Times Of Swaziland: HOW GEORGE MANYERE FEATURES IN ECSPONENT CRISIS

HOW GEORGE MANYERE FEATURES IN ECSPONENT CRISIS
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Cassandra Shaw on 23/06/2022 08:41:00


MBABANE – One of the questions asked by some of the investors during their
general meeting held last weekend was how Zimbabwe-born George Manyere found
himself caught up in the Ecsponent Eswatini Limited’s crisis.
In fact, some of the investors even asked if he had any vested interest in the
recovering of the E340 million lost by emaswati to Ecsponent or he was merely a
‘messiah’. Manyere did not shy away from explaining how he found himself in
the mix of attempting to recover the lost investments.
approved
He said; “Personally, my involvement in Eswatini started in 2020. I was
approved and appointed into the board on January 8, 2020. Prior to that in 2018,
I had bought shares in Ecsponent Limited South Africa.  Around August or
September 2019, I was contacted by Mr Ndumiso Mamba, the board chairman, who
requested to meet me privately here in Eswatini. This was after he had learnt
that I had become the controlling shareholder in Ecsponent Limited South Africa.
I honoured the invite and met with him. He had just joined the board a year ago
at the request of some locals and investors. He wanted assistance in making sure
that the business activities of Ecsponent Eswatini were being done properly.
concerns
‘‘It was during that meeting that he expressed his misgivings and concerns
about the governance of the business. He informed me that the company’s
investment activities were not transparent. That is when we started
investigating even the past activities dating back from 2013. Within six months,
we fired the management in SA as well as Eswatini. This marked the start of the
process of rescuing this business.” Manyere took back the investors to July
16, 2013 when Ecsponent Eswatini was established. He stated that the company was
formed by four emaswati in partnership with Escalator Investment Holding
Limited, Escalator Financial Services and Escalator Capital, all from South
Africa. The SA shareholders had 85 per cent equity and the remaining 15 per cent
was owned by the emaswati.
investment
In 2014, about six months after it was founded, the company applied to the
Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) for an investment licence to
raise money from the investors.
One of the first products was the Link Loan Unit, which had about 13
prospectuses that most of the investors bought into until 2020. Under this
product, over E300 million was raised from 1 500 investors. Manyere pointed out
that the regulations did not permit investment companies to raise money from
investors without issuing prospectus. The first prospectus was issued in March
2014 and about 13 prospectuses were issued, each aimed at raising millions of
Emalangeni. These prospectuses, it was explained, contained crucial information
that would govern the relationship between the investor and investment company,
including the risk of investment being offered. They also included the
application form signed by each investor. It later transpired that most of the
investors never received the prospectuses, save for the application form and
statements regarding their investments. Manyere advised the investors to
critically analyse and read with understanding any information regarding their
investment prior to depositing their hard-earned cash.