Justice Minister Defends Govt Decision To Put Hwange Colliery Under Reconstruction

The minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi has defended the government’s move to put Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) under administration. This comes after some of the shareholders criticised the move saying that they had not been consulted or notified. Speaking before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines chaired by Norton legislator Themba Mliswa, Ziyambi said

According to documents from the Mines ministry, Hwange was capable of being reconstructed and becoming profitable, and I advise the Attorney-General to proceed and put it under reconstruction… Section 4(1)(e) of the Reconstruction Act stipulates that when you do that, you have to inform shareholders, and that if in the opinion of the minister it is necessary to avert further harm to creditors of the company, then the minister can take action to put the company under reconstruction without affording shareholders a chance to respond, and I decided to do that at that stage.

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