Entities directly or indirectly controlled by businessman Iqbal Survé, who claims his companies are being discriminated against because they are black-owned, are facing a blizzard of legal proceedings launched by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to recover millions of rands in overdue loan repayments to the state-owned asset manager.

A Daily Maverick report says the latest Survé-linked entity facing PIC legal action is Independent Media, which owns a range of well-known publications including The Star, Cape Argus and The Mercury.

Sekunjalo Independent Media (SIM), controlled by Survé, owns 55% of Independent Media. 

The report notes the PIC has been a big backer of entities linked to Survé, supporting his successful purchase of Independent News and Media (renamed Independent Media) in 2013 from Ireland-based owners. 

During 2013, the PIC advanced several loans to SIM and Independent Media, which is 25% owned by the PIC.

The loans were for five years and were repayable (with interest) in August 2018.

By 2017, the PIC believed that there were signs that Survé’s entities would default on payments. 

The PIC manages nearly R2trn in government pension savings on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund, and other social funds, including the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund.

PIC CEO Abel Sithole told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance that the state-owned asset manager had instituted legal action against Independent Media to recover the R392.6m that it is owed, adding that the PIC had unsuccessfully demanded repayment from Independent Media as early as July 2020.

Sithole said that on 30 July 2020 the PIC sent an enforcement notice to Independent Media for the repayment of the outstanding amounts, including interest accrued.

But no payments were made.

The PIC delivered a notice to Independent Media on 19 November 2020, informing the company that it continued to be a debt defaulter.

Independent Media aside, notes the DM report, the PIC has already hauled Survé to court for another entity linked to the businessman.

In November 2019, the PIC applied to liquidate SIM. The application is ongoing.

Sithole said SIM owes the PIC more than R709m and, to date, the company has ‘not paid any money to service the debt’. 

The PIC launched liquidation proceedings against SIM after it proposed paying the asset manager R330m in four tranches over a four-year period, which the PIC has declined.

The PIC wants a full settlement of monies owed.

The PIC is also suing AYO Technology Solutions, another Survé-linked entity through his Sekunjalo group, arguing that the R4.3bn investment it made in the company was based on inflated information about its financial prospects and Survé’s close friendship with former PIC CEO Dan Matjila.

Sithole said the PIC had opted to take the legal route to recover its monies as a last resort after failed attempts to have the payment disputes resolved out of court.

He is also under pressure to act on the findings and recommendations of the Mpati Commission of inquiry into the PIC, which implored the asset manager to recover any monies awarded irregularly. 

Full Daily Maverick report