The State Capture Commission will on Monday continue to hear mining-related evidence from a contractor to state-owned diamond miner company Alexkor, Gavin Craythorn.
Craythorns, who is the founding member of the Equitable Acess Campaign told the Commission on Friday that he has been producing mining vessels for Alexkor for the past 20 years.
Eskom’s Acting Senior Manager for Fuel resources Ayanda Nteta will also testify at the Commission on Monday.
On Friday, the Commission heard allegations relating to a joint-venture led by Alexkor which unlawfully awarded a company with ties to the Gupta a contract to market and sell rough diamonds.
According to evidence presented to the Commission by Gobodo Forensics, the appointed entity did not have a diamond licence which was a minimum requirement.
Former senior executive of Gobodo Forensics Albert Torres told the Commission that the company appeared to have been a shelf company when it submitted its expression of interest to take part in a tender.
In the video below, Craythorne testified at the State Capture Inquiry on Friday:
Tenants
In 2019, state diamond mining company Alexkor told Parliament that it would run out of money. Alexkor also owns property in Alexander Bay, which it maintained at a cost of R7.5 million per year while it only collects rent of R3.5 million from tenants.
It also paid R6 million for water and electricity, which it does not recover from tenants.
The company’s former administrator, Lloyd McPatie, recommended to government that Alexkor as well as the Pooling and Sharing Joint Venture be liquidated.
”I propose as a department that we need to look at liquidation of Alexkor because the company is not a going concern and it cannot generate cash flows to trade itself out of the current situation. And in terms of the Section 22 of the Companies Act, the company is trading recklessly because it cannot meet its financial obligations for the next 12 months. The PSJV itself is technically in solvent.”
