By Bahle Gama
THERE seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for Ecsponent investors as Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg has intervened in the matter. The minister is reportedly making concerted efforts with the hope of having the issue resolved and hopefully recovering what emaSwati lost to the company.
About 1 500 emaSwati reportedly invested over E340 million into Ecsponet, which was in June 2022 and allegedly sold for a mere E1 causing panic and heart palpitations among the investors. On July 31, 2023, upon learning of the presence of former Ecsponent Directors Dave Van Niekerk and Edwin J Soonious in the country, ESW Investment Group filed an ex parte to prevent the duo from exiting the country.
An ex-parte application is used for one party to ask the court for an order without providing the other party the usual amount of notice or opportunity to write an opposition. However, Van Niekerk and Soonious were reported to have ‘fled’ the country the following day. Van Niekerk left through King Mswati III International Airport while Soonious left through the Ngwenya Border gate on August 1 when they had been scheduled to depart on August 3.
Van Niekerk issued a statement whereby he clarified that he did not flee the country as he left way before he learned about it on August 1 when it appeared in one of the local papers in the country. He claimed that he and Soonious were neither served the copy of the application by ESW nor the court order that was granted by the High Court to restrict their exit. In the statement, he said he was in Eswatini on July 31 for a meeting and flew back to South Africa on the same day. Upon being aware of the application by ESW as well as the order, their attorneys on record obtained a copy and filed a notice of intention to oppose the application.
Van Niekerk stated that there was simply no basis for the allegations which he deemed as false and factually incorrect made against him and Soonius that they were involved in Ecsponent Limited Swaziland losing E340million of investors’ monies. Responding to a questionnaire regarding the matter and what means is the ministry doing to ensure that the local investors are assisted, Minister Rijkenberg said he is gathering information on exactly what happened as it was before his time in office.
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The minister also disclosed that he recently met with Van Niekerk upon his (Van Niekerk’s) request in his office at the Ministry of Finance. “I cannot recall exactly when I saw him (Van Niekerk), but it was after a case had been opened against him and then withdrawn. At some point, Van Niekerk was paying for full pages in the newspapers trying to show everyone that he was not responsible for the losses. He then asked for a meeting that I agreed to, and he came to see me in my office at the Ministry of Finance,” Rijkenberg said.
According to the Minister, Van Niekerk also left a file with him that will be made available to the forensic auditors. He further stated that he has had several meetings with the investors who lost money with Ecsponent feels very sorry for them and would like for the Ministry to recover everything it can. The Minister said the more he drills into the matter, the more there is hope for some recovery and in his opinion, the forensics is critical and urgent.
He further clarified that he is not taking sides but simply gathering information on the matter. Recently, our sister publication, the Eswatini Financial Times unearthed that Ecsponent, the company that made off with over E340 million three from Eswatini investors has left a trail of financial misfortunes in at least three other countries. Investigations carried out by the Eswatini Financial Times uncovered that Van Niekerk and his accomplices are also under investigation in Botswana, South Africa and Zambia for allegedly swindling investors to the tune of E1.5 billion through the same modus operandi.
The investigations which looked into some of the companies which were linked to Van Niekerk which operated in other Southern African countries have blown the lid on the scheme and revealed that the over 1,500 emaSwati are not in this anguish alone. In South Africa, there are about 2 800 preference shareholders who invested and lost over E1 billion investments through Ecsponent.
In Botswana, there were about 2000 investors who lost about E150 million (P120 million) through FirstCred (MyBucks), a microfinance institution. In Zambia, at least 66 000 people were also fleeced but the exact amount could not be ascertained.
