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Johannesburg - Controversial mining company LontohCoal is in
the news again.
This time it’s because it reneged on an agreement with Kwasa
Mining Services to pay R1.5m for a coal consignment it bought from a mine in
Piet Retief, Mpumalanga.
Lontoh first appeared in City Press after it was accused of
swindling an ambassador, a Cabinet minister and a prominent businesswoman of
millions of rands.
They were SA High Commissioner to the UK Dr Zola Skweyiya
and his wife, Thuthukile, Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi and businesswoman
Wendy Luhabe.
The company’s financial records showed that Lontoh CEO and
president Tshepo Kgadima had paid himself backdated salaries. Kgadima’s wife,
Pheladi Mojapelo, was paid R700 000, but did not specify why she was paid this
amount.
The investors told City Press they were given the impression
that Lontoh owned mines in Zimbabwe, Piet Retief and North West, but the
directors of the mines reject Lontoh’s claims.
As a result of their failure to carry out their promise, Lontoh
stands to lose a coal consignment worth R8m. This is after the company paid the
initial R6.5m down payment.
In terms of the agreement with Kwasa, Lontoh would have
possession of the coal consignment, but ownership would follow only after the
entire R8m was paid.
On March 14, the South Gauteng High Court ordered LontohCoal
to pay Kwasa Mining Services R1.5m within 10 working days. However, more than a
month later, Lontoh has failed to comply with the order.
Instead, it has left behind a trail of debt amounting to
more than R20m. In court documents, Kwasa Mining Services also alleges that
LontohCoal owes:
- R7m to Grindrod for coal storage;
- R12m to businessman Neil Francis for transporting coal; and
- R1.2m to Qhubeka Processing for washing the coal.
After receiving questions from City Press, Lontoh CEO
Kgadima asked for an extra week and then submitted a 33-page response in which
he questions the integrity and professionalism of the writer.
Kgadima said: “LontohCoal has a contractual agreement for
transport of coal with Francis, whereby LontohCoal has contracted Francis to
coordinate and manage coal transportation for LontohCoal from time to time.
Lontoh does not owe Francis the alleged amount of R12m.”
He denied the existence of the court order.
Qhubeka Processing CEO Lappies Labuschagne confirmed that
Lontoh owed him R1.2m for processing, crushing, screening and loading coal on
to trucks.
In court documents, Kwasa complained that LontohCoal has
been claiming on its website to own 100% of Kwasa. Lontoh in fact own no stake
in the mine.
Kwasa director Aaron Ntuli alleged in the documents that
Lontoh’s behaviour amounted to fraud.
“The conduct of Lontoh and Kgadima is fraudulent. They have
sought to represent to the world at large that Lontoh is the owner of Kwasa
Colliery, which is false.”
The court order follows an agreement Kwasa concluded in
November to sell the coal to LontohCoal.
Ntuli writes that in December and January, Lontoh collected
27 000 tonnes of coal from Kwasa’s mine in Piet Retief and transported it to a
depot at Richards Bay harbour.
Ntuli added that Kgadima had agreed he would pay by way of a
guaranteed cheque within two days of the coal being collected from the mine.
But the bank did not honour the cheque after Lontoh withdrew
authorisation.
When Kwasa’s lawyer, Stan Fanaroff, contacted Kgadima about
the payment, he promised R6.5m would be deposited into Fanoroff’s trust account
the same day – and it was.
Kgadima was reminded that he was still required to pay a
balance of R1.5m.
In an attempt to preserve business relations, Kwasa gave
Lontoh permission to take the coal from Mpumalanga to KwaZulu-Natal’s Richards
Bay. However, Lontoh was not allowed to load the coal into a ship until the
R1.5m balance was settled.
This means the coal consignment was technically still owned
by Kwasa until Lontoh had guaranteed payment of the balance.
With no payment forthcoming, Kwasa cancelled the deal in
February and headed to court to secure the balance of payment.
Ntuli alleges in the court papers that in March 2012,
Kgadima threatened Fanaroff during a telephone call, and “made various untrue
and unfounded statements and allegations concerning Fanaroff”.
“Kgadima also telephoned Jacob Sikhosana, one of Kwasa’s
directors, and suggested Kwasa fire Fanaroff because he was pursuing his own
agenda,” says Ntuli.
He alleges Kgadima said: “He (Kgadima) is the only person in
the whole world who can sell Kwasa’s coal.”
Said Ntuli: “Kgadima said we would regret it if we did not
cooperate with him and that he would not pay any money into Fanaroff’s bank
account.”
According to the court papers, the coal is still sitting at
a depot belonging to Grinrod Terminals in Richards Bay harbour and storage fees
have not been paid.
Ntuli said in the same papers that Kgadima unsuccessfully
attempted to make Ntuli sign a sworn affidavit rubbishing the City Press
exposé.
“Ntuli was contacted by Kgadima, who requested Ntuli to sign
a sworn statement confirming that the version of events as related by him to
the journalist in question had been completely misrepresented.”
- City Press
