State oil and gas firm PetroSA plans to recover millions of rands the late businessman Sandi Majali owed it, the New Age newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing company spokesperson Thabo Mabaso.
Majali was found dead in a Sandton, Johannesburg, hotel room on the weekend.
“The only option remaining for PetroSA in its bid to recoup the money it says it is owed, is to claim from the estate, which is believed to be worth millions of rands,” the report said.
Mabaso confirmed to the newspaper that there was still a dispute between PetroSA and Majali’s company, Imvume Management.
“But he declined to provide details about the dispute on the basis that it was sub judice.”
Majali’s lawyer John Ngcebetsha said there was an arrangement in place between PetroSA and Majali regarding the payment of the late businessman’s debt.
Asked how Majali could pay his debts when he had applied for his company’s liquidation, Ngcebetsha told the newspaper: “This was a voluntary liquidation and it could be done for two main reasons: to have money to pay your debts, or because you intend to diversify into other forms of business. In this case, the latter reason applies.”
Majali, it is believed, still owed PetroSA more than R5-million from the R15-million the company had paid Imvume Management as a down-payment for a crude oil supply deal in 2004.
Instead of using the money for the agreed purpose, Imvume allegedly donated R11-million to the ruling African National Congress just before the 2004 general elections.
During the ANC’s national conference in Polokwane in 2007, the party’s then treasurer-general Mendi Msimang told delegates that the party had repaid Imvume’s donation because of the dispute around it.
“But yesterday ANC spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi could neither confirm nor deny that the party had paid back the R11-million,” the report said.
PetroSA and Majali had had confrontations on “numerous occasions”.
At some stage PetroSA obtained an execution order to force Imvume to repay the R13,8-million it owed, but Imvume had the decision overturned.
The tiff heightened in mid-2007 when Majali alleged that PetroSA had known that the R15-million it paid to his company was meant for the ANC.
“He vowed not to pay the remaining amounts he owed to the oil parastatal and threatened to spill the beans, which he said would embarrass a number of high profile ANC people.”
The report said that although Majali “lay low” after Polokwane, he was believed to still be close to top ANC leaders including deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
“This was despite suspicions that he was sympathetic to Cope [the Congress of the People].”
The report added that Mnisi could not confirm whether Majali was still a member of the party, saying that records in the membership office need to be checked.
However, according to Ngcebetsha, Majali was “a staunch” ANC member.
“I will leave it to the ANC to comment about his role which will date back to the struggle for freedom,” Ngcebetsha, who is a Cope leader in Gauteng, told the New Age.
Memorial service
A memorial service for Majali was expected to be held at the Bryanston Methodist Church on Thursday afternoon, Ngcebetsha said on Tuesday.
He said the funeral arrangements were still being finalised, but it was likely to take place next week.
The memorial service was expected to begin at 3pm and the speakers would be confirmed by Thursday morning.
Ngcebetsha said the family were still awaiting the post-mortem results.
On Monday, Ngcebetsha said it was highly unlikely that Majali’s death was a suicide.
“There is no evidence that suggests that at all. It seems highly unlikely at this point.”
The family had decided to appoint an independent pathologist to examine the body.
“They appeal to all to avoid speculation of those results, to enable the results to speak for themselves.”
He said the family confirmed that at the time of his death Majali had been suffering from a “respiratory challenge” for which he was undergoing treatment.
He had been staying at the Sandton Quatermain Hotel to rest and receive treatment.
Ngcebetsha said Majali’s family believed there had been attempts to unfairly persecute him during his life.
“They call for the media to back off from this and let him rest peacefully.”
The family believed in his innocence and saw him as a “trustworthy and “honest” person. – I-Net Bridge, Sapa