More than R4m meant for salaries of staff running Nelson Mandela Bay’s only operational IPTS bus route was not paid over to them, threatening the financial viability of the system which links the northern areas to the Port Elizabeth city centre.
Infighting between the board and CEO of Spectrum Alert, Chris King, over his suspension has become so vicious that it led to both parties changing the locks of their headquarters in an attempt to keep the other out.
It eventually landed in the Port Elizabeth High Court, which granted an interim interdict on Thursday ordering King to vacate Spectrum Alert’s Greenacres office and return all documents and electronic devices to the board.
King will have an opportunity on May 28 to argue against making the interdict final.
Details of the impasse, which started in August, were laid bare in an affidavit to the court by Spectrum Alert board chair Granville Malgas.
In the affidavit, Malgas paints a gloomy picture of a company in financial crisis facing possible liquidation.
He accused King of failing to ensure the company complied with SA’s labour laws, causing the board to lose confidence in his ability to run the company.
The matter landed up before the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council and a human resources specialist was hired to quantify how much money was owed to the 47 Spectrum Alert staff.
The specialist, Rayneldo Visenyoue, found that staff had been short-paid a total of R4.3m by March.
In his founding affidavit, Malgas said the board had since lost confidence in King.
Malgas accused King of nepotism, gross dereliction of duty and allowing Bay roads and transport portfolio head Rosie Daaminds to interfere in the business.
He was suspended on April 11 but allegedly refused to accept the decision. Other alleged offences by King include:
● Hijacking the company and usurping all powers from the board;
● Blatantly disregarding the terms of his suspension; and
● General under-performance with regard to ensuring Spectrum Alert was compliant and could do business with the city.
Malgas said the intention was to have King dismissed at a disciplinary hearing in 14 days’ time.
“There was already deep dissatisfaction by the board members regarding the performance of [King] as CEO.
“Subsequent to this, the relationship between [King] and the board deteriorated significantly – [King] regularly disregarded the decisions of the board of directors,” he said.
“He also walked out of several of the meetings of the board of directors.
“It is apparent from the investigations that there is a prima facie case against [King] for gross insubordination, in that he has disregarded the board’s suspension, and of gross dereliction of duty in that he disregarded the advice that the company adhere to the [SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council] compliance requirements.
“As a result, [King] has driven [Spectrum Alert] into a R4.3m financial hole.
“It is a very real possibility that [Spectrum Alert] may have to be liquidated if it is found the full amount is due and payable, and there is no indulgence regarding payment terms.
“[Spectrum Alert] simply does not have this money.”
Malgas claimed that King had decided to remove all Visenyoue’s duties in 2018, including payroll, and put his sister in charge of paying salaries.
“The board tried repeatedly to engage with [King] regarding [Spectrum Alert’s] compliance issues, but to no avail.
“[King] persisted in trying to keep the affairs of [the company] away from the board.
“He also contacted the [member of the mayoral committee] for transport, Rosie Daaminds,” he said in the affidavit.
“We were informed that the municipal police arrived at the depot.
“Apparently, [King] claimed that some of the directors had threatened to burn the depot down.
“The allegation is not true. “We were informed that the MMC [Daaminds] had threatened that the directors would be arrested if they go to the depot,” he said further.
“Approximately, 47 staff remained unpaid from last week.
“The directors made an informal decision to pay each of the 47 employees who were not paid last week for four days because we did not know how long they had worked.
“This is highly unsatisfactory, but we are very concerned about our employees as they are desperately poor and live from hand to mouth.”
He asked the court for access to the depot to see how much fuel was needed for the buses.
“We also need to buy diesel for the buses so that [Spectrum Alert] can continue to provide the service to the city of Port Elizabeth.
“If we do not have access to the depot, we will not know what diesel needs to be bought.
“This will mean that the buses will stop running on our route very soon.
“This will cause total bedlam in the northern areas as many workers, schoolchildren and students [are] dependent on our service.”
Spectrum Alert relies on funding from the municipality to operate, with the city relying on grants from the department of transport to fund the system.
In March, the municipality launched a construction project in KwaNobuhle for a bus shelter as part of the roll-out of the second IPTS route – which is the Uitenhage to Despatch and Port Elizabeth CBD route.
On Friday, King said he had vacated the company’s Ring Road premises.
He said he had handed over all documents to the board on Friday morning.
He was reluctant to speak further, saying the matter was sub judice.
But Malgas said this was not true and they were thinking about going back to court to have King held liable for contempt of court.
He said there was information they required from him that he had failed to hand over.
However, the buses would run on schedule on Monday as they did not foresee any problems, he said.
Daaminds, when asked for comment, said she was in a meeting and questions should be sent via text.
She did not respond to the questions.
- Additional reporting by Rochelle de Kock