HCI and Golding set for showdown

Marcel Golding

Marcel Golding

Published Oct 24, 2014

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Note: Links to court documentation are carried at the bottom of  this article.

Cape Town - A dispute involving gross misconduct allegations against the suspended executive chairman of Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) - that he had purchased shares in another company without authorisation - is set to come before the Labour Court on Friday.

Marcel Golding, a former unionist and MP, was recently informed that he would be facing a disciplinary hearing, as well as of his suspension pending the outcome.

Golding took the matter to the Labour Court, where he is expected to seek interim relief on Friday.

His application is being opposed by HCI.

Golding is also the chief executive of television broadcaster e.tv and Sabido Investments, which owns e.tv.

HCI has a controlling interest in Sabido, according to an affidavit by Golding, which forms part of the application.

Golding said in the affidavit that the disciplinary hearing had been launched after “months of attempts” to get him to relinquish the chair of the HCI board and resign as chief executive of Sabido and e.tv because of his refusal to allow e.tv to be used by a trade union for “political purposes”.

In an answering affidavit on behalf of HCI and HCI Managerial Services – Yunis Shaik, a director of HCI – said Golding had chosen, “intentionally and for the purposes of distracting attention from the seriousness of the complaints of gross misconduct” made by HCI and HCI Managerial Services, to make “sensational remarks” in a public forum.

The misconduct allegations arise from the purchase of shares in a company, Ellies, between March and July, costing R24 million. Golding instructed the purchase of the shares.

In a document setting out the misconduct charges against Golding, it was alleged that, among other things, the acquisition had been effected without the necessary authority and mandate of the board of Sabido and its shareholders.

It listed the charges as dereliction of duty, gross negligence, dishonesty, breach of fiduciary duties and breach of the ethics policy.

The disciplinary hearing was set down to begin on Monday. Golding said in his affidavit that he believed it was strategically sound to invest in Ellies, and that he saw it as a “strategic investment for one of the key Sabido subsidiaries”.

He further alleged in the affidavit that the Southern African Clothing and Textiles Workers Union (Sactwu) – which was HCI’s single largest beneficial shareholder – had “persistently attempted to influence the editorial direction of e.tv news in order to further its agenda”.

This was denied by Sactwu’s general secretary, Andre Kriel, who said it was not true and that they had not done so, other than requests for their normal events to be covered, which they did for all other media.

Kriel had not read the court papers, but said: “We are very saddened by this allegation if it’s true that it’s raised in the court papers...

“We have deliberately not even insisted on any seats on the board, even though we are clearly entitled to do so.”

In his affidavit, Shaik said that if there were any justifiable basis to make such an allegation, Golding could easily lay the basis of such an allegation and provide the evidence at his disciplinary hearing.

Golding declined to comment further on Thursday.

His attorney, however, confirmed that the matter was set down to come before the Labour Court on Friday.

Shaik told the Cape Times he was “pained by the circumstances that have given rise to this dispute”.

“Mr Golding has made a number of allegations which are spurious and is an attack on our shareholders, which is neither justified nor warranted,” he said.

Cape Times

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