Tycoon Roux Shabangu has expressed fear he could be bankrupted if he pays back a portion of the millions of rands that was irregularly lent to a liquidated company he co-owned. Denying that he and eight others were liable to repay the state-owned Land Bank R82m arising from a loan granted to Westside Trading 570 in 2006, Shabangu has taken the long-drawn-out legal battle to the Constitutional Court.

According to a report in The Star, the bank and Westside entered into a R100m deal for a project that eyed land in Hartbeespoort, North West. Westside had received over R62.6m when its deal with the bank was found to be invalid.

The bank had no authority – in terms of the Land Bank Act – to enter into such an agreement.

In an affidavit, Shabangu sought to convince the Constitutional Court to rule that the invalidity of the agreement also meant the suretyship that Westside's directors had signed was invalid.

Shabangu’s argument was already dealt a blow by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) in 2016. Judge Annali Basson, and subsequently the SCA, ruled that Westside’s directors were jointly and severally liable to pay the state bank R82m, plus 15.5% a year.

Westside was liquidated in 2012, meaning its former directors have to dig into their pockets.

‘The consequences of holding the sureties liable for such an enormous sum of money are severe. It has the possibility of rendering me and the other sureties insolvent,’ Shabangu said.

Full report in The Star