Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD), the mining firm racked by allegations that executive chairperson Mark Wellesley-Wood took his corporate clean-up campaign beyond the limits of the law, was hit by another high-profile resignation in the third week of March.
DRD legal adviser Benita Morton on Wednesday confirmed she had resigned the previous day after “I discovered that AIN [private investigations firm Associated Intelligence Network] had accessed private accounts of mine in contravention of my constitutional rights and also in breach of my trust relationship [with DRD]”.
Morton’s resignation follows the departure in the second week of March of company secretary Maryna Eloff, who made similar allegations.
Eloff said in her resignation letter to Wellesley-Wood: “I have no choice but to leave after I discovered that you have had me spied upon, my private bank accounts illegally accessed, my telephone records illegally obtained and my personal tax information illegally accessed.
“Your actions and those of other company employees make a complete mockery of the laws of South Africa and have violated my constitutional rights.”
Morton said she had discovered she was being spied upon from affidavits made by former AIN employees. These had been attached to an “Anton Pillar” court order that former judge Willem Heath, acting for former DRD executive chairperson Roger Kebble and his son, Brett, obtained last month.
An Anton Pillar order allows civil litigants to raid premises for evidence that is in danger of being disposed of. Roger Kebble has alleged AIN was employed by DRD in a “campaign” against him and is launching legal action.
AIN has denied illegally accessing information. Wellesley-Wood and a company spokesperson could not be reached at the time of going to press.