Holomisa accuses Absa of dodgy dealing

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa has slammed one of South Africa’s biggest banks for facilitating the “illegal” attachment of an account belonging to one of his MPs, along with the transfer of hundreds of thousands of Rand in maintenance, mortgage payments and legal costs to the MP in question’s ex-wife.

In a scathing letter addressed to Absa’s newly appointed chief executive, Daniel Mminele, and dated 1 April 2020, Holomisa accused the bank of having failed to exercise its duty of care and “sheepishly acting in accordance with the sheriff’s illegal instruction”.

His letter follows a Western Cape High Court ruling last month in which Judge Yasmin Meer found the MP had not been served with notice of the attachment, which was, as a result, incomplete and irregular. She consequently declared the payment of R179,300 – from the MP’s account first into a trust account belonging to his ex’s lawyers and then into an account belonging to her – invalid.

But the judge stopped short of ordering that the monies be returned to the MP.

“The effect of repayment would be to reimburse [him] for arrear maintenance that was legally due by him,” she said.

She also appeared to clear Absa of any wrongdoing in her judgment, saying the bank “had no option but to comply” with the instructions it had received and could not be faulted for having done so.

Holomisa labelled the judgment “at worst, biased, and, at best, predictably incoherent” and said he was “utterly perplexed and bothered” by his MP’s “hollow victory”.

“However, this letter seeks to complain and to express my concerns about Absa’s role in this matter,” Holomisa said.

He accused the bank of having relied on misrepresentations that his MP’s whereabouts were unknown at the time of the attachment.

“In terms of FICA, Absa is supposed to have its clients’ addresses. Absa could have easily furnished the sheriff with the information, or refused to accept that [the MP’s] whereabouts were unknown and could have reasonably contacted [him],” he said, “Absa could have also secured [his] money by paying the money into the sheriff’s trust account … It does appear to me that indeed Absa has acted negligently, irresponsibly and failed to exercise a duty of care towards its long-standing client.”

Holomisa charged that it appeared “Absa was complicit in the breaking of the law”.

“I am by no means suggesting that Absa should have undermined the authority of the Western Cape Division by refusing to act on the apparently illegal instruction. My complaint to you is that Absa should have brought the aforementioned irregularities to the attention of the registrar of the Western Cape Division and to [the MP] before acting on it”.

Holomisa asked Mminele, on what “moral and ethical grounds” he believed Absa was entitled to the costs it had been awarded in court last month and suggested the bank should consider paying his MP back.

In response, Absa said it respected all judgments handed down by the courts in South Africa and as such regarded itself as lawfully bound to their terms, subject to any litigant’s right of appeal.

“In this case Absa acted in accordance with its obligations in relation to such orders,” Absa said in a statement. “Due to banker client confidentiality considerations, we are unable to comment any further on the specific issues that have given rise to the litigation.”

• This article has been updated to include the response from Absa.

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