Majali controversy extends to Anglo

[miningmx.com] — THE controversy surrounding alleged company hijacking by businessman, Sandi Majali, has extended to Anglo American, the R377bn mining giant.

This was after Anglo American discovered its respresentatives had been removed from its 74%-owned Siyanda Chrome, an entity that now also falls under the control of Majali.

Majali’s attorney, Philip Webster of Webster Legal, confirmed that Majali controlled Siyanda Chrome and a third entity, Masa Chrome, the custodians of which have also been surprised to find themselves usurped by Majali and his business partners.

Webster, however, was less forthright when asked by Miningmx how Majali ended up controlling Kalahari Resources. This is presently the more serious of the alleged instances of company hijacking by Majali because Kalahari Resources owns 40% of Kgalagadi Manganese, an operating firm that will develop and operate a manganese mine and sintering plant.

Manganese is considered a strategic mineral, sometimes referred to a steel feeder metal, as manganese is used in the fabrication of steel. In addition, about 80% of the world’s manganese resources are found exclusively in South Africa. For its scarcity value, this places the metal in the company of other strategically positioned metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium.

Said Webster in an emailed response to questions: “Perhaps you should start at the beginning and request of the former directors how and when they were appointed. This may indicate why they are no longer directors’.

Webster referred Miningmx to the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro), which falls under South Africa’s trade and industry department, for such information. Webster Legal confirmed that it was representing Majali’s Siyanda Mining Corporation.

“My brief in this matter is to represent Siyanda Mining Corp only in the matter of the sale of its shares in Kalahari Resources,’ said Webster. That is the 8.33% of Kalahari Resources listed in the shareholders register seen by Miningmx. However, Webster put the figure at 10%.

Webster conceded he did not know who appointed his client, Majali, and the other seven “directors’ to the board of Kalahari Resources.

“That matter would have been handled by his South African legal representatives,’ said Webster. He said his involvement in the matter stemmed from the global perspective because Kgalagadi Manganese (Kalahari Resources’s 40% subsidiary) has ArcelorMittal as shareholder.

After a long silence, Cipro only confirmed on Friday that it knew the Kalahari Resources records were amended on its online system by a Haralambos Sferopoulos. He is also listed as one of the eight new directors.

“After being verified by our approved commissioners of oath, a person can have access and amend information on our records online,’ said Cipro spokesperson Elsabe Conradie. That access gives a person rights not only to one company, but the whole Cipro system. The licence gets renewed annually.

Conradie also conceded that for anybody to change company information online they did not need to have any shareholder approvals to effect changes. “It’s a big problem that and we are working on fixing it,’ said Conradie.