[miningmx.com] — PHEMELO Sehunelo, the advocate whose Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) turned Jacob Zuma’s son into a multimillionaire, is at the centre of another two controversial mining deals, City Press reported on Sunday.
Sehunelo, the former municipal manager of Kimberley, is the founder of ICT, which has controversially been awarded prospecting rights at Sishen, one of the world’s largest iron ore mines.
ICT was later bought for R800m by ArcelorMittal as part of a proposed BEE deal that will hand over hundreds of millions to Sehunelo, Zuma’s son Duduzane, the Gupta family, and others.
City Press linked Sehunelo to two other deals.
The one is a disputed transaction to control the majority of shares in a company that holds a multibillion-rand prospecting licence in a manganese belt in the Kalahari.
A Northern Cape farmer also claimed that one of Sehunelo’s companies, Adistra 11, allegedly gained prospecting rights on his property illegally and that he never was consulted – contrary to a stipulation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.
Adistra 11, which provided guarantees for the ICT deal and financed the first two prospecting phases at Sishen, is still trying to gain access to Lomoteng 669 farm outside Postmasburg. The farm is owned by Willie Uys, who only discovered by accident that an application to prospect had been lodged on his farms. Uys has since instucted his attorney to seek an interdict against the registration of mining rights on his farm.
Sehunelo denied a lack of consultation, according to the report.
In a second deal on nearby Lohatla Farm, Sehunelo is embroiled in another tussle.
A company called Chambua Minerals has been mining manganese for Mistyfalls 45, which obtained the prospecting licence.
Sehunelo is a shareholder in Mistyfalls 45, whose founder, Chris Victor, claims that he and his brother own 49% of the company, while BEE partners Gamsa Gool and Sehunelo together own 49%.
The 2% swing vote was owned by a friend of the Victors, Sagrys Eilers.
The Victors claimed they discovered Eilers’s stake had mysteriously been awarded to the BEE partners when they referred a payment dispute for shareholder discussions.
Now both sides claim to have certificates testifying to their ownership of the 2% share of Mistyfalls 45, stated the report.
