INLSA
Driven off course: Khulubuse Zuma at President Jacob Zuma’s wedding at the weekend.
The first cracks in Khulubuse Zuma’s business empire appeared yesterday when some of his goods were sold by auction to pay a R10-million debt owed to a security company.
The items included three BMW cars and household furniture.
But Zuma and other Aurora Empowerment Systems directors’ legal woes are far from over, with trade union Solidarity threatening to serve them with court papers this week in an attempt to recover more than R4m the embattled company owes to 101 destitute mineworkers.
In Verulam yesterday, Zuma’s 3-Series BMW fetched R15 500, his BMW 755i was sold for R88 000, and a 5-Series BMW fetched R14 700. A sound system belonging to Zuma, nephew of President Jacob Zuma, was knocked down for R30 000.
Other items that were auctioned included a microwave oven, bar stools, a double-door fridge, washing machine, a dining table and chairs, and a leather lounge suite.
A garden table and chairs, along with a flat screen Sony TV and stand, also went under the hammer.
The vehicles and appliances were reportedly confiscated by the sheriff from Zuma’s home in Umhlanga.
News of Zuma’s possessions being auctioned attracted much attention on Twitter, with bidders and members of the public providing a blow-by-blow account of the proceedings.
But, much to the bidders’ dismay, Zuma’s luxury sports vehicles, including the 2009 silver Maserati he bought for his fiancée, Fikisiwe Dlamini, last year were not among the goods on auction.
Tweeting from the sheriff’s premises in Trevenen Road, Verulam, communication strategist, author and blogger Sarah Britten (@Anatinus) said: “Buyer of 3-Series has discovered there’s all sorts of stuff missing from the engine. Paid R15.5k for it.”
Britten also tweeted: “Passenger seat in the 3-Series is broken. Presumably Khulubuse went for rides in it.”
The Sunday Times reported that Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Zondwa Mandela, who is Zuma’s business partner in the mining group, would be targeted next.
Zuma and Mandela allegedly owe “a fortune” to creditors after their venture in the Grootvlei mine in Springs collapsed and they failed to pay their workers’ salaries. Despite pleading poverty, Zuma lives large. He often dines out with friends at expensive restaurants and has been seen driving luxury vehicles.
In January, Protea Coin Security, which used to guard the Aurora mines, secured an execution order in the high court in Pretoria against the mine bosses. Aurora was ordered to pay the security company R10m it was owed.
When they failed to pay up, Protea Coin went back to court and targeted both Zuma and Mandela in their personal capacities, seeking and receiving attachment and execution orders.
Zuma and Mandela, who stand accused of stripping Aurora’s assets, signed surety in 2010, meaning they were liable for the company’s debts. Aurora is in liquidation.
The men and Thulani Ngubane, another Aurora director, will soon be slapped with a R1.7-billion personal claim by the liquidators of the former Pamodzi mines.
Aurora managed the mines for several months after Pamodzi Gold was liquidated in 2009.
Johan Engelbrecht, spokesman for the Pamodzi liquidators, told the Sunday Independent that the “top end” value of the claim would be R1.7bn – the total replacement value of the assets believed to have been stripped from the mine.
Britten later made the following Tweet: “Friend calculated the total from the Khulubuse auction and it comes to just over R160k. Not quite the R10 million he owes Protea.”
Trade unionists welcomed the latest developments and threatened to go after the mine bosses to recover the money owed to mineworkers.
National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said: “We will only be too happy if there would be enough money recovered to also pay off the mineworkers.”
Solidarity deputy general secretary Gideon du Plessis said although yesterday’s auction would not benefit the mineworkers, it sent out a message that Zuma was not untouchable.
He added that the latest development would give their own case against the Aurora directors momentum.
