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IOL News
a day ago
- Business
- IOL News
Court criticises Absa's bookkeeping after bank fails to recover R6. 7 million
In 2021, Absa and Gola Trading and Projects signed a business loan, secured by a mortgage bond of R5.6 million and supported by personal guarantees from Arandana and Tswane Refineries. Image: Absa/Facebook Absa has lost a bid to attach property after it claimed that this was the best way to recover some R6.7 million it said was owed to it by two companies and Authar Arandana after they allegedly defaulted on a loan. In dismissing the dispute over the multimillion-rand business loan, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg was scathing in its judgement about the reliability of Absa's books. 'In any event, it seems clear to me that… it is evident the bookkeeping of the plaintiff was in disarray.' The Judge, N.S. Kruger, said this conclusion was based on a review of communication between Absa as plaintiffs and defendants Gola Trading and Projects, Arandana, and Tswane Refineries. Kruger also considered 'various conflicting loan statements'. Kruger said in the recent judgement that 'it seems that as far as [Absa] is concerned, the one hand is unaware of what the other is doing. In my view the defendants have succeeded in raising triable issues [matters that can be defended] in these respects'. In 2021, Absa and Gola Trading and Projects signed a business loan, secured by a mortgage bond of R5.6 million and supported by personal guarantees from Arandana and Tswane Refineries. The contract's date is in dispute, having been signed in either February or October 2021, but the court noted its structure and obligations are not. The loan included a capital facility of R5.535m, fees and VAT, and an additional amount for interest and potential legal costs. According to the Absa, by mid-2023, Gola Trading and Projects had defaulted on payments, falling five instalments behind, which was more than R430 000. This, Absa claims, triggered a contractual clause allowing the loan to be cancelled and the full balance, of more than R5.27 million, to be called in immediately. But the defendants contest this, saying no such arrears existed. They point to a series of loan statements showing lower arrears and argue that subsequent payments – including two of R90,000 and a larger one of over R194,000 – brought the account into a credit position. By 10 October 2023, they received a statement showing that no arrears were owed. Despite this, Absa continued to chase the money, later adjusting the alleged arrears to R312,000 and seeking summary judgment. The amount claimed was later revised again to R4.27 million, which the judge said raised further questions. The defendants argued that this pattern of inconsistencies undermines Absa's certificate of balance and suggested a material dispute that should be tested at trial. Among the errors cited was an apparent reference to a '2019 agreement' in the bank's court papers – something Absa later admitted was a drafting mistake, the judgment noted. There were also discrepancies in the bank's internal calculations, leading to conflicting figures across statements and correspondence, the judge said. The defendants argued that, even if the loan was technically in arrears at one point, Absa's subsequent conduct, accepting payments and requesting further instalments, effectively reinstated the contract. They assert that no formal notice of breach was served before the alleged cancellation, and that the bank's changing demands demonstrate the agreement was still in place. Adding to the complexity, the third defendant has since gone into voluntary liquidation. Absa has postponed its claim against this party, focusing instead on recovering funds from Arandana and Gola Trading and Projects, and seeking a court order to declare the mortgaged property executable. However, this matter will now have to be settled through mediation. IOL
IOL News
05-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Oops! Miscommunication sees construction start on bakery but at the wrong site in Durban
Homeland Security SA, a private security company with the Glenwood Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP), at the Davenport Park site in Umbilo. The metal rods protruding from the ground is where the concrete structure was going to be built. In the background is a community vegetable garden. Image: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers The eThekwini Municipality's R6.7 million community bakery development programme got off to a bad start when construction started on one of them but on the wrong plot of land in Glenwood on Wednesday. In December 2024, the Economic Development and Planning Committee received support from council to fund five bakeries in ward 01: KwaXimba, Ward 94: KwaMakhutha, Ward 32: Albert Park, Ward 61: Tongaat and Ward 107: Ntuzuma/lnanda, during the 2024 and 2025 financial year. The cost per bakery container is R1.3 million. Two years ago Davenport Park was a crime hotspot and based on a park adoption agreement with the parks department, the Association Montessori International (AMI) and Umbilo Business Association(UBA) regenerated this ward 33 park. The lower Glenwood area has become notorious for prostitution and drug dealing on vacant land, in abandoned buildings and on street corners. The UBA policy director Ian Campbell-Gillies said three full time gardening jobs funded by both AMI and the UBA resulted in an urban farming operation of outstanding success in terms