Zuma expands empire amid Aurora woe

[miningmx.com] — WAVERING hope is the only thing that desperate miners from the infamous Aurora Empowerment Systems in Grootvlei in the Ekurhuleni district, have left.

The company still owes 4,000 workers their salaries from March this year, and 40% of their February salaries.

The workers have already lost their dignity, personal belongings and their homes.
Out of sheer desperation, two mine workers have attempted to take their own lives, says Solidarity’s Helping Hand charity.

One of them was about to jump from a 30 metre mine shaft when a co-worker found him and managed to stop him.

Lehlohonolo Habasisa from Lesotho says he has sold everything he owns to make ends meet. “I can no longer afford to take my kids to school, let alone put food on the table. I don’t know how long my family and I can survive like this,’ says the father of six.

Solidarity spokesperson Reint Dykema says: “Aurora had promised that all outstanding salaries would be paid by June 21. However, no money was ¬received. They have now promised to pay the miners by the end of July, when the Global Emerging Markets (GEM) payment comes through. However, we are very sceptical that they will follow through with their promise.’

In April, Aurora said it had concluded a R1.5bn funding deal with GEM, a Swiss-based alternative investment group.

Dykema says out of the union’s 300 members at Grootvlei, 100 members are still at work because the mine has to be kept on a care-and-maintenance programme. If these 100 workers stop working because of non-payment, the mine will be flooded completely, causing an ecological disaster as 108 megalitres of water a day will flow into nearby areas.

The Orkney mine, with 40 members, is in a similar situation. “It would take at least two months and millions of rands to get the mine up and running again,’ says Dykema.

Meanwhile, Aurora chairperson Khulubuse Zuma, who is President Jacob Zuma’s nephew, has been clinching multimillion-rand deals with Asian partners.

In the past two weeks, he has sealed a vehicle dealership with Dongfeng Automobile Company and signed a major deal with South Korean conglomerate Daewoo.

Aurora’s Zuma has also secured the backing of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the acquisition of two disputed oil blocks in Lake Albert for firms he reportedly owns.

National Union of Mineworkers spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka says: “Khulubuse Zuma has been clinching deals left, right and centre. He is connected and has influence, so everything comes easily. However, making deals is one thing; being able to deliver on them is a whole other ball game.

“Aurora is a failed process. In time, we will see whether or not these other lucrative deals will follow suit.’

Aurora has been facing difficulties at all its operations since the beginning of the year. The Water Affairs Department has filed criminal charges against the mine for pumping mine water into a protected wetland, while Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has launched an investigation into Aurora’s non-payment of unemployment levies.

– City Press