BusinessLive reports that in a brutal judgment, Judge Ramarumo Monama tore strips off Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Minister Mosebenzi Zwane in his treatment of the court in the urgent interdict brought by the Chamber of Mines (COM) to stop a proposed moratorium of mineral and prospecting rights and transfers.  

Zwane tweeted late on Thursday night that the DMR would not proceed with the moratorium he gazetted on 19 July after taking consideration of public submissions.  The tweet from Zwane and a later media statement, which was not communicated to either the judge or to the COM’s lawyers, was a source of anger for the judge, who accused Zwane of behaving like US President Donald Trump — who makes important statements via Twitter.  But it was Zwane’s lack of answering affidavit to the COM’s founding affidavit that fired up the judge, who gave Zwane 14 days to submit a written explanation of his behaviour and his failure to submit an affidavit.  The COM and the DMR came to a signed agreement to make an order of the court Zwane’s statement of not implementing an indefinite moratorium on rights issues.  The moratorium would have a devastating impact on a sector that is facing more than 20,000 job cuts in coming months.

• Read this report by Allan Seccombe in full at BusinessLive

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