‘DEAD MAN WAS NOT A DIRECTOR’

SIHHOYE – When David Tfusi died 10 years ago, he was known to be one of the co-directors of Ntisheni Farmers Association, a cane growing company at Sihhoye.

A renowned farmer and active community member, Tfusi (53) had founded the company together with other community members in the mid-90s.
At some point, he served as chairman of the company, a position he held by virtue of being a complete member or director of the company.
However, now that he is no more, his directorship or membership of Tfusi has been disputed.

The current directors of the company claim that Tfusi was never a director of the company but had been engaged as an employee.
As such, Tfusi’s family has suffered losses in terms of monies that would have been paid to the deceased’s estate, had he been recognised as a director of the company.

As per statutory requirements, dividends due to Tfusi were to be remitted to the office of the Master of the High Court - a statutory body which administers estates of deceased persons.
Such monies would have then been divided among the beneficiaries of the deceased’s estates.

However, in the case of Tfusi, this did not happen as the current company directors insisted that he was not entitled to dividends.
Surprisingly, according to the deceased’s family, Tfusi used to get dividends while he was still alive.

“He used to get all benefits that were enjoyed by members or directors of the company.
“During the ploughing season, the company would hire tractors to cultivate maize fields for members and our father enjoyed this benefit,” said Mduduzi Tfusi (36).

Estimated

He estimated that since 2009, dividends that were supposed to be paid to his father’s estate had accumulated to over E200 000.
Mduduzi described Ntisheni Farmers Association as one of the most stable cane growing companies which enjoyed high profits due to the size of its membership (estimated to be around 20 people).

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