Reg Rumney=20
The listing of black-controlled Real Africa Investments=20 last week made instant paper millionaires of three of=20 the directors.=20
According to the RAI pre-listing statement, executive=20 chairman Don Ncube held 1 472 230 shares indirectly in=20 RAI. At a closing price on the Johannesburg Stock=20 Exchange mid-week of around R2,50, Ncube is worth R3,7- million. This does not take into account any loans he=20 might have had to raise to buy all or part of the shares=20 in the first place.=20
The same applies to Jethro Mbau, who owns 736 115=20 shares, worth R1,8-million. Mutle Mogase with 552 086=20 shares is worth R1,4-million.=20
The RAI pre-listing statement includes a sum of R1 617=20 500 to be paid to five directors for their services to=20 the company during the preceding 18 months, chairman=20 Donald Ncube, prominent trade unionist and MP John=20 Copelyn, Mohamed Ahmed, Mbau and Mogase.=20
At the time of going to press the Weekly Mail & Guardian=20 could not establish how this amount was to be shared=20 among the five directors.=20
Copelyn is a director of RAI courtesy of Sactwu=20 Investment Companies’ 11,6 percent holding in Real=20 Africa Investments. Sactwu Investments is the investment=20 arm of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers’=20 Union. =20
When I asked Copelyn about the role of Sactwu=20 investments, whether he had taken up share options=20 available to him and several other directors, and his=20 remuneration as a director, he accused me of being=20 “aggressive and confrontational”. Copelyn would not=20 clarify his remuneration as a director in terms of the=20 payout, asking me what my salary was. He said his=20 remuneration was no secret, and he was operating in a=20 perfectly legitimate way. Asked to respond to criticism=20 that Sactwu Investments had not put money into clothing=20 and textile businesses, Copelyn said it had.=20
“Sactwu Investments is already making an enormous amount=20 of money, and in future it will make more money to=20 provide benefits for clothing workers,” he said.=20