Solidarity welcomes fraud charges against Zondwa Mandela and Ahmed Amod: JSE and SAPS must take action, demands Solidarity

Trade union Solidarity today welcomed the announcement by the liquidators of the Pamodzi Gold mines that criminal charges of fraud and attempted fraud will be laid against Zondwa Mandela and Ahmed Amod.

The trade union also made an urgent appeal to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) to treat these charges as a priority, as more than 5 300 South Africans were ruined financially by the Aurora case, while those responsible for the crisis are apparently untouchable.

Mandela is a director of the liquidated Aurora Empowerment Systems. Amod acted as Aurora's legal representative and currently serves on Velvet Sky Aviation's board of directors.

Gideon du Plessis, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity, praised the liquidators of Pamodzi for this step. "According to the liquidators, Mandela and Amod deceived the JSE by providing false evidence of a transaction between Aurora and Labat Ltd. The financing necessary for acquiring the Pamodzi mines would allegedly have come from this transaction.

However, the deal between Aurora and Labat never materialised, as there were insufficient funds to draw the cheques submitted as proof. As a result of Mandela and Amod's misleading conduct, Aurora was not removed as the manager of the mining assets sooner and the crisis dragged on for months," said Du Plessis.

Seeing that one director and various consultants are involved in both Aurora and Velvet Sky, Du Plessis urged the employees of Velvet Sky Aviation to take immediate action should the company fail to pay their salaries in full.

A liquidation application has already been brought against Velvet Sky by a service provider, after Velvet Sky had defaulted on its financial obligations. "It appears that Velvet Sky is turning into an Aurora. If the employer fails to fulfil its obligations, employees and service providers must show no mercy and take immediate action," he added.

Statement issued by Gideon du Plessis, Solidarity Deputy General Secretary, March 5 2012

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