Departures of note

Brett Kebble, a South African mining magnate with close ties to the African National Congress, was shot dead in Johannesburg on 27 September 2005. In 2010, court testimony revealed that he had been killed by hit men hired by his own security chief, allegedly at his own request, in what was described as an assisted suicide. The full circumstances of his death remain unclear.

Kebble was born in Springs, Gauteng, and earned a law degree from the University of Cape Town in 1986. He entered mining in 1991, acquiring a controlling stake in Rand Leases Gold Mining with his father, Roger Kebble, and later took leadership of Randgold & Exploration through a hostile takeover. In 1995, he bought a controlling stake in JCI in partnership with Mzi Khumalo as part of a black economic empowerment deal, though their relationship later soured. He held substantial interests in several other mining companies, including Western Areas, Harmony, and Durban Deep.

Under his leadership, Western Areas sold a half-interest in the South Deep gold mine and hedged production forward at a low price, with disastrous consequences when the gold price rose. His reputation declined, and on 30 August 2005 he was deposed from the companies he controlled amid concerns about financial irregularities and corporate governance lapses. At that point, 14.4 million shares in Randgold Resources were missing, and Randgold & Exploration had been suspended from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The National Prosecuting Authority later said he had been facing prosecution for fraud and contravention of the Stock Exchanges Control Act.

After his death, forensic investigations revealed that Kebble and other directors at JCI had appropriated and sold 21.8 million shares of Randgold Resources, worth some R2 billion, held by Randgold & Exploration. Legal action continued for years, with Randgold & Exploration claiming in 2019 that it was owed R2.7 billion by Kebble's estate. His art collection was auctioned in 2009 for ZAR53.90 million, far short of the one billion rand he was said to have squandered. Kebble had also been the patron of the Brett Kebble Art Awards, which he established in 2003 to showcase established and emerging artists.