Mining firm is hijacked

[Jola]

It's not theft, however that is a reasonable assumption to make...

Not a reasonable assumption, the shareholders are the owners and they make the decision - in this case, not the directors.

If the board of directors are the owners (and shareholders), nobody can make them sell their shares, or take control of the company.

I'm obviously excluding cases here with weird voting rights, etc.

 

[DJ...]

Really this seems like such an easy issue to resolve. Did Majali follow agreed terms as set out in the shareholders' agreement that he would have to have signed (probably found in the General Company Affairs clause?) If not, then he has committed fraud - simple as that...

 

[The_Pumpkin_King]

THE Companies and Intellectual Property Office (Cipro) has disabled some of its online registration services amid claims directors of Kalahari Resources were removed without their approval.

However, Cipro CEO, Lungile Dukwana, said suspending certain services was part of an upgrade and was not in response to security breaches, the consequences of which should be taken to court and not placed at Cipro's doorstep, he added.

Last week, Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, founder and chairperson of Kalahari Resources, alleged she and several fellow directors were removed as directors of the mining firm and replaced by other individuals including businessman, Sandi Majali.

Normally, replacement of directors in this manner is preceded by an annual general meeting at which shareholders vote. In this instance, however, no such meeting was called and therefore the removals did not bear shareholder support.

Said Cipro's Dukwana: "We have been continually upgrading the system and this is one of the upgrades,". Cipro could not take responsibility for damages companies suffer when external parties manipulate Cipro's systems because it only keeps the records.

"We have no responsibility to accept on the matter as we are only a notification agency," said Dukwana. He said companies affected by the unauthorised manipulation of Cipro systems should seek legal recourse.

"How can we accept responsibility? Cipro did not change any records," said Dukwana. "They were changed by other people on our system. The legal route is the best to take to resolve the matter."

He said decisions about removing and appointing directors happen in boardrooms. "We are not represented in the boardroom. We only update information on decisions that have been taken in boardrooms," said Dukwana.

Cipro acting chief customer officer Joey Mathekga suggested "an easy and shorter route" to resolving disputes arising from company hijackings would be for the aggrieved party "to come to an agreement", where the invading party will "resign as a director and the rightful director assumes his position again".

Mathekga said that would avoid the costly and long high court process.

Meanwhile, the South Gauteng High Court was expected to make a ruling on Thursday afternoon on whether to remove Sandi Majali and seven alleged hijackers as Kalahari Resources directors and re-instate Mashile-Nkosi and Brian Mashile as directors.

After laying charges of fraud with the Sandton police last week, Mashile-Nkosi approached the High Court for the removal of the "invaders".

http://www.miningmx.com/news/ferrous_metals/Cipro-washes-its-hands-of-hijacking.htm

 

[The_Pumpkin_King]

Hijackers Ejected

“I KNEW we would win this one because the truth remains the truth. I have faith in the justice system of this country,” said Kalahari Resources chairman Daphne Mashile-Nkosi after her company’s success against company hijackers at the South Gauteng High Court on Thursday afternoon.

Kalahari Resources had sought urgent relief from eight people who had removed Mashile-Nkosi and her fellow director as Kalahari Resources late August. Led by businessman Sandi Majali and Stephen Khoza, the hijackers installed themselves as directors in their place, without any Kalahari Resources shareholder knowledge or approval.

Although some of the hijackers were present in court, they could not put together a response on why they should not be removed as directors at Kalahari Resources.

“Their response was incoherent, irrelevant, and failed to address the issue of their shareholding and directorship of the company,” said Deon Lambert of Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs, representing Kalahari Resources. “The court awarded us everything we wanted.”

Lambert said the court ordered South Africa's Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) to immediately remove the eight as directors of Kalahari Resources on its records. The court also awarded legal costs against the hijackers.

Cipro is South Africa's company registrations system which has online services that appear porous enough to allow interlopers to place themselves on the company directorate without need of shareholder approval. Cipro falls under the management of the country's trade and industry department.

However, Mashile-Nkosi was not satisfied. She hinted at taking legal action against the custodians of South Africa’s corporate information, Cipro.

“But somebody must still pick up the tab for what we have lost in terms of reputation, time and in emotional stress we suffered as a result of this matter.

"Somebody has to pay for all of that,” says Mashile-Nkosi. She will consult her legal team on Friday “to decide who that will be. I am in the middle of a large project and busy raising debt. But I had to loose a whole week to deal with this nonsense.”

The revelation that Mashile-Nkosi was “no longer director” of the company necessitated her to go on a telephone “road show” to assure financial institutions, Kalahari Resources’ shareholders as well as employees of the true state of affairs. “Somebody must pay for all that,” said Mashile-Nkosi.

Earlier in the day, Cipro acting CEO, Lungile Dukwana, told the media that his organisation was not responsible for the breaches of information on its systems. “Cipro did not change any information. Why must we accept responsibility for it?” asked Dukwana when asked if Cipro accepted responsibility for the fraud taking place on its systems.


http://www.miningmx.com/news/ferrous_metals/Kalahari-joy-as-interlopers-ejected.htm


shouldnt these people be arrested?

 

[Jola]

So if your bank negligently gives someone access to your account, and they steal your money, then the bank is not respnsible ?

BS !!!

They should gave after CIPRO and nail them so that this does not happen again.

 

[mak2000]

I would be interested to know the outcome of the fraud case against the fake directors. Was listening to Talk 702 and apparently the same set of fake directors were involved in taking over few otehr companies. The police should prioritise this case.

Somebody, please fire that @ss Dukwana. Whats the use of a companies registry if it cannot be maintained securely.Hope they sue CIPRO and the fakes.