Tears as Golding bows out of HCI

Hosken Consolidated Investments chairman Marcel Golding yesterday stepped down after a week that included a failed court application to overturn his suspension, and accusations that media independence is under threat.

The loser resigned and the winner cried.

His long-time colleague Johnny Copelyn, the CEO of HCI, was so overcome by emotion that he could not finish reading out a statement.

Shareholder activist Theo Botha said that the whole affair had left shareholders confused.

"There has been broad reputational damage to the company," he said.

Golding was suspended by HCI last week for allegedly trading in Ellies shares without proper authorisation - a move that incurred significant losses. Yesterday, he once again denied that he had derived any personal gain from the transaction.

In court documents last week, Golding flagged political pressure from board member Yunus Shaik to get eTV - in which HCI has a stake via subsidiary Sabido - to report on a government infrastructure project.

Botha said this claim was very serious, because a media company's perceived lack of independence could affect its share value. Golding still chaired the company's annual general meeting yesterday.

Said Golding: "My colleagues at HCI have won and I have lost and I will be leaving."

Copelyn said Golding offered to make good on any losses incurred on Ellies shares and the company accepted that he never acted with dishonest intent.

Golding and Copelyn, who are both former trade union leaders, built HCI into a R17.9-billion black-empowerment company with interests in media, casinos, hotels and a bus service. Their fall-out ends a business partnership that lasted two decades.

Botha was unhappy that the chairman of the remuneration committee was not present at the annual general meeting.

Both Copelyn and Golding pocketed bonuses of R4-million, which Botha said could have been better interrogated had the chairman been present. - Additional reporting by Bloomberg