Relatives of Nelson Mandela and President Jacob Zuma acted recklessly and fraudulently when they stripped the assets of two mines, the Pretoria High Court ruled yesterday. Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann ordered the directors and associates of Aurora Empowerment Systems to pay shareholders and liquidators R1.7-billion in compensation for their role in the demise of the operations, which left thousands of workers jobless and destitute.The judge described Aurora's actions as "indisputably reckless" and its strategy "a pipe dream"."The judgment today is a victory for these poor mineworkers. Thousands of these workers are trapped in abject poverty," the National Union of Mineworkers said in a statement.It said it had instructed lawyers to meet the liquidators to make sure miners who lost their living got some of the compensation.Zondwa Mandela - a grandson of late president Nelson Mandela - and Zuma's nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, were directors of Aurora, on the East Rand.They were appointed in 2009 to manage two gold mines near Johannesburg after the Pamodzi gold company, which ran them, went into liquidation.Aurora did not have the capital required to keep the mines running and operations ground to a halt, with assets removed and miners left in the lurch, said the high court."Their disregard for the consequences of their actions both in respect of the insolvent companies and in respect of the mine's workforce was indisputably reckless," Bertelsmann said in his judgment."The entire project was and remained a pipe dream," the judge said.Khulubuse Zuma's spokesman, Vuyo Mkhize, told the SABC his client was considering appealing against the decision.Aurora's acquisition of the mines has been held up as an example of how well-connected members of the political elite get preferential treatment in South Africa...