Allan Gray remains ‘resolute’ on Net1 board

South Africa’s largest investment manager, Allan Gray, says it won’t hesitate to attempt to remove Net1’s board if allegations swirling around it over social grants are not resolved “to our satisfaction”.

“We are very concerned about the situation surrounding Net1 – both the immediate need to ensure that 17 million beneficiaries receive their payments on time and to get to the bottom of the allegations that data is being used improperly and deductions taken illegally,” it said yesterday after the Constitutional Court ruling on the matter. The manager holds 15% of Net1, making it the biggest shareholder.

“We welcome the tighter supervision of the company and enhanced safeguarding of beneficiaries’ personal information that we expect to result from the Constitutional Court order. We call on Net1 to comply with the spirit of the order.

“As more information around Net1 has become public, we have stepped up pressure on management and our efforts to uncover the truth. We have engaged a third party to help us investigate and have also extended an invitation to civic society and reporters to meet with us and to provide us with any new information that they may have,” it said.

“As shareholders, we would be happy if this means Net1 foregoes all profits on the contract extension,” it added. – Business reporter