New BBS board lifts Molefe, Showa suspensions
Mbongeni Mguni | Wednesday May 5, 2021 19:13
The new board, meanwhile, has appointed former banker, Bernard Mzizi, as its chair and lifted the suspensions on managing director, Pius Molefe and company secretary, Sipho Showa. The two were suspended recently by the old Pelani Siwawa-Ndai led board after a bitter three week battle.
In statements released to the BSE today, the new board confirmed that Mzizi, together with Victor Ramalepa, Lebole Mokoto, Colm Patterson and Duraiswamy Kalynaraman won the five seats up for grabs at the AGM after final votes were tallied.
Mzizi, in a statement on behalf of the board, said the Molefe and Showa’s suspensions were lifted after “considering and receiving legal opinion on the issue”.
In addition, the new board has asked Armstrongs Attorneys to seek a detailed report from Bookbinder Business Law on legal costs incurred by the former Board of Directors. Bookbinder lawyers represented the old board in its battles against Molefe and Showa.
“The mandate of Bookbinder Business Law in respect of all matters relating to the recently held 2020
Annual General Meeting has been terminated forthwith,” Mzizi said.
He added that the new board further decided that through Armstrongs Attorneys, the old board members be requested to submit all records of BBS Limited board minutes for insertion in the minute book and other records, including correspondence and round robin resolutions, generated during the month of April 2021. This, he said, was because the documents are official BBS Limited records in line with its constitutive documents and the confidentiality agreements previously signed by each of the former and continuing directors respectively.
The new board consists of Molefe as managing director, the five new directors as well as Geoffrey Bakwena and Elaina Gonsalves as the two “surviving members” of the old board. Bakwena and Gonsalves’ terms were not up for expiry at the recent AGM.
On Friday, early voting done by proxy went against the five directors, including former chair, Pelani Siwawa-Ndai. Over the weekend, the proxy votes were tallied with those cast physically at the AGM and those done virtually.
The final results were released to the Botswana Stock Exchange earlier today.
New faces on the BBS board include Victor Ramalepa, Lebole Mokoto, Colm Patterson, Bernard Mzizi and Duraiswamy Kalynaraman. The final votes end a four week long tussle between the old board and suspended MD, Pius Molefe. Molefe accused the old board of unlawfully seeking to extend its terms beyond the AGM, while directors questioned where new nominees had come from and the process used to inform shareholders about the AGM.