Axings at Acsa put on ice
Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has made an about-turn after buckling to Airports Company SA (Acsa) minority shareholder demands, postponing a meeting at which four board members would have been fired.
The 11th-hour reprieve raises the spectre of a revival of a board resolution to suspend and discipline Acsa CEO Bongani Maseko for contravening the parastatal’s supply chain rules.
Peters, through her spokesman Ishmael Mnisi, confirmed late on Wednesday sending out the postponement note.
It has emerged that some of the board members whose removal had been mooted in two previous notices, have written to the minister, asking for reasons to be given for placing them on the chopping block, failing which they would take legal action against her.
Business Day has also learnt that the notice postponing next Monday’s shareholder meeting, which was issued on Wednesday afternoon, came just before the affected board members were planning to petition the high court on an urgent basis in a bid to interdict Peters from removing them from the board.
At the heart of the issue are allegations that Peters’ unprecedented actions, viewed by minority shareholders as interference in the company’s affairs, are an attempt to shield Maseko, against whom a charge sheet has been drawn up.
The four nonexecutive directors facing the axe are Kate Matlou, McDonald Kenosi Moroka, Bajabulile Luthuli and Chwayita Mabude, who are all part of crucial committees responsible for ensuring that Acsa complies with governance prescripts.
Moroka chairs the social and ethics committees, as well as an ad hoc committee set up to handle the suspensions of three Acsa senior managers and their disciplinary cases.
When the minister issued the first notice, signalling her intention to remove the four board members, she caught them offguard because some had been expecting to meet her to discuss their resolution to have Maseko suspended from Acsa.
Company secretary Nosisa Kekana sent out the postponement notice to shareholders and board members on Wednesday.
One of the reasons cited was that minorities had objected to waiving the 10-day notice period during which they would prepare for such a meeting.
Minority shareholder Alun Frost, of African Harvest Strategic Investments, which holds a 1.4% stake in Acsa, had raised objections over the urgency of the minister’s move, pointing out minority shareholders had tried in vain to set up a meeting with Peters for months.
Other minority shareholders also wanted clarity about the meeting’s agenda, which had not been spelt out in the notices.
Acsa has told Business Day that it was unaware of any board resolution to suspend and discipline Maseko.
Acting chairman Roshan Morar referred questions to Kekana, whose cellphone went to voicemail and who did not respond to SMSes.
Sources, who were not authorised to speak to the media, said Morar was holding on to the board minutes containing the resolutions taken on February 3, that spell out how Maseko’s matter should be handled by Acsa.
Asked if Peters had sent the postponement notice, Mnisi said: “Yes that is true.”
But he disagreed that the minister had retreated on the shareholders’ meeting because of a technicality, saying: “That’s incorrect ... the Companies Act does make provision for a waiver, which, in this case, was not granted by other shareholders.
“We received a letter from only one of the affected board members and Business Day's interpretation of the letter is not entirely correct.”