| Mon 21 Jul 2003, 10:56 | | Cough up our R30m, JCI tells Khumalo |
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Cough up our R30m, JCI tells Khumalo
July 21, 2003
By Sherilee Bridge
Johannesburg - The JCI Group wanted empowerment billionaire Mzi Khumalo to cough up the R30 million he allegedly owes to JCI, which he headed as the first black boss of a major mining group in South Africa, the company headed by controversial mining businessman Brett Kebble said yesterday.
Khumalo may also be drawn into the Kebble hunt for those responsible for tarnishing the Kebble name.
"We just want our money back," Kebble said. "He must just give us our money back. He must not play sophisticated games."
The claims date back to 1998, when Khumalo was forced to resign from JCI amid accusations of mismanagement and conflicts of interest.
But Kebble suggested that his company might seek more than R40 million, "closer to R50 million", from Khumalo.
Documents filed at the Johannesburg high court in 2000 revealed a share loan agreement between Consolidated African Mines (CAM) and Khumalo after he left the group.
CAM was collapsed into JCI last year.
"When Mzi left JCI, notwithstanding the circumstances at the time, we felt it would be important that he have an asset base to continue pursuing his business strategy," Kebble said.
JCI's property assets, including its Gold Fields Properties, were unbundled into a new entity called Mzi Khumalo Enterprises with R140 million in cash, Kebble said.
"It was highly unpopular at the time but we considered it an empowerment deal and wanted him to have something to start afresh," he said
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The documents allege that Khumalo never returned the shares or paid for them but that the shares were unlawfully transferred into a trust account, believed to be the Khumalo Family Trust, or sold on without CAM's permission.
Khumalo stated in one of his answering affidavits: "I maintain, however, that I have not acted wrongfully or unlawfully or improperly in any manner whatsoever vis-ˆ-vis the said shares and any action so instituted will be strenuously opposed.
"What happened to Mzi was like winning the lottery," Kebble said. "All we want is what we are entitled to. Then, as far as we are concerned, the Mzi chapter can be closed."
Khumalo is likely to be included in Kebble's investigation into who was behind the collapse of JCI's empire three-and-a-half years ago.
Directors of Harmony Gold Mining have already been named for inclusion in the investigation, to be conducted by former Judge Willem Heath.
"From all appearances, he [Khumalo] has been working against us," Kebble said.
Meanwhile, Khumalo's interest in Simane has come under the spotlight again.
The Scorpions are investigating two former officials of the Industrial Development Corporation alleged to have accepted a bribe in the Harmony-Simane empowerment deal.
The empowerment deal was plunged in controversy after the shares sold to Simane were thought to have been sold on despite a lock-in clause that prohibited this.
