Guptas are not paying their bills, say creditors

CONTRACTORS have accused the free-spending Gupta family of failing to pay for services to their mines.

The mines are owned by two companies: Shiva Uranium and JIC Mining.

Marius Nel, who had a threeyear contract with Shiva, said he was owed R2.24-million — and also had a claim against the company for R2-million relating to an accident on one of its mines. He claims he has been waiting for the money since May, and had to retrench some employees in July.

Gupta spokesman Gary Naidoo said: “This is not the way the group conducts its business. As you have made specific reference to Shiva Uranium in your query, you may contact Shiva’s CEO George van der Merwe directly.”

Van der Merwe said that weaker gold prices had made it harder for mines to produce profitably. Uranium is a byproduct of gold.

Asked about late payments and in some cases unpaid contractors and suppliers, Van der Merwe said: “I didn’t think that the Sunday Times has now gone into the business of debt collecting.”

He said the mine’s contractors “have many avenues [in] which to proceed”, by, for example getting the courts “to decide that we do in fact owe them money and that we need to pay”.

Nel has issued a summons against Shiva, which has issued a counterclaim for equipment damaged in an accident.

Other contractors and service providers said Shiva was a “bad payer”.

RS Engineering said Shiva had three outstanding accounts with the company, totalling about R156 000. Champion Tyres in Stilfontein in North West is said to be owed close to R500 000. Pzazz Restaurant said it had struggled to get its money and now no longer delivered food to one of the mines.

Shiva’s lawyers denied owing money to these companies.

“The only creditor not paid is Nel, who is currently involved in a defended action . . . Therefore it is abundantly clear that there are no creditors that are not paid, moreover that you are busy with a witch-hunt,” the lawyers said in a letter to the Sunday Times.

The Guptas bought their Shiva assets from Neal Froneman’s Uranium One in April 2010. The deal was financed by the Gupta family’s Oakbay Investments, which put in R461-million. South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation put down R250-million.

IDC spokesman Mandla Mpangase denied allegations by sources that the loan had initially been refused.

Shiva was recently unable to service the IDC loan, which was then restructured because of weak uranium prices.

The IDC said the balance of the restructured loan was fully secured, had fixed repayment terms and that the corporation had no future funding commitments to Shiva.

Duduzane Zuma, the 29-yearold son of President Jacob Zuma, is listed as a director of Shiva and JIC and sits on the boards of most of the Gupta businesses. He was recently involved in the launch of the Gupta television station, Africa News Network Seven, or ANN7.