In case you missed it: ‘We were used,’ say shareholders: Vaduba fails to reply to allegations

An established East London company, Vaduba Investments, has been accused of using their black staff members to allegedly obtain lucrative tenders. The company is accused of allegedly using black employees as fronts in their companies by giving them shares worth nothing.

Vaduba Investments is company-owned by the wealthy East London Rieger family. The Vaduba Staff Trust is meant to hold 51% of the shares in the company.

Bongiwe Mfombi, who is currently a receptionist for a Berea-based company, is a meant to be a holder of 40% of the shares in the staff trust, while her former colleague, Nko- semntu Dyantyi, was once a staff trustee in the same company. Today, both Mfombi and Dyantyi are no longer working for the company.

Mfombi moved into her mother’s “matchbox” Mdantsane home while Dyantyi is in Whittlesea.

They independently told the Saturday Dispatch that they were aware of their shares but said they felt they “were used”.

A 2016 Vaduba Staff Trust Beneficiaries document mentioned other black employees, Sinazo Tatanqu (office support manager) and Luyanda Mtyeku (receptionist), as beneficiaries.

“I've been working for the company as a trustee for over five years, signing tender documents. I didn’t know that I was a front, I thought that was black women empowerment,” said a furious Mfombi. “Between 2015 and 2016 Vaduba won tenders worth more than R60-million but I got nothing.”

The Dispatch has seen those documents detailing numerous awarded contracts. Dyantyi said he only got dividends of between R200 and R400 a year.

“At one stage we would be told that the company has made only R40 000 a year after all the debt has been paid. We were not even shown financial documents but we were shareholders,” said Dyantyi.

In a sworn affidavit signed by Mfombi it was claimed that Vaduba was 51% black-owned.

However, a damning Department of Mineral Resources report, signed in June 2016, found that when Vaduba Investments applied for rights to mine stone aggregate, gravel and sand, “the lady who was brought as an empowerment partner is actually not and has no clue about what is happening in the close corporation”.

The report further highlighted that the empowerment partner:

● Could not respond properly on how finances of the company were managed;

● Did not participate in the procurement process; and

● Did not actively participate in the daily operations of the company.

Vaduba company failed to respond to questions sent to them three weeks ago regarding these fronting allegations.

In the first call last month, we were told that the relevant company figure would call us back. After no call came, the Dispatch again phoned the accused company and were forwarded to the HR manager who requested that questions be emailed to her and promised that if she would not be able to answer them, they would be forwarded to the directors. Follow up questions and phone calls were not returned by the company. Yesterday, four emails were again sent to the company and one phone call was made but there was no response.

Last year the B-BBEE Commission initiated investigations against a number of entities for possible violation of the B-BBEE Act relating to B-BBEE ownership structures. If found guilty they may be referred for prosecution and exposed to a fine of up to 10% of their annual turnover and the individuals involved could imprisoned for up to 10 years.

The commission said the entities could also be excluded from doing business with government for up to 10 years, with existing contracts being cancelled. Last month, B-BBEE commissioner Zodwa Ntuli told parliament's select committee on trade and industry that 83% of the 334 complaints that the commission had handled related to fronting.