PSA board had no powers to suspend us, employees say

NASPERS’S international internet assets division Prosus is leading a R1.7 billion funding round for India’s largest food delivery platform Swiggy, as it continues its aggressive drive to increase its market share in the online food-delivery sector.

Prosus said yesterday that Swiggy had invested significantly in food delivery, and had become one of the fastest-growing brands in India.

It said Swiggy’s strong focus on technology, brand and supply creation had played a key role in fuelling the growth of the food category, and ecosystem in India.

Prosus Ventures and Food chief executive Larry Illg said the company’s $1 billion (R14.97bn) investment in Swiggy had resulted in an attractive business proposition that the group could take forward.

“When we first partnered with Swiggy three years ago, we recognised the Swiggy team had built a sustainable long-term business that stood out among others in India,” Illg said. “Swiggy has built a solid leadership position in India, and is utilising its strong logistics network and consumer loyalty to expand its offering to services that continue to make consumers’ lives more convenient.”

Illg said Swiggy had one of the best operational teams in food delivery globally. Prosus, valued at R188bn, already holds a 30 percent stake in

Swiggy. The group also has interests in Brazilian food delivery start-up iFood, and Germany’s Delivery Hero.

According to a report by IMARC Group, the global online food delivery market size is projected to exceed $164.5bn by 2024.

Last month Prosus lost a $6.3bn bid for UK food delivery firm Just Eat, which would have created one of the world’s biggest online food-delivery companies. Prosus said Swiggy’s transactions had grown 2.5 times over the past year.

Its restaurant partner base saw more than 10 000 new restaurants being added every month, while the platform had more than 250 000 delivery partners across 520 cities, which meant one in four Indians can now access Swiggy.

Swiggy said it aimed to use the funds to further develop its new lines of business, addressing visible gaps in the market. It said it would continue to invest in new growth areas – Stores, Go and SuprDaily – as it delivers on its promise of bringing unparalleled convenience to urban consumers.

Sriharsha Majety, the chief executive of Swiggy, said: “Over the past couple of years at Swiggy, we have made strong strides in our vision of delivering unparalleled convenience to urban consumers and in building a fundamentally strong and enduring business, while keeping the consumer at the core.”

Prosus shares rose 1.05 percent on the JSE to close at R1 170.85 yesterday.

THE BOARD of directors of the Public Servants Association (PSA) had no powers to suspend deputy general manager Tahir Maepa and provincial manager Thami Makuzeni, according to court papers filed by the estranged employees seeking immediate reinstatement.

Maepa and Makuzeni this week filed papers in the Gauteng High Court seeking the court to nullify their suspension and order the PSA to allow them to return to full duty with immediate effect.

Maepa and Makuzeni want the PSA board’s decision to suspend them declared invalid and unlawful.

In his papers, Maepa said while the board was granted wide-ranging powers, its powers and functions could not be irreconcilable with the statute. He said if the statute vested certain powers on one structure, the board did not have the power to exercise those powers.

Maepa said the power to suspend or take any disciplinary proceedings were vested in the PSA general manager Ivan Fredricks – who was also suspended in January – and not its board.

“The rules of natural justice foresee that Makuzeni and I should have been given an opportunity to be heard before the decision to suspend us was taken. We also submit that it is a person acting in the general manager’s position who should have suspended Ms Makuzeni and I and not the PSA’s board.”

He said neither he nor Makuzeni were afforded an opportunity either by the PSA board or the acting general manager of the PSA, Leon Gilbert, to make representations prior to their suspension.

“In this regard, Gilbert, albeit acting general manager, is clothed with all the powers of the general manager of the PSA. The circular to the staff of the PSA penned by Mulaudzi also attests that Gilbert is vested with all the powers of the general manager,” he said.

Maepa said Gilbert, as acting general manager, owed the board a duty to explain to it that it had no powers to act in the manner in which it did. “But he failed or did not advise the board as he should have.”

PSA president Lufuno Mulaudzi said the board had met on December 11 to initiate an independent investigation into the alleged irregular appointment of a legal firm, Mafa Attorneys, by the PSA that represented three of its structures at the Labour Court. The board said the suspension was to avoid interference in the investigation.

Mulaudzi confirmed that the association had received court papers from Maepa and Makuzeni challenging their suspension and said it was their constitutional right. He said the PSA would duly respond to the claims, which he dismissed as frivolous but declined to delve into the matter, saying that it was sub judice.