It's bad business practice not to pay creditors when invoices are due FULL STOP. These non-payments go back to January 2014 according to the report. To make matters worse why the non-communication from IDC to its creditors and shareholders on the issue? You might want to read the full article before you make judgement on the landowners. Mr. Tagobe allegedly said that on 'many occasions', SDL (IDC) did not have the courtesy to communicate with him on when the payments would be made, forcing him to close the gates of the Tari lay-down that is used by SDL as its forward base for the Mt Kare operations.
You also seem to forget that IDC has raised over $100 million from the pockets of shareholders since 2010 and now they can't even pay the little guy? And in this case a little guy who is not only a landowner and former mayor, but according to the report he also provided an important service to allow Indochine to airlift operations of supplies, manpower and equipment by helicopter into Mt Kare from Tari.
Gee whiz, you would think that management (on behalf of the people who employ them! aka shareholders) would be bending over backwards to maintain a good working relationship with all landowners, especially the ones who also happen to be key service providers. Plus I don't recall Stephen Promnitz (nor any others in management at the time) sacrificing or delaying any part of their exorbitant salaries (IMO) from January 2014 to help resolve this issue. Plus funds have been raised on multiple occasions since January 2014 so why weren't the little guys paid in 2014? i.e. who did the money go to as a higher priority?
It is also reported that George Niumataiwalu said that 'he does not see how this issue is relevant to the public as an article when it is a private business matter between Mr Tagobe and the company'.
Now that statement says it all IMO. How dare he call this a private business matter when he represents shareholders of a public company on a full time basis. IMO shareholders have every right to know why creditors haven't been paid for over 12 months.