as to the way in which the directors of Aurora, and their
consultants, have apparently disregarded the due process of law in what can
only be considered as an attempt to delay the conclusion of the Master's
investigation into this matter," the liquidators said.
They added that that they have reserved the rights of the
insolvent estates in totality, including the right to lay criminal charges
against the witnesses.
"The liquidation order will hopefully result in the
directors of Aurora Empowerment Systems being brought to book for their
mismanagement and self-enrichment," said Solidarity deputy general
secretary Gideon du Plessis.
One of Aurora Empowerment Systems' affiliates, Kaunda Global
Mining Resources, trading as Aurora Gold East Rand and Aurora Gold Orkney, was
placed under provisional liquidation due to a separate liquidation application
of R1.3m by another creditor, Nelesco.
This came after a liquidation application of R3.1m brought
by Solidarity in May this year.
The final liquidation of this affiliate, under which the
service contracts of all Aurora employees fell, is expected to be ratified
on November 1.
Such a move might see Aurora's thousands of employees
receive at least part of the salaries they are owed.
Mandela is listed as the sole director of Kaunda and is set
to testify before the Master of the North Gauteng High Court regarding Pamodzi
Gold's insolvency on that day.
Solidarity confirmed this week that it is involved in urgent
consultations with the newly-appointed liquidators of Kaunda to ensure that a
parallel insolvency inquiry is scheduled to determine what has become of the
thousands of rand deducted from former Aurora employees' salaries.
"Mandela has to explain during the insolvency
questioning, which is likely to follow on the liquidation order, to account for
the thousands of rand deducted from thousands of former Aurora employees'
salaries," said Du Plessis on Monday.
