ECSPONENT INVESTORS’ CHAIRMAN COLLAPSES AT HIGH COURT

MBABANE – The investment verification and confirmation of the investors’ instruction of S.V. Mdladla and Associates as their representative was not uneventful.

There was drama at the High Court on Tuesday just minutes before the presiding Judge, Khontaphi Manzini, entered the courtroom when the Chairperson of the Eswatini Investment Group (ESWIG) Investment Relations Committee (IRC), Norman Dlamini, collapsed in front of hundreds of his fellow investors. The incident happened while ESWIG staff members were issuing investment statements to the investors prior to the start of the court proceedings. Judge Manzini had issued a directive that the over 1 500 investors should appear in person on Tuesday and yesterday to prove their mandate to S.V Mdladla and Associates.

The investors comprise of pensioners, private companies, corporate executives, non-governmental organisations, churches as well as retired and active members of the security forces.
At the time of the incident, Dlamini of Mvembili, was with other IRC members and ESWIG management in Court B. There was panic among the investors as they attempted to raise him from the floor, while simultaneously trying to move people away, so as to create space in the crowded courtroom. They quickly carried him out of the courtroom as some of the women engaged in impromptu prayers while others exclaimed and gasped.

Once placed along the corridor, Dlamini regained consciousness and sat on the floor, shaking his head. After a couple of minutes, he gradually showed signs of his normal self, as his fellow investors grabbed a nearby chair and assisted him to sit on it. The members of ESWIG management, along with some of the confused investors, expressed their sympathies at seeing their leader’s health being compromised, purportedly by the marathon court battle. As soon as he had gathered himself, Dlamini  cautiously walked out of the High Court building to the car park, where he again sat down in the shade of a tree and took off his jacket.

He asked those gathered around him; “What happened? All I can recall is being carried by people. I don’t know how I came about to be in that situation.” He then related how he had been suffering from a mild flu. “I’ve been struggling with flu over the last couple of days. I guess it is the humidity inside the courtroom that made me collapse.” Meanwhile, his colleagues called an ambulance to take him to hospital for a check-up.

Some of the affected over 500 investors were overheard lamenting that the chairperson had overworked himself on the issue.They felt Dlamini invested too much time and emotions  in this matter.“Our chairman has been visible and sending messages on our WhatsApp group. We really appreciate his efforts in ensuring that we receive our funds,” said one investor.
“We are glad to see a person who is determined to assist us to the extent that his health is at risk, even though we don’t encourage it.” Another investor expressed appreciation that Dlamini proved his commitment to ensuring that the matter is resolved.

Mobilising

Another investor attributed the high turnout of investors at the High Court to the efforts of the chairman in mobilising people to attend. “If it was not for the efforts of the chairman to mobilise investors to attend, I doubt we would have witnessed such a high attendance,” she said. The High Court was crammed as some of the investors sat on the aisles due to capacity challenges. With the high temperatures, the investors were determined to follow the court proceedings. This is the second time that such an incident occurred during a gathering of the Ecsponent investors. A similar incident happened during a special general meeting of the investors at the Mfanyana Hall in Manzini last year.

Many of the investors are elderly pensioners, who are both sickly and adversely affected by the loss of their hard-earned earnings. About 1 138 investors lost their investments.
Judge Manzini ordered that all affected investors be present at the High Court to prove their existence, as well as provide power of attorney to be represented by S.V. Mdladla and Associates. Meanwhile, Judge Manzini in June issued a default judgment, ordering Dave Van Niekerk, Dave Soonius, Ecsponent Limited South Africa, GetBucks (Pty) Ltd South Africa and Anton Hay, to pay ESWIG Limited, the investors and Ligagu Investments (Pty) Ltd a sum of E335 240 000.

Invested

This amount is part of the E406 932 005.55 that members of the public and some institutions invested in ESWIG. The other defendants in the matter, who are the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), former FSRA CEO Sandile Dlamini and Lindiwe Vilakati, are opposed to being ordered to pay the investors’ lost investments. In an application filed by ESWIG, Ligagu and the investors for leave to file a further affidavit, the IRC chairman alleged that the investors suffered huge losses from the direct and indirect actions of the FSRA and other respondents. Dlamini previously told the court that instead of assisting the investors, FSRA allegedly failed to take into consideration the crisp and painful fact that its conduct had reportedly resulted in over 60 deaths and stroke attacks over and above high poverty among the elderly investors, who had invested their pension. The number of deaths, according to an anonymous source, who deals with issues of the investors, has increased to about 75 so far. 

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