of regenerating the area and lowering crime. According to sources, a group of men arrived in a bakkie with building material at Davenport Park alongside the urban farming operation, a vegetable garden, on Wednesday. The men began constructing a cement pedestal for the bakery operation before it was halted when Durban Metro Police arrived together with parks department officials and the ward councillor. Following a discussion between ward 32 Councillor Protas Ngonyama and ward 33 Councillor Fran Kristofer the matter had been resolved after it was discovered that there could have been a misunderstanding with ward demarcations. Both councillors initially declined to comment further but Ngonyama later said that the bakery project would be placed on Dunkirk Park, within his ward in Umbilo. In a report to eThekwini council, it stated that the bakery programme is critical for achieving rural and township recovery objectives. The programme will also assist the city to contribute towards job creation and creation of sustainable livelihoods through supporting the development of Township-Based Enterprises, Co-operatives and Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). The report stated that the programme supports unemployed women, youth, people with disabilities and veterans, through the provision of fully equipped container bakeries and capacitating them to run sustainable businesses. This is aimed at affording them with proper and decent working facilities to produce high quality bakery products, easy access to their markets and creating employment within their areas. The report stated that the development of bakery facilities/industry within eThekwini is gaining momentum. Other benefits from the programme were: To enable customers attraction and diversification of product offerings Production of high-quality baked goods such as, bread, rolls and muffins combination of nutrition, convenience and luxury Linkages with other initiatives or complementing programs such soup kitchens community gatherings, local traditional events, church gatherings, stokvels School nutrition Provision of capacity building initiatives such as mentorship, business management and technical training [email protected]
IOL News
29-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Matshepo More, PIC return to CCMA after unfair dismissal ruling
Former Public Investment Corporation chief financial officer Matshepo More is returning to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), where her erstwhile employer is challenging a CCMA ruling in her favour. Image: Screenshot Former Public Investment Corporation (PIC) chief financial officer Matshepo More is heading back to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), which previously ordered her reinstatement and awarded her over R6.7 million in compensation. In September 2022, CCMA commissioners Cameron Morajane and Nthabiseng Thokoane declared her dismissal substantively and procedurally unfair, and she was reinstated. The PIC was ordered to pay the costs, and in a supplementary award, the commissioners quantified her backpay and costs due at more than R6.74m and R39 000, respectively. More was fired by the PIC in October 2021 after being found guilty of misconduct. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ She was charged after approving R350m revolving credit facility to the now defunct VBS Mutual Bank in 2014, which was outside her delegation of authority. The PIC accused More of recommending the then chief executive, Dr Dan Matjila, to enter into the revolving credit facility agreement in breach of her duty to ensure that the terms of the agreement complied with the fund investment panels' approval before providing the confirmation and recommending that it be signed. More then referred her unfair dismissal dispute to the CCMA, where she argued that the alleged misconduct constituted a breach of contract. The CCMA found that the claim (charging and dismissal) that the PIC has against More is extinct through the running of uninterrupted prescription. The commissioners deemed the charges and subsequent dismissal incompetent. In addition, the commissioners stated that as the instruction was in contravention of the delegation of authority, More's dismissal was therefore premised on an unlawful and unreasonable instruction and the charges and the subsequent dismissal were unfair. 'More has succeeded in her claim for prescription. The outcome is that the dismissal is substantively and procedurally unfair. The instruction issued by Dr Matjila as found above was unreasonable and unlawful,' the CCMA ruled. The PIC then approached the Labour Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, arguing that the commissioners committed a material error of law. Last month, Labour Court Judge Connie Prinsloo reviewed and set aside the CCMA's arbitration award and the supplementary award. 'The matter is remitted to the CCMA for arbitration de novo by a senior commissioner or commissioners, as the case may be, other than the third and fourth respondents (Morajane and Thokoane),' reads Judge Prinsloo's judgment, adding that the record of proceedings generated the supplementary case shall serve as the evidence before the appointed commissioner or commissioners. The arbitration de novo (afresh) is to be conducted on such terms and in such manner as the appointed commissioner or commissioners may determine, and the CCMA was directed to enrol the matter for arbitration. Attempts to contact More were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
