Press+wrong+re+Baloyi+loan+-+Fidentia,+Wiseman+Khuzwayo,+B+Rep

Business Report, February 20, 2007
=Press is wrong about Baloyi loan, claims Fidentia=


 * By Wiseman Khuzwayo**

Johannesburg - Beleaguered Fidentia's R8 million loan made to leading businesswoman Danisa Baloyi was a normal loan and there was no intention to write it off, said Ross Edwards, the former head of public relations and communication at Fidentia.

Edwards said yesterday that Fidentia executive chairman J Arthur Brown had said incorrect information about the loan had been given to the press.

He was referring to a news report, carried by the Cape Argus on Sunday, which said there had been claims that the loan was being written off at the time the curators took over the administration of the company. Brown had said the curators were demanding that the loan be repaid.

Edwards said the loan had been properly constituted to capitalise Baloyi's assets.

"It was not a gift. It was always understood by both parties concerned that it was repayable."

Baloyi said she had been advised by her lawyers not to comment on the Fidentia matter.

She was a trustee of the Living Hands Trust and an official of Living Hands - both associate firms of Fidentia. Living Hands is the administrator of the trust, which is an umbrella trust for widows and orphans of miners.

In their report, the inspectors from the Financial Services Board said this constituted a conflict of interest. It also fingered in this respect Hjalmar Mulder, who was another trustee and a director of Living Hands.

Baloyi said her company, SA Women Investment Holdings, had an investment in Fidentia that was worth about R350 million.

"As investors, we have a lot to lose if this whole thing collapses," she said. "We had to forgo taking any dividend in Fidentia."

Baloyi was concerned that confidential information on Fidentia was being leaked selectively.

"I have no doubt of the integrity of the company's staff when they say don't know where the information is coming from," she said.

"But who does? When this is finished, people's reputations will be in ruins."

Baloyi added: "The good thing to come out of this is that South Africans know who I am.

"I can take it. I am a big girl with broad shoulders."

Baloyi said she was respecting the law and did not want to comment on the investigation until the curators had published their interim report.


 * From: http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3690759**

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