Evanstan Investments snaps up Tongaat stake

Although a big group of Tongaat Hulett shareholders ran for the hills when trade in the stock resumed in February, littleknown Evanstan Investments is swimming against the tide.

After the JSE lifted the suspension of trade in Tongaat, the company got an emphatic thumbs-down from the market, the share price plunging 63.66%.

Since the resumption of trade, Tongaat has lost more than 33% of its value. That is hardly surprising, given that the company’s shameful misdeeds have been laid bare for all to see.

Regardless of the recent accounting scandal that wiped off equity worth to the tune of billions of rand in what was once one of SA’s prominent blue-chip companies and the share’s underperformance, Evanstan finds Tongaat attractive. Against the backdrop of the value destruction, Evanstan has bought 5.18% of the total issued ordinary shares of Tongaat, making it one of the largest shareholders in the KwaZuluNatal-based sugar producer.

For such a step, Evanstan would have done a lot of work behind the scenes. It is worth mentioning that Tongaat is home to some quality assets, including a multibillion-rand property portfolio. Second, since the scandal broke, Tongaat’s new management and board have taken decisive steps to turn the company’s fortunes around. This includes selling off assets to reduce the pile of debt.

Significantly, the individuals who allegedly presided over the company’s near-collapse have since left the building and their fate is in the hands of the country’s law enforcement agencies.

AMCU

In 2019, Business Day tried to access annual financial statements that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) is obliged to submit to the department of employment & labour. The department flatly rejected the request, and suggested an application through the Public Access to Information Act, which was duly done.

After protracted silence from the department and plenty of nagging from Business Day, the officials handling the request said they had to ask Amcu if they minded. Of course, Amcu minded, and turned down the request flat, and the department shrugged its shoulders.

There are tens of thousands of mineworkers paying subscriptions to Amcu. Do they have sight of the annual reports and a decent understanding of the intricacies of what these reports entail to explain what happens to their dues? Unlikely.

Would it be in the public interest for these annual reports from Amcu and other unions to be made public? Of course, yes. In the case of Amcu, a union that has twice called the longest strikes in SA’s industrial history, with five-month strikes in the platinum sector and at SibanyeStillwater’s gold mines, there is a real interest.

The registrar of labour relations at the department sent Amcu’s leadership a stern letter on February 13, demanding answers on a list of expenditure items, such as the R15.8m spent in 2018 on national executive committee member salaries.

It’s not hard to see why Amcu wanted the media nowhere near its annual filings to the department. What is less understandable is the department assisting Amcu to operate in the shadows, with millions of rand of their members’ money.