Union that backed Survé wants its money back
Dr Iqbal Survé has lost another long-standing ally – the union that lent him workers’ money to help take over Independent Media.
The Sactwu investment company is demanding its R300m back, but Survé says his company doesn’t owe it, or its major creditor the Public Investment Corporation, a cent, according to an amaBhungane report on the Daily Maverick site.
It says from papers filed in the Western Cape High Court Survé’s company comes across as exploiting the trust to sidestep the R300m debt.
On the other side of the coin, the papers suggest the union was easily taken for a ride when the agreements were signed on behalf of Sactwu Investments Group (SIG).
Sekunjalo Independent Media’s (SIM’s) pleadings in response to SIG’s claim suggest the union signed away its R300m debt and 8% shareholding in SIM in exchange for shares in another Survé company, Sagarmatha Technologies, that turned out to be practically worthless.
It also signed a separate subordination agreement putting the debt at the back of a queue of very significant creditors – meaning the debt will almost certainly never have to be repaid.
What’s more, SIM claims that the PIC fell into the exact same trap.
It is unambiguously SIM’s position that it owes the PIC nothing because it, too, signed up for Sagarmatha shares in exchange for the money owed.
In the PIC’s case, the ‘disappearing’ and subordinated debt would be well over R1bn.
This consists of loan debt and preference shares overdue for redemption. This might explain why the PIC liquidation application has seemingly languished since November 2019.
The details of how all of this came about and Independent Media’s stanch resistance to repayment are set out in the report online.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
