Richards Bay Minerals' (RBM), which has asked the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, to allow it to amend the deeds of the community trusts that are part of its BEE deal, reached a last-minute agreement with the Sokhulu community on Friday.
Among other things the company wants to remove local traditional chiefs or amakhosi as beneficiaries of the trusts established in its 2009 black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction will be heard in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Friday.
The company wants to find different ways for benefits to flow to the amakhosi and their families rather than an automatic share of the dividends. RBM also wants the amakhosi, political officer bearers, and municipal councillors to be barred from serving as trustees on the four trusts established as part of the deal.