The Pecanwood Syndicate

Photo: Cottonbro (Pexels)

Pecanwood Estate has become a microcosm reflective of the broader corrupt practices and unethical political maneuverings of South Africa, past and present.

On Wednesday 24th August 2022 South Africans will embark on a nationwide strike to force government to address the serious socio-economic conditions facing many who call this country home. Many residents at Pecanwood Estate will no doubt avoid the strike whilst vocalizing loudly and eloquently at family gatherings and other social interactions their objections to government’s ineptitude to deal with corruption, crime, unemployment, and the economic crisis. At the next election many who will participate in the strike will vote in again the leaders and political party responsible for many of the country’s woes. It is this inability to be decisive in choosing an alternative government that has brought the country to its knees. It is this same inability to be involved and decisive in ridding Pecanwood Estate of the syndicate who have taken over the management of the Estate that has brought us to this point where we are forced to pay the highest levy of any estate in the country.

Round about 2015/2016 a group consisting of board members of the Pecanwood Homeowners Association (PHOA) and future board members (mostly golfing buddies) went to Malaysia to meet with the owners of the Golf course and Boat and Country Clubs (Country Heights Berhad) to discuss their neglect of these properties. According to one version of what transpired next, their arrival in Malaysia was met with intense suspicion and they were accompanied to a room to further explain the purpose of their visit. When they eventually emerged intimidated the plans were in place for the lease of the premises to the PHOA and the group returned to South Africa.

Whatever happened in that room also led to the PHOA agreeing to settle all Country Heights’ outstanding debts on their behalf. In 2012 the City of Tshwane brought a liquidation order against the Boat and Golf clubs. The outstanding amounts were settled and Country Heights Berhad registered a notarial bond over the golf course and related properties which effectively placed it out of reach of any future liquidation proceedings. All the creditors who were owed monies by Country Heights (except the Receiver of Revenue) quickly agreed to settlement figures with the PHOA and to promises of extended maintenance contracts on the Estate. Evidently one other point was nailed in that room, the then Estate Manager Mr.Johan Kruger had become undesirable due to his vocal opposition to the plan to fund the Malaysian properties and instructions were issued that he had to go.

According to information received from different sources, Mrs. Martha Myburg was one of the board members who went to Malaysia and she continues to lead negotiations around the lease renewals. First appointed to the PHOA board in 2005, CIPC records reflect that she resigned in 2013 only to be re-appointed in 2016. She has been a board member ever since due to either being elected to the position or co-opted into the position by golfing buddies on the PHOA board. Mrs. Myburg purportedly owns a recruitment agency suspected of being involved in hiring employees for the PHOA. Other members of the Malaysian excursion group allegedly include Mr. Pieter De Haas (Board member since 2008 until 2021), Mr. David Purnell (2017 until 2021) and Mrs. Erika van der Westhuizen (2008 until?).

Another colorful figure elected to the PHOA board in 2019 and now chairman, is Mr. Moses Kgosana. For those who may be unaware, Mr. Kgosana was the CEO and Senior Partner of KPMG South Africa, the firm that did audits on the Gupta Brothers’ Linkway Trading accounts, Oakbay and other companies, whilst at the same time auditing the books for the parastatals (government owned businesses) that the Guptas and others were stealing from. KPMG has subsequently been banned from auditing public institutions in South Africa, drastically cutting their turnover and leading to many of their investors and business partners jumping ship and branching out on their own. The firm has since distanced itself from its shaky past.

According to the Mail and Guardian of 03 July 2017 Mr. Kgosana declined an appointment as chairperson to the board of Alexander Forbes because of “allegations that his ties to the Guptas influenced KPMG’s audits of the family businesses.” KPMG was also the firm who did the audits for VBS Mutual Bank which defrauded South African citizens and taxpayers out of approximately R2 billion.

To further add to the dodgy appointments managing the Estate, Mr. Hannes Hendricks was appointed as Estate Manager in 2021 during the Covid-19 lockdown. Previously contracted to do a security risk assessment on the Estate, Mr. Hendricks has been the driving force behind the implementation of a facial recognition access system without regulatory and residents’ approval, the implementation of the stabilisation fund on April Fool's Day 2022, and most recently the instruction to residents to purchase highly over priced green over coats for their female domestic workers from the PHOA rather than from local shops where the items cost a fraction of the price. The backlash from residents resulted in the PHOA hastily retracting this edict via a WhatsApp message to residents on 13 August 2022. Additionally, the speed at which the facial recognition system has been flouted begs the question of whether the haste is related to any benefits that have been distributed to Mr. Hendricks, et al. Ostensibly the new installation will combat crime by monitoring the movements of general workers on the estate, teenagers driving golf carts without a license, school drop offs and tracking visitors. In reality it is another manifestation of Mr. Hendricks’ high handed approach in dealing with residents on Estates where he was employed in the past.

It is a matter of public record that Mr. Hendricks was the deponent in Case number 28609/2016 in the High court of South Africa (Gauteng Local Division), Thomas Sarel Lessing vs Serengeti golf and Wildlife Estate. It is clear from the details published by the High Court that Mr. Hendricks is a bully who used his power as estate manager, and who colluded with the board of Serengeti Estate to forge the implementation date of a Delinquent Policy in their efforts to bar a resident and his elderly mother from accessing their property on the estate because of unpaid levies. Mr. Lessing won his case and was awarded costs.

Following his employment at Serengeti, Mr. Hendricks was employed at Blue Valley Estate. There, his clashes with residents resulted in taxis barricading all entrances on the estate, preventing residents from leaving or entering. As a result, Mr. Hendricks' contract was not renewed, and he ended up as a consultant at Pecanwood Estate and was subsequently employed as estate manager by Mrs. Myburg without any due process being involved.

These are the people who run the Pecanwood Estate. Is it any wonder that we find ourselves in this untenable situation with over the top levies, a myriad of policies being drafted and published on the Estate’s website whilst it does not serve the interests of residents, and paying for the maintenance and upgrade of properties not belonging to residents?

© Pecanwood Corruption Watch

https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-03-moses-kgosana-resigns-from-alexander-forbes-amid-gupta-allegations/

https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/banks/vbs-liquidators-sue-kpmg-sa-for-r863m-after-it-signed-off-on-fraudulent-financials-20210224/

http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2017/261.html