Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Sanco Investment Holdings (SIH), the investment arm of the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco), one of the pillars of the anti-apartheid struggle, has lost track of its assets and investments worth R80-million.
The managing director of SIH, Moses Mayekiso, said this week that his company has lost investment records, financial reports and cash flow statements relating to several investments after a former senior employee “looted” their offices. SIH was formed in 1996 as an empowerment wing of Sanco, and subsequently embarked on ambitious business projects, which also involved Sanco and outside investors. The link between Sanco and SIH is the Sanco Development Trust, on whose board sits Mayekiso and other Sanco executives. The plan was that profits from Sanco’s business operations and from the investment company would ultimately flow back into development projects and black empowerment schemes.
Two major insurance schemes, which linked Sanco members to life insurance if they paid a small yearly fee, collapsed, one after the other, after being hit by fraud and mismanagement. Sanco claims it has reduced the backlog of funeral benefits owed to beneficiaries of members who joined the insurance schemes.
However, Mayekiso said this week the administrative function of SIH has virtually ground to a halt. He claimed that former finance manager Joanna Kruis had taken off with thousands of documents and computers storing confidential data relating to shares SIH holds in other companies. The shocking revelation about SIH’s state of affairs emerged after the Mail & Guardian inquired about the company’s apparent selling off of shares to cover debts. Mayekiso said shares are being sold because the company does not have collateral to cover day-to-day costs. “We are not running a coffee shop. We don’t have a bag full of cash. All we have are long-term investments and it will take time before we realise the dividends. That is why we are now looking at short-term investments,” said Mayekiso.
Asked to provide the company’s investment portfolio, Mayekiso said SIH was having difficulty identifying some investments, largely because Kruis had “looted our financial records, audit statements and shareholding information”. He said he could only provide the company’s investment portfolio next week or when he receives documents from Kruis. He said, however, SIH has investments in two companies, Excel, a petroleum company (10%), and in Emfuleni Safari Resort (15%), which recently won a casino licence in Gauteng. He claimed that the huge debt SIH had in the past was also due to Kruis’s actions. “We had to hand over our financial administration to the lawyers because the person who was in charge of our finances looted the confidential files,” he said. Kruis, who was dismissed by SIH last year, denied the allegations. Speaking through her lawyer, Kruis admitted she had SIH documents but denied she had stolen them. “She had been in possession of some documents even before she left SIH. She has never refused to hand them over to the company,” said Kruis’s legal representative.
Mayekiso said SIH had agreed to pay Kruis about R80 000 in compensation in a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)hearing on condition that she return the documents and company property. “The company has even withdrawn all legal actions which we had against her because of the agreement that she will bring back our property,” said Mayekiso.
However, the CCMA agreement does not clearly state a “condition” for payment of the money, but shows the company has made a request that documents and equipment bereturned. Kruis’s lawyer dismissed Mayekiso’s statement as “absolute rubbish”. “The fact that she will give them those documents is not a condition for paying her the R80 000. Whether she gives them the documents or not they will pay her the money. Today [Wednesday April 11] is the deadline for payment and they will [have to] make it regardless of whether she had returned those documents,” said Kruis’s lawyer. “If they say she stole the documents why didn’t they lay criminal charges against her? This is rubbish and they [Sanco] are split and there is some kind of power struggle within. They are just using her as a pawn.” Mayekiso, however, insisted that Kruis took company documents, including cars, without the consent of the management. “What they are saying is untrue,” he said. “We charged her and only withdrew the case when she agreed to bring back everything. They are just lying, and she is being used by one of our directors, who has a vendetta against me, to assassinate my character ahead of our national conference next week. They know I am contesting for the presidency and they want to damage my reputation as part of their electioneering.” Mayekiso said Kruis “absconded from work” in January last year but had taken office equipment in December 1999. “She told us that the office equipment was attached by a creditor,” he said. “But when we paid the creditors and they returned our property there were still a lot of things that were missing. She just absconded from the office and when we told her she must bring back our property she told us she wanted her money first,” said Mayekiso. Kruis’s lawyer confirmed that she had kept the company car as “security” against the company’s handing over the money she sought.