Gold boss barred from South Africa
By: David McKay
Posted: 2002/03/03 Sun 19:00 | © theminingweb.com


JOHANNESBURG - Mark Wellesley-Wood, chairman and chief executive of South Africa's Durban Roodepoort Deep [JSE:DUR], declared he would not relinquish his business responsiblities after South African government officials said Wellesley-Wood could not return to the country. Speaking from London, an audibly incredulous Wellesley-Wood said he was"mystified" at what he believed was a betrayal."I feel I have been hijacked and personally assassinated. No reason has given. All my papers are in order," he said.
According to a press release issued by DRD, Wellesley-Wood left South Africa on Thursday for his home in the UK on business and family reasons. A senior official in the department of Home Affairs then said Wellesley-Wood had been prohibited from re-entering South Africa.

This was after a flurry of activity in January this year in which South African authorities turned over an earlier decision allowing Wellesley-Wood entry into South Africa without a business visa. As a result, Wellesley-Wood's attorneys duly applied on February 1 for a business visa with the South African High Commission in London:"He was issued with a letter by the High Commission permitting him to enter South Africa for holiday and business purposes while his application was being considered," DRD said.

Wellesley-Wood said he was anxious to return to South Africa in order to fight litigation against JCI Gold and Consolidated African Mines (CAM), companies which jointly owe DRD about R32 million."Litigation being instituted by DRD in South Africa against various parties is imminent and it is very important that I am present in the country for this," Wellesley-Wood said. JCI Gold and CAM owe the money after shares in associate company, Western Areas, were returned to the company triggering a put option for which JCI Gold and CAM are liable.

Wellesley-Wood arrived in South Africa two years ago to head Durban Deep, a company then mired in corporate governance scandals and operational and financial difficulties. Johannesburg analysts were first sceptical the company would survive and that the axe hovered over thousands of miners' jobs. However, Wellesley-Wood steadied DRD by improving its corporate governance and internal audit procedures. He then began the painful process of extracting the company from a forward selling strategy ironically only months away from completion. DRD recently reported bottom line profits, the first in years.

In addition, DRD has enjoyed a massive rerating, partly helped by the depreciation of the rand, reporting a ten-fold increase in its market value. The share price raced to R33.00 from R4.50. Notwithstanding the improvement in the gold price received, there is no denying the role Wellesley-Wood has played in restoring a degree of investor confidence in the stock, particularly among US-based retail investors which control 70 percent of DRD's outstanding shares. DRD currently employs about 20 000 people in South Africa.

"With success you are bound to win some enemies," said Wellesley-Wood,"But nothing could prepare me for this," he said.



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