{"id":803372,"date":"2024-12-08T06:10:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T04:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=803372"},"modified":"2024-12-08T06:10:10","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T04:10:10","slug":"south-african-billionaire-patrice-motsepe-responds-to-being-sued-for-r3-4-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/803372\/south-african-billionaire-patrice-motsepe-responds-to-being-sued-for-r3-4-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe responds to being sued for R3.4 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe has strongly dismissed a $195 million (R3.4 billion) lawsuit filed against him and his associate companies in Tanzania as baseless and nonsensical, according to a Sunday Times report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit, one of the largest to be heard by Tanzania\u2019s commercial court, involves allegations of breaching a non-compete contract and centres around investments in mining projects in the East African nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal action was brought by Tanzanian mining firm Pula Graphite Partners, which claims Motsepe\u2019s companies, including African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), African Rainbow Capital (ARC), and ARCH Emerging Markets, violated a non-compete agreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pula asserts that these companies invested in Australia\u2019s Evolution Energy Minerals, whose project is adjacent to Pula\u2019s graphite site, during the period covered by the non-compete clause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Charles Stith, chairman of Pula and a former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania, the claim is based on a third-party valuation of the losses Pula allegedly incurred due to this competitive disadvantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motsepe and his companies have vehemently denied these allegations, insisting that Pula\u2019s claims have no merit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ARM spokesperson explained that the company had considered investing in minerals it had not previously mined when Pula\u2019s graphite project was presented for evaluation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a confidentiality agreement, ARM ultimately decided not to pursue the project and communicated this decision to Pula. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pula contends that a two-year non-compete agreement was in place and that Motsepe\u2019s companies engaged with and finalised a deal with the Australian company within this restricted period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stith has argued that the case highlights broader systemic issues in the mining sector, where the dominance of foreign entities, particularly Australian and Canadian firms, creates challenges for local companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the alleged actions of ARM as perpetuating predatory practices that undermine Tanzanian interests, emphasising that the lawsuit could set a crucial legal precedent for protecting local mining businesses in the face of international competition.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Patrice Motsepe, African Rainbow Minerals CEO<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Despite these assertions, Motsepe has characterised the lawsuit as both far-fetched and desperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at ARM\u2019s annual general meeting, he expressed disappointment with Stith\u2019s public statements and criticised the accusations as an affront to the integrity and governance of his companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the allegations as an insult to the ethical foundations of ARM and its associated entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur integrity, our ethics, our governance, and our good name are all that we have as a company and as a board,\u201d Motsepe stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motsepe explained that ARCH\u2019s involvement stemmed from an agreement with an Australian company to acquire land near Pula\u2019s site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stressed that ARM and ARCH were not connected or communicated regarding the matter apart from his role as a shareholder in both entities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat ARCH did was to conclude an agreement with an Australian company,\u201d he said, reiterating that the claims of collusion or breach of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) were baseless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further complicating the legal proceedings, Pula has accused the Motsepe group of delaying tactics, including challenges to the jurisdiction of the Tanzanian courts and claims of improper service of legal documents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stith alleged that ARM\u2019s legal team had, on occasion, failed to appear in court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Motsepe dismissed these claims and affirmed his companies\u2019 commitment to defending their rights through legal channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motsepe\u2019s dismissal of the lawsuit underscores his belief in the integrity of his company\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describing the claims as \u201cabsolute rubbish\u201d and \u201cabsolute nonsense,\u201d he maintained that there was no wrongdoing and expressed confidence in the legal system to resolve the matter fairly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: Saudi Arabia pumping R9.5 billion into Limpopo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe has rubbished the lawsuit as far-fetched and desperate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":803373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[4136,853,3120,1417],"class_list":["post-803372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-patrice-motsepe","tag-south-africa","tag-sunday-times","tag-tanzania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803375,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803372\/revisions\/803375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}