Border Rugby Pty files for liquidation

Border Rugby (Pty) Ltd, the commercial arm of the Border Rugby Union, has asked that it be liquidated because it is insolvent.

This is contained in a high court application by Border (Pty) Ltd, which paints a bleak picture of the company’s finances.

In the founding affidavit signed by BRU president Pumlani Mkolo, who is also director of the beleaguered business arm of the union, the applicant’s liabilities are said to exceed its assets by over R11-million.

This is confirmed by an independent auditor’s report, which further red-flagged Border for “certain unlawful acts or omissions committed by persons responsible for the management of Border Rugby (Pty) Ltd, which constitute reportable irregularities in terms of the Auditing Profession Act”.

In the same court papers, it emerges that in July this year, Red Alert won a court order for Border to pay a debt of more than R110000 owed to the security company, with interest at a rate of 15.5% dating back to March 2013.

Border Rugby administrator Monde Tabata, who was appointed by SA Rugby Union (Saru) in 2014 to stabilise the union, believes the application for liquidation is a “conscious and intelligent decision”.

He said this was because the commercial wing of the union had been a white elephant since 2014. “From 2014 already, the responsibilities of were absorbed by the union, including its employees, and therefore no one will be affected by the liquidation.

“Having a commercial wing which has not been operational for three years was not wise, and in any case it proved expensive for the union to have a business arm without a private sponsor.”

This view was backed by Mkolo in his affidavit, in which he states several reasons behind the application, including:

lBorder Rugby (Pty) Ltd closed its doors during November last year and no longer trades;

lAll its employees, including coaches, players, administration and ground staff, were then employed by the union;

lIts financial position was “precarious” in the financial year that ended last December;

lMost of its funding was made available to it by Saru;

lBRU believed the Border geographical area was “simply not able to sustain a professional rugby arm without outside funding”;

lLiabilities exceeded assets by R11080004;

lSARS had agreed to write off substantial sums of its debt; and

lThe company owed the union R305000, “which it cannot pay”.