As auctioneers loaded crates of equipment onto a truck at Omega Civils offices in Port Elizabeth on Thursday, about 100km away the firm’s director Stuart Riddle stood on the balcony of his three-storey mansion in Patensie distancing himself from the company he built 25 years ago.
It all came crashing down on January 11 when the firm applied for voluntary liquidation, leaving some creditors unpaid and about 150 workers demanding answers.
Since then, Riddle, 61, and his co-directors Mpilo Ndlaleni, 46, of Boksburg in Gauteng, and Nathan Pillay, 39, of Woodmead, Gauteng, have remained mum on the demise of one of Port Elizabeth’s leading construction companies.
When reporters visited Riddle on Thursday, his wife Jackye emerged from the lavish property claiming previous reports about the company’s liquidation were not true.
Riddle shouted from the balcony: “What do you want?”
Told that employees had contacted the paper asking about their jobs and details on the voluntary liquidation, Riddle said: “Ask the liquidators. I am not a director. I resigned.”
Asked when he had resigned, Riddle fired off a string of profanities.
“It has f**k all to do with you, in my personal opinion.
“You guys, you guys, have caused such sh** in our lives.
“You have no f**king idea. No idea what your irresponsible sh** you published in the newspaper. No idea, the trouble you have caused.
“You print anything, I will sue the sh** out of you.
“You go ask the liquidator if you want to know who the directors are. Ask the liquidator.
“Print anything, I promise I will sue your a***. You understand me?”
Riddle founded Omega Civils in 1994 along with another partner.
Since then, at least seven directors have resigned.
Pillay also said to deal with the liquidators.
“Have a conversation with them,” he said.
Ndlaleni declined to comment.
Most of the employees were told in a park two days before the close of business in December that the directors had opted for voluntary liquidation.
Apart from being told they could claim for UIF a few days later, three employees said they had not heard anything else about the company since then.
“We are in the dark. We have not heard anything since the day they first told us. It is very frustrating,” an employee said.
Over the years, the company worked on some of the city’s landmarks including the Coega interchange, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and the link road to Allister Miller Drive.
When it shut its doors in January, Omega Civils had been responsible for four contracts that the municipality has since terminated.
The municipality had written to Omega Civils about its intention to cancel the contracts for the surfacing of gravel roads.
E-mails between the city and Omega Civils, dating back to December 2018, detail how the city had given the contractor an ultimatum for poor performance.
It was eventually instructed to vacate the site with immediate effect on January 31.
The decision to liquidate was done in a low-key manner by special resolution through the Master of the High Court.
One of the liquidators, Frankel Engelbrecht of Engelsman Magabane Incorporated, said there was not a lot of information available about the voluntary liquidation at this stage.
“We have just signed documents where we have asked the master for permission to sell the assets due to the cost of storing them,” he said.
The auction of Omega Civils’ assets is being handled by the Port Elizabeth office of Michael James Organisation.