Julius Malema.
Companies On-Point Engineers, SGL Engineering and Gwama Properties had previously refused to hand over their share registers to the newspaper, which Judge Sulet Potterill ruled amounted to criminal conduct in the North Gauteng High Court on Wednesday.
This is the first court ruling, under the new Companies Act, requiring companies to provide the public and media with copies of their share registers. Potterill accused the companies of being opportunistic in arguing that the new Act makes no provision for this.
She said even a person who holds no beneficial interest in the company may inspect or copy the securities register or register of directors. City Press has been conducting investigations into the awarding of tenders to the three companies in Limpopo.
Malema's Ratanang Family Trust owns shares in On-Point, that has been awarded a number of Limpopo government contracts. Malema is also a former director of SGL. His business partner and friend Lesiba Gwangwa is director of all three companies.
Last month, public protector Thuli Madonsela said she believed the tenders awarded to On-Point Engineers were unlawful as proper guidelines had not been followed. Claims are also being investigated that Malema used his political position to influence awarding of the tenders.