Cape Town, South Africa – At a Parliament standing committee meeting on finance, parliament member and attendee Vuyo Zungula yesterday alleged that Lindiwe Masina Dlamini, head of Legal at the PIC, granted a private company, Metrofibre, a R1.4 billion legal indemnity without PIC board approval in order for the PIC to put a breach notice to Levoca 805 for an amount of R1,125 in transactional stamp and duties legal costs from Bowmans.
“This is for a company that has generated R100 million for South African pensioners in the last year,the rationale does not make sense.” Said Vuyo Zungula, ATM party parliament leader.
Lindiwe Masina Dlamini, head of Legal at the PIC
He further stated that Levoca 805 has since remedied all the issues raised by the PIC in their breach letter and asked PIC CEO Patrick Dlamini if the PIC will continue with the disposal of Levoca’s shares despite all remedies being met.
PIC CEO Patrick Dlamini defended the PIC by stating that Levoca owed R129,000 for legal fees and that all payments have since been made by Levoca to Bowmans. He added that they have received a draft valuation of Metrofibre and are going through comments and awaiting a final valuation report to determine the next steps. Lindiwe Masina Dlamini, head of legal at the PIC, defended herself by saying the legal indemnity given to Metrofibre did not specify any amount, but was a general letter to provide Metrofibre with comfort since they were not a party to the agreements between the PIC and Levoca.
A leaked draft valuation showed that the PIC loaned Levoca 805 around R697 million. Just over a year later, the PIC is attempting to buy out the same investment at R1.18 billion, showing a R320 million difference between the loan and current draft valuation—an astronomical amount for anyone to achieve in just over a year.
Based on the leaked draft valuation, this transaction would demonstrate Levoca’s journey since securing the loan from the PIC as a compelling narrative of growth and success, with a remarkable increase in share value within its digital investment at Metrofibre, which has also made the Government Employees Pension Fund over R100 million richer in one year.
In most deals of this nature, the BEE entity would typically owe the PIC. However, in the PIC/Levoca investment, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is the one that has to pay the balance from the current Metrofibre leaked draft valuation of R5.5 billion for effectively 20% that Levoca 805 held at Metrofibre after the July whistleblower saga, which exposed the suspended Thabiso Moshikara for attempting to solicit a bribe after funding approval.