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Second Survé company suing Ramaphosa and government for R50bn in damages

Second Survé company suing Ramaphosa and government for R50bn in damages
Neesa Moodley
By Neesa Moodley
29 Jan 2024
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A second company within the Sekunjalo group has revealed it is also suing various “organs of state”, regulatory bodies and President Cyril Ramaphosa in a R50-billion damages claim.

Sagarmatha Technologies is suing for what it says was a deliberate withholding of permission to list on a foreign exchange. The parties that are being sued are the President, group chief executive of the JSE Dr Leila Fourie, the minister of justice, the National Treasury, the minister of finance and the state attorney.

The company alleges that the South African Reserve Bank obstructed the listing of Sagarmatha on “chosen” foreign stock exchanges after the company had raised the requisite funds from international investors.

According to the Sagarmatha statement, a valuation by two international professional organisations (unnamed) saw it attract investment interest of around R50-billion in 2018.

The background


The JSE in 2019 indicated that it had initially approved the Sagarmatha listing based on information that it could satisfy a minimum subscription of R3-billion and was able to produce financial statements for the year to the end of December 2017.

In November 2017, Iqbal Survé approached the Public Investment Corporation with a proposal for the PIC to invest in Sagarmatha, which was due to list on the JSE in 2018. Although the PIC did push through a controversial R4.3-billion investment in Ayo Technology, it did not invest in Sagarmatha.

In addition, the JSE was alerted to the fact that Sagarmatha and its subsidiaries – online platform Loot and the African News Agency – had failed to file their annual returns, as required by the Companies Act.

Commenting on the matter in 2019, Andre Visser, general manager in the issuer regulation division at the JSE, confirmed that the JSE reversed its initial pre-listing approval when it found that Sagarmatha had failed to meet the listing requirements. 

“I can categorically say we took that decision completely independent of any noise in the market,” he said.

Sekunjalo’s second court bid


This is the second such lawsuit from the Sekunjalo group, which announced earlier this month that it was suing various South African organs of state, including the Presidency, for R75-billion in damages.

The  litigation comes in the wake of several banks closing accounts linked to the group.

Most recently, Nedbank won a Supreme Court of Appeal case, allowing it to close Sekunjalo bank accounts.

Absa, FNB, Investec and Mercantile Bank all began the process of closing the accounts in 2020, after the Mpati Commission raised questions about the relationship between the PIC and Sekunjalo; and a subsequent PIC investment in Ayo Technology.

Reportedly, a total of 28 banks and representative offices of foreign banks have turned down Sekunjalo’s business, making the banking sector’s boycott very nearly universal.

However, Sekunjalo maintains that “the genesis of the attacks on it stems from its purchase of Independent Media in 2013”.

Speaking of Independent Media, Daily Maverick has seen a notice issued to The Star in Johannesburg indicating that municipal services will be cut off unless just over R1-million in arrears is paid within 14 days.

The notice is dated 17 January 2024, which means the clock runs out on Friday. Independent Media retrenched a third of its staff in November last year.

Related delistings


Ayo and AEEI shares face suspension if the two Sekunjalo-related companies fail to release their annual reports by the end of this month.

Listed companies are required to release their reports within four months of the year-end, which means that both Ayo and AEEI should have published their annual reports by 31 December 2023. DM

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