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Fin24 reports that André Kriel, general secretary of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu), says the union is struggling to pay out funeral benefits to its members.
In court filings, he blames this on a refusal by Sekunjalo Independent Media (SIM) to pay back R150 million loaned to it a decade ago. SIM is the majority owner of Independent Media and is a subsidiary of businessman Iqbal Survé's Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, which bought out Independent Media from its Irish owners a decade ago. Sactwu Investment Group (SIG) loaned the media group R150 million in August 2013, which it used to pay off a portion of its debt to the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). SIG, owned by the Sactwu Education Trust, is a company that the clothing workers' union uses to advance loans to small businesses in the clothing sector. The union and the media group initially had ambitious plans to set up a workers' newspaper. But relations soured in 2019 when SIG and Sactwu asked for their loan to be repaid. SIM refused, saying the union had already swopped its loan claim – which by then had grown to almost R300 million – for shares in another Sekunjalo subsidiary, Sagarmatha. As SIG didn’t own the loan anymore, the media group argued there was nothing to pay back. The union and SIG then took the media company and its parent Sekunjalo Investment Holdings to court to compel it pay back the funds. According to Kriel, Sactwu is in dire need of the R150 million to be paid back, with interest. As matters presently stand, Sactwu is struggling to pay its members all of the benefits which they are due, and currently is in arrears in an amount of some R25 million to its members in respect of funding of retirement benefits. Without the repayment of the loan, Kriel said that the union may be forced to sell some shares in its prize possession – a 26% stake in HCI.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Cronje at Fin24 (subscriber access only)
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