Allegations of theft and board discord rock Rand Airport

The former GM of Rand Airport, Stuart Coetzee, is facing criminal and civil charges, accused of embezzling funds from the business in a matter that has sowed seeds of mistrust and discord in the board of the company.

Rand Airport, Johannesburg’s first international airport, is owned by Rand Airport Holdings, which is owned by Rand Operators, with a 50% stake; Mayondi with a 30% interest; and the rest owned by Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality. 

Coetzee was also one of the about 40 shareholders of Rand Operators who are occupants of properties at the airport and conduct business from the premises.

The shareholder agreements give Rand Operators the right to appoint five directors of Rand Airport, while Mayondi appoints three and the municipality two.

Discord began among Rand Operators representatives on the Rand Airport board in February last year after allegations of irregularities emerged against Coetzee, who also sat on the airport’s board. He resigned from the board and as an airport manager shortly after the allegations came to the fore. 

Two months after the resignation, Coetzee and four other Rand Operators shareholders called for a shareholders meeting, calling for the removal of Hendrik Delport and Andries Coetzee as Rand Operators directors and, by extension, removal from the Rand Airport board.

The meeting saw Lynette Jones, Phillipus Vermeulen and Jeffrey Earle, who are directors of the entities that supported Coetzee’s call to remove Delport and Andries Coetzee, appointed as directors of Rand Operators and Rand Airport.

The three were later removed from the board of Rand Airport, accused of making moves to have the Rand Airport board withdraw criminal complaint and civil claims against Coetzee. The allegation against them emanates from their support to remove Delport and Andries Coetzee from Rand Airport’s board, with suspicion that this was to tilt power in the board to those who support Coetzee.

Jones, Vermeulen and Earle have now successfully challenged their dismissal from the board after the high court in Pretoria found there is no reason they cannot simultaneously support legal action against Coetzee and the removal of some board members.

“There is in any event not a shred of evidence to support the respondents’ contention that the applicants sought to remove the first and second respondents as directors [Andries Coetzee and Delport] of the companies with the intention of changing the composition of the boards of the companies to enable the new boards to withdraw criminal charges against Coetzee and to terminate the legal action him,” reads the judgment.

“The fact that the applicants supported legal action against Coetzee approximately six weeks after they had indicated that the first and second respondents should be removed as directors of Rand Operators and the fact that the legal action against Coetzee is ongoing without any evidence of interference by the applicants therein, support the applicants’ allegation that they do not have the intention to terminate the legal action against Coetzee.”

Rand Airport and Coetzee did not respond to requests to comment on the criminal charges and civil claims.

Rand Airport served as SA’s main international airport until 1948, when due to the development in international travel and the increase in passenger numbers, the runways could not accommodate the bigger aircraft.

The airport was privatised in October 2000 after a consortium comprising Rand Operators, BEE partner Mayondi and the City of Ekurhuleni came together to take over the airport.

According to the company’s website, movements at the airport have been on the up year on year. They have been increasing steadily since 2015 and now stand at more than 8,000 a month.

khumalok@businesslive.co.za