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A multimillion-rand feud to the bitter end

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Investec chairman Fani Titi told the Randburg Magistrate's Court on last week that his long-term friend Peter-Paul Ngwenya had threatened to kill him‚ despite a protection order telling him not to do so. Ngwenya‚ a politically-connected businessman who spent almost five years on Robben Island‚ is facing a charge of crimen injuria in the Randburg court for calling Titi a k****r. Titi told the court that Ngwenya had stormed his business premises and threatened to kill him and his business associates. Picture: Deon Raath
Investec chairman Fani Titi told the Randburg Magistrate's Court on last week that his long-term friend Peter-Paul Ngwenya had threatened to kill him‚ despite a protection order telling him not to do so. Ngwenya‚ a politically-connected businessman who spent almost five years on Robben Island‚ is facing a charge of crimen injuria in the Randburg court for calling Titi a k****r. Titi told the court that Ngwenya had stormed his business premises and threatened to kill him and his business associates. Picture: Deon Raath

Peter-Paul Ngwenya says he was ‘stupid’ to allow a 20-year friendship to let his guard down and trust Investec chair Titi.

The bitter feud between Investec Bank chief executive Fani Titi and his estranged friend Peter-Paul Ngwenya over multimillion-rand shares in three radio stations is in for the long haul.

The two men bought shares in Johannesburg station Kaya FM (931 000 listeners a week), KwaZulu-Natal bilingual station Gagasi FM (1.4 million) and Western Cape's Heart FM (736 000) in about 2008, to the value of R48.8 million. But now they are at loggerheads. 

They have a 24.9% stake in Kaya FM and 33.3% stake in Gagasi and Heart FM.

Ngwenya, a former Robben Island prisoner, claims that Titi is cutting him off and is refusing to pay him dividends to the value of R3.9 million.

Ngwenya told City Press that he last received his dividends in 2016.

He said he trusted Titi following a 20-year friendship and business partnership, and so, had let Titi’s lawyer draft the contract without expecting to be “short-changed” in the end.

Ngwenya said Titi’s company, Tsiya Radio (Pty) Ltd, held their interest in the radio stations. Ngwenya’s shares were to be held in his company, Columbia Media, which is a shareholder in Tsiya.

The matter of the non-payment of dividends is now going to court after Titi allegedly failed to pay the dividends by July 13 into Columbia Media’s account.

Titi and his partner at Tsiya, Aqueel Patel, who is managing director of MRC Media, did not respond to written questions. Titi did not answer his two cellphones on numerous occasions; nor did he respond to City Press’ text messages giving him the right of reply.

Ngwenya did not hold back. “I got an opportunity to buy shares in these radio stations and I invited Titi to join me. At that time, I was working for a company that sold radio stations. Realising a conflict of interest, I let him bring his lawyer and agreed that all the shares be allocated to his company,” Ngwenya said.

“I was stupid. I did not scrutinise everything. He was probably hoping that something would happen to me and that if I died, my shareholding could not be traced,” he added.

Ngwenya said he had instructed his attorney to institute legal action against Titi after he did not respond to his letter of demand and the stipulated deadline of July 13. City Press has copies of exchanges between Ngwenya and Titi’s lawyers over the dividends.

On May 8, Titi’s lawyers, Tugendhaft Wapnick Banchetti & Partners (TWB), wrote to Ramushu Mashile Twala Inc, claiming that their clients were shareholders at Columbia Media and therefore Ngwenya was not entitled to procure payment of Columbia dividends into a nominated account.

“As you are aware, our clients allege (supported by a mass of contractual documents and other materials inter alia signed by ... Mr Ngwenya in his capacity as a shareholder and sole director of Columbia) that they are entitled to be recognised as shareholders in Columbia, and as the documents establish, our clients are entitled to appoint at least one additional director to the board of directors at Columbia,” reads the TWB letter.

“Mr Ngwenya failed to ensure that Columbia maintains books and records, produces annual financial statements and subjects them to auditors appointed by Columbia.”

The letter also mentions that Ngwenya could be in breach of a protection order, dated October 5 2016, which forbade him from contacting Titi and Patel directly or indirectly.

Ngwenya’s lawyers argue that the claim by Titi and Patel of being Columbia Media shareholders was not confirmed by any court, and they were therefore not entitled to withhold dividend distributions owing to Columbia.

“The dispute between Mr Titi, Mr Patel and Columbia does not entitle Mr Titi and Mr Patel to make decisions at Tsiya which affect Columbia, based on a claim that is unsupported by a court order,” said Ngwenya’s lawyers "… For reasons stated above, our client denies that the email is in direct or indirect breach of the said protection order.”

The fight between the two men got so ugly at one point that Titi laid a crimen injuria charge after Ngwenya labelled him a “Qwaqwa k****r” and a “Bantustan boss” in a text message sent to another businessman. The matter is before the Randburg Magistrates’ Court. The court has already heard how Ngwenya stormed into MRC Media offices and demanded his payment, and while at it, reduced a financial manager to tears.

There are also two civil cases that Ngwenya and Titi have instituted against each other.

Ngwenya has applied that Titi’s demand that Columbia recover dividends that Ngwenya paid into his own personal account, be set aside. And, Titi has launched a court bid to retain dividends due to Columbia in an interest-bearing account and interdict the payment to Columbia until the company holds a meeting with a Tsiya director present.

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