Survé accused of breaking promise to jobless fisherfolk
MEDIA mogul and philanthropist Dr Iqbal Survé is under fire in a West Coast municipality for allegedly abandoning retrenched workers in a housing “dumping site”.
The Saldanha Bay Municipality this week said it was battling to resolve the “appalling” situation of families living in condemned houses owned by Premier Fishing, a subsidiary of Sekunjalo Investments, of which Survé is a major shareholder.
The municipality claims Sekunjalo has not only allowed the houses to crumble, but has stalled a transfer agreement that would allow the municipality to provide alternative housing. The transfer should have been completed three years ago.
“Sekunjalo was not very helpful as we tried to help them solve this dilemma for them,” said UNHEALTHY: Olga Plaatjies, left, with Johan Greef, complains that her house leaks when it rains and is full of mice Ryan Don, mayoral committee head of community and operational services and ward councillor for White City, where the houses are, in Geelbek Street.
“They [Sekunjalo] did not even come forward with any progressive suggestion in the form of any support [or] assistance to us or the workers.”
Don said he suspected Sekunjalo had not evicted residents from the homes for fear of drawing attention to the embarrassing situation.
“At the current state it is only Sekunjalo that could evict them as the property is still registered in [its] name. We are, however, in the process of registering the property in our name,” Don said.
Another Saldanha councillor, Gerrit de Bruyn, an ANC member, said Sekunjalo appeared to have reneged on the original idea of transferring the houses to the tenants.
Many of the company’s former staff accuse Survé of failing to keep a promise to retain jobs and transfer title to staff houses when he visited the area several years ago. Premier closed its Saldanha factory in 2008, resulting in 400 job losses.
“People’s feeling is that Iqbal must come to the table and acknowledge what he has done,” ABANDONED: Johan Greef visits the ruins of homes that were built by the fishing company owned by Sekunjalo in Saldanha said community leader Magrieta White, a former member of a workers’ trust that owned 16% of Premier.
“Our health is not good,” said Olga Plaatjies, who lives in one of the Geelbek Street houses with two family members. “When it rains I must put buck- ets in. The mice come in. My furniture is all vrot .”
She said her 17-year-old daughter had moved out because of health and safety concerns.
Documents in the possession of the Sunday Times reveal that Sekunjalo flagged the issue as a potential embarrassment sever- al years ago.
According to an internal report: “This has the potential of reversing all the positive strides made by the Sekunjalo Group, especially the accolades which have been showered upon it in the last year.”
The report was compiled by a firm of attorneys in 2007.
Asked for comment, Survé sent an SMS: “I have no doubt that whatever you are writing will continue to show how morally bankrupt you and your bosses are in executing this disgusting campaign against myself, Sekunjalo and Independent [newspapers].”
In a separate e-mail, Sekunjalo said it was committed to transferring the Geelbek Street homes to the municipality.
“There was no obligation on Premier Fishing . . . and Premier should be applauded for donating the properties instead of selling [them] off at significant values to property developers,” said spokeswoman Feroza Petersen.
Survé resigned as chairman of Sekunjalo Investments in November last year but remained chairman of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, the holding company with a controlling stake in Sekunjalo. However, Survé is technically no longer part of the firm, the company said.
They are just handing the problem over to the municipality