Aurora is a famous name for communists because a shot from the battleship Aurora signalled a key event in the 1917 Russian October Revolution. It's also the name of a mine in Springs made infamous because of mismanagement by owners with high-level political connections.
The Pamodzi mines in Springs and Orkney were taken over by Aurora Empowerment Systems two years ago. Its directors include President Jacob Zuma's lawyer Michael Hulley, his nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, and Zondwa Mandela, a grandson of former president Nelson Mandela.
Worse employers can hardly be imagined. Despite promising no retrenchments, they systematically extracted all value from the mines while failing to pay more than 5000 employees. One of the workers, 52 year old Marius Ferreira, committed suicide by drinking ant poison. He was owed R170 000 in wages.
The same week that he killed himself, Khulubuse Zuma donated R1 million to the ANC. It's easy to call the grossly obese Khulubese a "fat cat". He owns 19 cars, including a R2.5-million gull-wing Mercedes-Benz SLS 63 AMG, and spends between R3000 and R15000 when he visits his favourite cigar lounge in Durban.
Zondwa Mandela also owns a fleet of luxury cars and recently got off lightly after driving 158km/h in a 60km/h zone. The National Union of Mineworkers has called Aurora's directors "professional liars". They have kept none of their promises, with more than 40 000 people thrown into poverty by the retrenchments. They even failed to pay over provident funds, UIF and medical aid they deducted from workers, which is a criminal offence.
An environmental disaster also looms as disruption of pumping by Aurora has caused acid mine spillage. If the pumps don't operate, toxic water could contaminate groundwater resources within three years and potentially cause sinkholes in Nigel and Springs.
I recently visited the Aurora mine and toured empty sheds that were once vibrant with machinery and working men. The NUM Workers Committee welcomed me eagerly and showed me where cables had been recently stolen, disabling a mine shaft.
About 300 people still live in the hostels without water and electricity. I met an old man dragging a small bit of scrap metal to a place 2.5 kilometres away where they would pay him a mere R5. The Aurora saga tells us much about the new elite that has risen on the wings of so-called black empowerment.
In many cases, they add no value and are uncaring to workers while indulging in the most gross conspicuous consumption. Yet they claim their position in the name of the poor as part of redress for the suffering of blacks under apartheid.
They would likely still be in control if mines were nationalised as advocated by the ANC Youth League's Julius Malema. It would be a nice taxpayer-funded bail-out for them, so their looting can continue.
They are like the pigs in George Orwell's novel Animal Farm which satirised the betrayal of the workers in the Communist revolution in Russia. In the end, the pigs become just like the farmers that they had overthrown, dining sumptuously together.
Instead of pig-like crony capitalists or crony communists, we need real entrepreneurs who create new industries and real jobs.
Jack Bloom MPL, is DA Leader in the Gauteng Legislature. This article first appeared in The Citizen.
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