No assets worth mentioning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn terms of the Gas Financing and Infrastructure agreement, signed with PetroSA in December, Mulaudzi\u2019s Equator Holdings would have until 8 June 2024 to show that it could secure a funding commitment for the refurbishment project, estimated by PetroSA to require R21.6-billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unbeknownst to PetroSA, however, Equator Holdings could not even come up with R725 000 to pay Jampies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t properly run a football club that\u2019s worth about a few million how are you going to juggle R21.6-billion?\u201d the former Bafana Bafana player told us in a recent interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back in 2020, TTM had bought the Premier League status of Bidvest Wits for a rumoured fee of R35-million, but two years later, the club was struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe first month came, our monies were short. Obviously, me as the club captain I stand as the mouthpiece between the management and the players,\u201d Jampies told us. \u201cWhen we go and ask, \u2018Hey, what do we tell the boys?\u2019 Because we are the senior players, they come to us to help them financially\u2026 so we needed answers and we never got that. We were brushed off many times, we were told, \u2018just hang on\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Mulaudzi, the club\u2019s owner and chairman, continued spending lavishly. Jampies recalled how a member of the club\u2019s management team came in one morning \u201creeking of alcohol and he has the audacity to tell us, the chairman was at a funeral [this] weekend and spent R200 000 on alcohol\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In October 2022, TTM stopped paying Jampies altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery piece of furniture I\u2019ve accumulated over the past 14 years, I had to sell one by one because I didn\u2019t have an income\u2026 I was being ignored, I was being lied to \u2026 the chairman wasn\u2019t taking my calls, he just rubs it off,\u201d he told us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added: \u201cI lost my cars, I lost my furniture, I lost my bed, I lost my TV, my microwave, every fork, spoon and knife I had to sell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January 2023, just as Mulaudzi was gearing up to bid for PetroSA\u2019s multi-billion rand gas deals, Jampies filed a case with the Dispute Resolution Chamber of the National Soccer League, which governs all the leagues in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe reason I pursued this is because football is all I know,\u201d he told us. \u201cI cry, I bleed, I talk football, that is my life\u2026 And I cannot sit back and allow some incompetent people that doesn\u2019t have any remorse\u2026 to just take it from me in the space of four months. I cannot do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June 2023, the National Soccer League ordered TTM to pay Jampies his outstanding salary plus damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling, authored by Adv Fana Nalane SC, is damning. Amongst other things, he raised doubts about the authenticity of a mutual separation agreement that TTM produced as evidence. Jampies had previously refused to sign such an agreement and denied that it was his signature on the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The panel agreed, ruling that TTM had \u201cfailed \u2026 to prove the authenticity\u201d of the document and instructed the team to pay Jampies R725 000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When TTM failed to pay, Jampies\u2019 lawyers asked the National Soccer League for a copy of the club\u2019s legal membership form, which showed that the club was registered to Equator Holdings trading as Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila Football Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With this in hand, they asked the Johannesburg high court to liquidate Equator Holdings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his affidavit, Jampies told the court: \u201c[Equator\u2019s] non-payment of the amount due to me provides confirmation of [Equator\u2019s] distressed financial position \u2026 I hold no security for my claim and its apparent that [Equator] does not possess any assets worth mentioning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Johannesburg High Court agreed, and ordered that Equator be wound up by a liquidator. Ewan Simmonds, one of the lawyers now representing the liquidated company, told us: \u201cIn terms of the liquidation process, the order is not provisional, but is final and no one has filed any appeal against it. To date we have not received a response from the director, Mr Lawrence Mulaudzi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AmaBhungane also had no luck reaching Equator. Calls, emails and WhatsApps to Mulaudzi and one of the other directors went unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clueless<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nEmbarrassingly, it appears that PetroSA was in the dark about Equator\u2019s liquidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In terms of the agreement, Equator had 180 days \u2013 until June this year \u2013 to \u201cdeliver satisfactory evidence to PetroSA that it has secured the financing for the refurbishment project\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn line with our internal policies, satisfactory evidence includes proof that funds have been secured and are immediately available, without any conditions, from a reputable financier\/bank or partner,\u201d PetroSA told Mulaudzi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite Equator\u2019s liquidation, Mulaudzi appears to have written to PetroSA confirming that Equator had secured R1-billion in funding from Black Mountain Investment Management, a little-known asset management company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, in a letter dated 19 June 2024 \u2013 a copy of which we have seen \u2013 PetroSA told Mulaudzi that this was not good enough and noted that \u201cthe letter appears to be a mere expression of interest to provide funds, which falls short of the evidence required under the Agreement. There is no evidence of the financial capacity of [Black Mountain] from a reputable bank or financier or a credit-approved\/binding term sheet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the original tender documents estimated that $1.2-billion USD would be needed for the refurbishment project, it appears that PetroSA was willing to settle for R1.2-billion plus contingencies. Black Mountain\u2019s unconfirmed offer of R1-billion \u201cfalls short of the amount required\u201d, PetroSA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PetroSA also raised concerns about the technical partner Equator had secured: Khewija Engineering & Construction, based in Fourways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until 2016, Khewija operated under the name Kellogg Brown & Root South Africa. Kellogg Brown & Root is a controversial US defense and construction firm; its employees have been implicated in everything from sexual assault to human trafficking, while the firm has been accused of exposing US soldiers to asbestos-contaminated \u201cburn pits\u201d in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2015, the local division of Kellogg Brown & Root was bought out and the company changed its name to Khewija. In its 19 June letter, PetroSA asked Equator to provide \u201cCVs of the key personnel\u201d as well as \u201cevidence of Khewija\u2019s track record of project execution in similar environment from 2015 (since management buyout) to date\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to PetroSA\u2019s letter, Equator signed an agreement with Khewija to execute PetroSA\u2019s offshore gas infrastructure project. Despite this, online company records show that Khewija was placed in final liquidation three weeks later. Phone calls to its office went unanswered and emails bounced back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, we asked PetroSA if the deal with Equator Holdings was still going ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the deal had been cancelled, we asked, when was it cancelled and why. And if the deal was still on, had Equator been able to come up with the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a formal letter, PetroSA responded to our questions by saying \u201cNo comment\u201d, \u201cNo comment\u201d and \u201cNo comment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In follow-up questions we asked about the 19 June letter and pointed out that it appeared that PetroSA had awarded a critical gas infrastructure deal, potentially worth R21.6-billion, to a soccer team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The response: \u201cPetroSA cannot comment on [this] enquiry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Developing the offshore gas industry is key to minister Gwede Mantashe\u2019s plan to make the Eastern Cape the \u201cgas capital\u201d of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan is not going well: TotalEnergies has hinted at plans to walk away from its long-held interest in the offshore gas block 11B\/12B, and Gazprombank is yet to make good on its promise to provide the funding necessary to restart PetroSA\u2019s gas-to-liquids refinery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week Mantashe turned to the well-worn trope of blaming civil society for the gas industry\u2019s woes, telling Parliament that it was imperative to \u201cchallenge the foreign-funded NGOs that oppose every initiative to explore oil and gas,\u201d which he said \u201cdeject investments in this sector\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In December 2023, PetroSA entrusted a potential R21.6-billion gas infrastructure deal to notorious wheeler-dealer Lawrence Mulaudzi. Three months later the deal was dead, killed not by environmental groups or Russian sanctions, but by 34-year-old soccer player Cheslyn Chase Jampies. Last…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1279,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-petrosa","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32556"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32560,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32556\/revisions\/32560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}