More on the Kumba Iron Ore debacle. The third party holding the mineral rights has been revealed to be empowerment company Imperial Crown Trading. The company, established in September 2008, has a Monica Ripepi, Mabelindile Archibald Luhlabo and Prudence Zerah Mtshali listed as directors. Interestingly, Mtshali has been romantically linked to deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe. Hmm, sounds fishy!
What else is interesting is that Kumba applied for these rights as far back as May 2009 after ArcelorMittal failed to meet their application deadline at the end of April 09. Kumba's application coincidentally fell on the exact same day that Imperial Crown Trading made their application for the 21.4 percent stake in Sishen. In terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, if two companies apply for the same mineral on the same property on the same day preference will be given to ''historically disadvantaged persons''. I don't know, to me it seems like who you know is becoming more important than what you know as more and more of these ''tenderpreneur'' stories emerge. We'll keep you updated on this one.