Workers own 46.15% shares at
MANZINI – The workforce in the private and public sectors own a combined shareholding of . per cent at Montigny Investments Limited. This is the same company whose properties are being burnt by unknown people who are reportedly aggrieved by long-held perceptions that Montigny Investments is co-owned by the royal family.
Whenever they burn the company’s forests, some online publications usually shift ownership of the firm to His Majesty King Mswati III, something which Neal Rijkenberg disputed in the Friday edition of the Times of Eswatini.
This week, the Swaziland News reported that the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces (SISF) destroyed Montigny’s property valued at E . million. The property included specialised trucks to extinguish fire.
Thulani Hlatshwayo, the Secretary General of National Public Services and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), said it was a fact that the institutions in which Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF) held shareholding were partly or in whole owned by the workers.
He alluded to the fact that public could claim ownership of Montigny.
However, he said public servants, through NAPSAWU and Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) were totally against labour brokering at Montigny.
“If they can sort out the issue of labour brokering, we can be at peace with them because Montigny is, of course, our company as PSPF has substantial shares there,” Hlatshwayo said.
He said the union did not want to get itself involved in political issues, except to make it clear that NAPSAWU was only interested in seeing workers employed. He said their mandate was to ensure the availability of bread and butter for workers.
Asked whether they were comfortable with the burning of forests, Hlatshwayo said: “We cannot be happy. Our interest is to see workers employed and we are for bread and butter for the workers.”
He asked Montigny to get rid of labour brokering once and for all. He urged them to allow workers to join a union affiliated to TUCOSWA.
“Of course, we have interests in Montigny through PSPF. There is no doubt that such institutions like Montigny are co-owned by workers,” he said.
If they can sort out the issue of labour brokering, we can be at peace with them because Montigny is our company as PSPF has substantial shares there. We have interests in Montigny through PSPF. There is no doubt that such institutions are coowned by workers.”
CO-OWNED
servants
Bheki Mamba, the President of TUCOSWA, vehemently disputed the fact that workers, through ENPF, co-owned Montigny. He said such companies took loans from the statutory funds like PSPF, which were later converted to shares.
When Mamba was called upon to react to objections from some quarters that PSPF and Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) never advanced loans to Montigny, but engaged a deceased prominent attorney to broker the deal, he insisted: “The company is not for the workers.”
He argued that since the workers were not involved when the policies of the company were formulated, they were not the owners. 4uizzed on the employees’ stance on the burning of the properties, he said government and security clusters did not reveal to them the people who were behind the torching of the company’ forests and trucks.
He called for dialogue between employers, employees and government to find a lasting solution to the problem which could render the workers jobless.
NiBusiness in UK says shares represent ownership of a company. When an individual buys shares in a company, he becomes one of its owners.
The economists from UK state that shareholders choose who runs a company and are involved in making key decisions, such as whether a business should be sold.
In , Montigny concluded the purchase of Usutu Forest Products Company from SAPPI Limited. The landmark deal was considered one of the largest private, commercial transactions to take place in Eswatini. The company raised in excess of E billion to conclude the acquisition.
Besides the announcement of probably the biggest deal in the country at that time, Montigny Chief Executive Officer Andrew Le Roux also announced the PSPF and ENPF as new shareholders and investors in Montigny.
The deal was sealed at the Happy Valley Hotel and Casino, where PSPF was represented by Cleopas Dlamini, the current Prime Minister, while Prince Lonkhokhelo represented ENPF.
Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the origins of the business go further back to when the Rijkenberg family moved to Eswatini from South Africa and purchased
-hectare mixed farm near Nhlangano. The family had been involved in the timber industry in Kwambonambi, where they reportedly grew some gum. Koos Rijkenberg established a small sawmill, sawing timber for the mines in South Africa.
PURCHASING
When Koos’ eldest son, Neal, joined the family business after graduating from Cedara Agricultural College, he started building up the sawmill.
At that time, they had started purchasing more farms and planting timber wherever the terrain and climate was suitable.
It was in when Neal, the Minister of Finance, founded Montigny. His company then sold some shares to entities that are owned by the workforce in the country.
Now, Montigny is understood to be a lucrative business. It is one of the companies that pay huge corporate taxes to government and one of the largest contributors to gross domestic product (GDP).
The Bhunya-based company is, as a matter of fact, co-owned by statutory funds for workers, some of whom are affiliated to the TUCOSWA and NAPSAWU.
They hold the shares at Montigny their entities, the PSPF and ENPF.
ENPF is represented by Prince Lonkhokhelo at Montigny. The prince reports to the ENPF Board in which workers are represented by Mduduzi Gina, the Secretary General (SG) of TUCOSWA.
REPRESENTED
is a union for public through
On the other hand, PSPF is represented by L.P. Dlamini, M.N. Simelane and F.-. Mabuza. Their full names could not be established. As well, they report to the PSPF Board of Trustees where the public servants are represented by Celumusa Tembe, the former SG of NAPSAWU.
NAPSAWU servants whose objectives are to:
Recruit and unite workers into one single union in order to share their economic and social welfare;
Protect the job security of members; Advance the employment prospects members;
Serve the individual and of members;
Foster unity, cooperation and comradeship among all workers within the scope of the union and other industries;
Establish relationships with other trade unions, trade union federations and labour organisations for the benefit of members of the union;
The ENPF was established in as a retirement savings scheme, the main purpose of which is to provide benefit for employed persons when they retire from regular employment in old age or in the event of becoming collective of interests