DRDGOLD talks tough as Kebble fails to pay
Rob Rose
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DRDGOLD has launched a bid to liquidate Brett Kebble’s mining house, JCI, as the spat between the two companies reached breaking point yesterday.
The bruising battle has sapped shareholders’ funds, while a crisis in the gold-mining industry, brought on by the lower rand-gold price, has pushed both JCI and DRDGOLD into the red.
Yesterday’s twist occurred after JCI lost its appeal three weeks ago against an order that it pay DRDGOLD R35,7m plus interest based on a dispute dating back to 2000. Kebble’s company had delayed paying over the money, initially because it was considering a Constitutional Court appeal.
Yesterday, after a sheriff of the court went to its headquarters, JCI paid R12m and handed over shares in Matodzi Mining to DRDGOLD as surety for the rest.
JCI said it had a “slight delay” in getting the outstanding money as it waited for funds from an empowerment deal with Matodzi to come through.
But in another twist, DRDGOLD refused to accept the Matodzi shares as surety, since they are not registered in JCI’s name.
“They owe us close to R38m and they only paid R12m yesterday. The surety they gave was unacceptable so we have instructed our lawyers to continue filing for liquidation of JCI,” said DRDGOLD spokesman Ilja Graulich.
Graulich said DRDGOLD “did not know if Kebble had any authority to hand over the Matodzi shares and hence we could not accept them”.
Kebble dismissed the liquidation application as little more than a publicity stunt.
“They know fully well that the money will be settled in the next day or so, so it’s disappointing that they are wasting money on proceedings they know will not be successful,” Kebble said.
He said JCI had net assets of more than R2bn, and “if DRDGOLD thinks we will let JCI get into trouble for the matter of R26m, it is wrong”.
Kebble dismissed the sheriff’s visit to JCI as “pure theatre”.
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