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Cape Town – Gupta-owned company Oakbay Investments will urge one of the four major banks to keep their account open to save 7 500 jobs and live up to South Africa's constitutional democracy where people are innocent until proven guilty.
WATCH: Interview with Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa on Bloomberg on Monday
Guptas not divesting shares in Oakbay - Howa
The decision by financial services companies to unanimously cut ties with Oakbay shocked the Guptas, who have allegedly left South Africa for good after resigning from all Oakbay positions.
Oakbay's auditor KPMG, the big four banks (Standard Bank, FNB, Absa and Nedbank) and their JSE sponsor Sasfin Capital all cut ties with the Guptas in early 2016, as the family faces pressure due to allegations that they influenced President Jacob Zuma's appointment of Mines Minister Mosebenzi Zwane and former finance minister Des van Rooyen, as well as offering ministerial posts to Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas and former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor.
RELATED: Guptas haven't fled SA - Oakbay CEO
Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa told Bloomberg on Monday that the Guptas were not divesting the 100% shareholding of Oakbay Investments and had not fled South Africa. “Divesting their shares is not a decision for me to take,” he said. “There’s no indication at this point that they want to do that. The shareholders have already made a big sacrifice (by resigning).”
Howa said he has not spoken to the Guptas since their departure to Dubai on Thursday night (and possibly India on Monday, according to News24). “They have taken a decision to distance themselves from the business and they’ve lived up to that decision,” said Howa.
What Howa will tell banks to re-open bank accounts
Howa, who mentioned the loss of 7 500 jobs about 10 times in the eight-minute interview, explained how he planned to persuade the banks to change their hard stand against them.
“I really will start with the job losses, because that’s what's really important to me,” he said. “We’re like a family."
The amount of employees increased from 4 500 on Friday - when Howa spoke to CNN - to 7 500 on Monday due to the inclusion of 3 000 new jobs as a result of Oakbay's acquisition - through subsidiary Tegeta Exploration & Resources - of Optimum coal mine from Glencore.
“My second argument will be around the issue of … making decisions against a backdrop of no concrete evidence … against anyone in the group,” he said. “Surely if we believe in the constitutional democracy we all talk about so boldly, we must assume innocence until proven guilty and not move in and create a stranglehold around our business to force us out of business and lose those 7 500 jobs.”
Oakbay has employed the famous UK public relations firm, Bell Pottinger, to assist them in turning around the image of the firm. Howa appeared on CNN’s Quest Means Business and the Gupta-sponsored breakfast show in the last seven days.
RELATED: Guptas can still run SA firms from Dubai - analyst
Why Oakbay plea could fail
A ruling in the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2010 made it clear that banks are constitutionally permitted to cut ties with customers without giving reasons, even if it’s not fair.
“(Standard Bank) gave the appellants a reasonable time to take their business elsewhere,” ruled Supreme Court of Appeal deputy president Louis Harms against John Bredenkamp. “The termination did not offend any identifiable constitutional value and was not otherwise contrary to any other public policy consideration. The bank did not publicise the closure or the reasons for its decision.”
Howa hopes to show that Oakbay has good governance in place, even as it has been criticised for being slow with their transparency when the institutions started cutting ties.
“We need one of them at least to offer us some kind of services, so we are talking to all four banks again this week,” he said. “(We are) ensuring them of our governance being in place, (and) the correctness of what we’ve done.”
WATCH: Guptas hit back at banks on CNN
Howa chastises banks
Howa said some of the banks have given them access to their accounts until the end of May, “so we’ve got a few weeks to get either the relationships restored or an alternative plan”.
“Without the four major banks, we’re really clear that the jobs are at risk,” he said. “With one of our businesses, we may need to take some drastic measures this week, because that business works with all four banks and its revenues will be impacted immediately if the banking services are withdrawing.”
Howa again chastised the banks, who he said have never taken this kind of action against any South African company, even those involved in major corruption scandals.
“What surprises us is this very strong action is taken against a backdrop of not a single charge being laid against us, no evidence of any corruption or anything else,” he said.
WATCH: Howa tells breakfast show that state capture is a sideshow to political battle over ANC leadership
