swaziland times

BABANE – To date, at least 75 investors in Ecsponent Eswatini, now Eswatini Investment Group Limited (ESWIG), have died without recovering the money or interest on their investments.

According to Norman Dlamini, chairman of Mvembili’s Investor Relations Committee (IRC), the deaths were due to ill health, such as stroke, among other causes among the investors, some of whom had invested their pension funds. Last Thursday, High Court Commercial Court Judge Khontaphi Manzini 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, investors and Ligagu Investments (Pty) Ltd. The sum is part of ESWIG’s ESWIG debt of ESWIG of ESG 406,932,005.55, owed by the public and some institutions.

If a defendant fails to defend the claims against it, a default judgment will be entered against it. The other defendants in the case, namely the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), former FSRA CEO Sandile Dlamini and Lindiwe Vilakati, objected to being ordered to compensate investors for their investment losses, so no orders were made against them. In the application for filing further affidavits filed by ESWIG, Ligagu and investors, the IRC Chairman claimed that investors had suffered huge losses due to direct and indirect actions of FSRA and other respondents.

Far from helping investors, he said, the FSRA has failed to take into account a clear and painful fact: Its actions are alleged to have caused more than 60 deaths and strokes, in addition to deep poverty among elderly investors who invested their pensions. The death toll has so far risen to about 75, according to a person who works with investors on the condition of anonymity.

lost

Norman told the court that high levels of poverty further limited the actions of some investors, so they decided to form the IRC to speak on behalf of all investors and work to recover everyone’s lost funds. According to its legal representative, Sidumo Mdladla of SV Mdladla and Associates, one investor died last week. Mdladla was speaking at the High Court on Friday, where Judge Zonke Magagula lifted the interim order in favour of ESWIG to seize the assets of Van Niekerk and Soonius, as the order was issued only after the final hearing of the case, in which they (Van Niekerk and Soonius) as well as Ecsponent South Africa, GetBucks South Africa and Hay were ordered to pay EGP 335,240,000 invested in ESWIG by the public and certain institutions.

More than 100 investors appeared in court on Friday. The court had issued an order the day before to compensate for lost investments. Since some investors have passed away, their children, grandchildren or other representatives appeared in court. In addition, those investors who were unable to go to the High Court due to illness also sent family members to attend the court proceedings on their behalf.
Sithembile Sihlongonyane (28), who appeared in court on Friday, said she was attending the court proceedings on behalf of her mother who died in October 2023. “In all the years I lived with my mother, the last few years of her life were a living hell. I don’t know if she blamed herself for investing all her pension. We tried to comfort her that it wasn’t her fault as she believed she would reap the fruits of her investment. We both thought it was appropriate to invest in Ecsponent. We were completely caught off guard by what happened. It really hit my mother hard. We struggled but somehow managed to survive day by day.

Torture

“When my mother died, part of me felt that she was now free from this seemingly never-ending problem. I was here for her. She really wanted this to be over and for her investment to be recovered, even without any interest. There are many others in this situation,” Sihlongonyane narrated. Tulasizwe Drudru said he was sent by her bedridden uncle, who suffered a stroke in early 2023. He said he was raised by his uncle after his mother died. According to Dludlu, his uncle’s life took a complete turn when he got the news that their investment in ESWIG had “disappeared”. He gradually became withdrawn and kept to himself most of the time. “He had just retired when he invested. It was obvious that this incident had an impact on him. Although we could see that he was not in good health, we didn’t expect him to have a stroke or something like that. As I speak, he is not looking good. The longer it takes for investors to get their money back, the harder it is to imagine how he will hold on. We can only hope for the best,” said Dludlu.

The FSRA opposes the application to pay ESWIG €335,240,000 and says that ESWIG’s 1,500 investors must authorize its legal representative, SV Mdladla and Associates, to file a lawsuit on their behalf. The regulator has questioned the competence of the investors’ lawyers to file the lawsuit, in which the investors are seeking a payment of €335,240,000. FSRA filed an application challenging the authority of the investors’ legal representatives, SV Mdladla and Associates, and the authority to act on behalf of the investors. The investors filed a statement of defence and attached various documents to establish their authority to bring the main action and the authority of their lawyers to act on behalf of each investor.

FSRA general manager of governance Phumlile Tina Khoza said in the regulator’s response document that the regulator had reviewed the documents and determined that they were insufficient to prove its alleged authority. “In fact, the documents say just the opposite. The first defendant (FSRA) cannot file this affidavit in reply and cannot proceed with the application for permission without carefully examining the documents submitted, as the submission of documents is usually sufficient to prove its authority. “Lacking authority to bring proceedings and act on behalf of some of the investors, the first defendant decided to proceed with the application under Rule 7 of the High Court Rules,” Khoza said. FSRA is represented by Magagula and Hlophe law firm.