More financial skeletons of Kaizer Chiefs team manager Bobby Motaung continued to tumble out of the closet during court proceedings at the Johannesburg High Court this week.
It emerged that Motaung, who is drowning in a cesspool of debts, had failed to pay back a R600 000 loan he obtained from the Nthwese Investment Consortium – the company he co-owned with business partner, Herbert Theledi.
Motaung’s failure to pay led to the liquidation of his company, Lakeshore Trading, which owned a commercial complex in Mondeor, in the south of Johannesburg.
This development was revealed in the papers filed in court by lawyers of a Joburg entity, GRC Property, which bought Lakeshore Trading.
GRC had filed papers in court to rescind two liquidation orders obtained on two separate occasions by Nthwese and another Joburg entity, Pen Up Investment.
In the papers, which Sunday World has seen, GRC pleaded with the court to rescind the order, saying that it had reached a settlement agreement with the liquidators of Nthwese and Pent Up, who withdrew their intention to oppose the rescission application.
The lawyers stated that on May 15, 2023, Lakeshore Tra-ding was placed in provisional liquidation and later on final liquidation by Pent Up for failing to pay it R2.5-million.
It was also placed in final liquidation on June 22, 2023, at the instance of the liquidators of Nthwese Investments Holdings Consortium.
This happened after Nthwese, they said, was placed in final winding up on May 4, 2018.
“The liquidators of Nthwese sought the liquidation of Lakeshore on the basis that, according to Nthwese’s audited financial statements of 2015 and further investigation, Lakeshore is indebted to Nthwese in the sum of R600 000, and Lakeshore is unable to pay its debts.
“However, the liquidation application was not duly served on Lakeshore or became stale.
“To this end, the application was seemingly served at the registered office of Lakeshore on February 12, 2021; thus, more than two years before the order was granted. There was no explanation for the delay,” the lawyers said.
GRC lawyers further argued that by the time Nthwese launched the liquidation application against Lakeshore, the alleged debt had prescribed. They also said that, besides, Lakeshore was and remains factually solvent.
In his founding affidavit, GRC director Nazir Ahmed Talia said when Nthwese’s liquidators questioned witnesses at an insolvency enquiry into the affairs of the entity, Motaung also testified that the amount was a loan to him and not any other form of payment to him in lieu of salary or -directors’ fees.
Talia said Motaung had undertaken liability for the debt in his personal capacity. Talia said the debt was not acknowledged or admitted by Lakeshore Trading.
He also said the loan repayments became due during September 2010 and December 2010, respectively. Plainly, he said, by the time the liquidators questioned Motaung and/or applied for the liquidation of Lakeshore, the alleged debt had prescribed by the time Motaung signed the debt acknowledgement and by the time the liquidators questioned him.
Moreover, he said, Motaung did not have any authority to acknowledge a debt on behalf of Lakeshore during the insolvency interrogation of Nthwese.
“Lakeshore was already in liquidation, and Motaung had no authority to bind Lakeshore,” he stated.
“Needless to say, I was not aware of the application when I became a director of Lakeshore. Had I been aware, I would have opposed the application.
“As already mentioned, Lakeshore is factually solvent. It has an asset value of R10.958-million. Other than the municipality, whose claim is disputed, Lakeshore does not have any other substantial creditors.”
The order was granted by the court.
Motaung, along with Thele-di owe Sars more than R90-million in unpaid company tax.
GRC is also suing him for R3.4-million for selling the complex without disclosing that it owed the taxman and creditors millions of rands. Motaung had not replied to our written request for comment at the time of publication.
