A BIG thankyou. Its time mining companies considered putting out joint defenses to protect themselves against these kinds jounralistic attacks. VERY interesting.
A letter from Musa Capital. Whatever happened to fair and balanced reporting, and to objective journalism? Not for Musa Capital on Moneyweb.
For most of this year Musa Capital has been denigrated by your investigative reporter, Barry Sergeant. He has used every article and interview to publish inaccurate, one-sided and damaging remarks about Musa.
Moneyweb seems unconcerned about this hostile assault on a successful private company that is creating jobs in South Africa, as well as elsewhere in Africa. Why has nobody in authority at Moneyweb questioned Sergeant's blatant lack of objectivity, his use of emotive words and unfounded implications? Why has nobody at Moneyweb insisted on some balance?
Sergeant has presented a one-sided, biased and mostly blatantly untrue grouping of articles, and from our engagement with third parties, the articles have led many in the institutional community to begin questioning the very credibility of much of the reporting. Seldom have the actual facts and objectivity featured in Sergeant's articles. If Moneyweb will not give its readers a fair view of Musa, then we will do it.
Previously, we have sent him a press release responding specifically to the allegations against Musa Capital. We know he received it, because he published it on your website. Yet his one-sided diatribe continues.
One clear example of this lack of objectivity that borders on personal attack versus professional reporting, occurred when Sergeant sent an email to our lawyers (one of many emails that Sergeant has sent to Musa's service providers over the past year which show a pattern of the lack of objectivity which he clearly harbours), rejoicing in a judgment he thinks went against us, saying "Bad luck, you have all been kicked where it hurts." This contradicts the assumed objectivity which any credible journalist or news agency is expected to maintain. In fact, the judgment in Mafikeng ruled that Musa had given, or offered, all the information sought by the Administrator appointed by the Premier of North West Province. The judge accordingly ordered the Administrator to pay the legal costs of Musa Capital. This part of the full story was not reported on Moneyweb.
Two recent columns again indicate Sergeant's position and lack of objectivity. The column on 1 September was headed "Musa vs. the rights of the poor". Like every column and article he has written, this one contains very little of the truth. We have informed him and Moneyweb on several occasions that Musa was engaged by the Traditional Council, which represents the 30 000 strong Bakubung Ba Ratheo community, to give financial advice to the community. He gives your readers a different picture, saying Musa is "in cahoots" with the Traditional Council, implying a sinister conspiracy.
His column of 7 October 2010 again claims falsely that R500 million of community money has gone "walkabouts". Sergeant's sympathy is plain in his reference to the "steely efforts" of the Bakubung Concerned Group to establish the whereabouts of the cash. He refers to two vehicles housing the community's money and undertaking community projects as "proxies" for the Traditional Council "strongmen". He accuses Musa of "veneers of confidentiality". All emotive, one-sided stuff totally lacking in objectivity. His article also clearly suggests that he has spoken to sources on one side of the matter, and we can state categorically that he has not asked to speak to Musa nor to our client in this matter - a pattern he has displayed often throughout his reporting on this subject. In fact, what readers haven't been told, is that the Traditional Council, and other members of the Bakubung Royal Family actually sat for an interview many months ago, and after answering every question, Sergeant decided to shelve the interview, saying that not one question had been answered so he would not air the interview, this after an interview that apparently lasted for over an hour. Moneyweb readers and listeners are clearly unaware of this.
Importantly if he cared to ask, he could get the facts on or off the record from the Traditional Council, from its lawyers or from its auditors - but it is clear from Sergeant's behaviour and his sourcing that balance and the truth are secondary to providing his readers with his view of the world, no matter how ill-informed.
We have informed Sergeant and Moneyweb repeatedly that there is a leadership and control struggle in the community, and that there are outside influences attempting to direct that struggle. Yet Sergeant deliberately depicts a court case between a community minority and the Traditional Council, which represents the Community as a "monumental battle" between the entire community and Musa.
We have explained both to Sergeant in some detail, and to his Moneyweb colleague at our offices, that Musa has raised R500 million for the community, that it is all properly and fully accounted for, and the capital is earning income for the community. We have given regular and audited reports to the Traditional Council, and on multiple occasions made presentations to the broader Community, as well as sub-groupings of it at the direction of the Traditional Council, and most recently provided an annual report to some 2000 people who attended one such broad community meeting last January 2010. More recently, we also assisted the Traditional Council in preparing yet another broad community report which the Traditional Council itself delivered. Yet Sergeant continually avers that the community does not know where its money is and implies that Musa has spirited the money away to use for its own evil ends.
We have communicated to Sergeant that Musa has never had anything to hide, citing these reports to the community and the briefing given to his colleague. We also told him that some of the details of the investments are contractually confidential between us and other institutions. This is normal business confidentiality, which Sergeant, as a lawyer and seasoned financial journalist, should understand. Yet he mocks this confidentiality and then repeatedly implies we are lying when we say we have nothing to hide.
For the record, we state once again that Musa has never had anything to hide. Our client, the Traditional Council, and by extension the Community, has been kept fully informed of the details of the share monetisation and of the investments we have made with the money gained from that monetisation under our management (a large part of the money is not managed by Musa). The community has been informed, in detail, of all of the above at a variety of community meetings, and importantly, the Communities leadership structure and their service providers, including their lawyers and auditors are fully aware of all details of all transactions in which the Community is a party. What we cannot divulge for the public record is any information protected by confidentiality agreements between us, our client, and third party institutions. This would contradict the basic levels of professionalism and ethical standards we as a financial advisor and investment manager have committed to uphold. However, all records have been made fully available, in confidence, to all judicial entities involved in the legal dispute between Community members - a dispute that it should be made clear, in which Musa is not directly involved other than being one of numerous respondents.
We have informed Sergeant that the timely monetisation has protected the community against the precipitous decline in the Wesizwe share price (down from R9 to under R2). Had they held onto their shares as their sole asset, their holding would now be worth under R200 million. The monetisation has created a revenue-producing asset of R500 million (plus the indirect value remaining in the Wesizwe shares held in the structure), owned by the community in perpetuity. It is not a loan, and no money has to be paid back. In addition the community now has an indirect shareholding in more shares than they originally owned, with voting rights over those shares. None of that is reflected in Sergeant's diatribes against Musa.
In his last few articles, Sergeant has resorted to personal attacks on us, denigrating us and damaging our reputations and the reputation of the successful private equity investment and advisory company we represent.
We repeat, for the record:
?None of the community's money has disappeared ?The community's money is protected and invested and providing a return to the community ?The community has used some of this money, so far approximately R40 million, to build infrastructure and community projects (The community's leadership fully controls this development function of the community) ?The investment structure has been created so as to give the Community annual revenue streams to support future development projects, in perpetuity ?The only wealth destruction has been the precipitous decline in the Wesizwe share price ?Musa has helped to protect the community against this wealth destruction and the investment structures through which this has been done have been explained to and have the support of the majority of the community, and were sanctioned by the leadership of the Community, who had clear goals and objectives in mandating Musa to execute a monetization strategy. Yours sincerely,
Will Jimerson, director, Musa Capital Advisors
Antoine Johnson, director, Musa Capital Advisors.
NKP Price at posting:
45.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
