Oakbay Investments hit back at financial institutions that have cut ties with the company over its alleged links to the Gupta family and President Jacob Zuma on Friday.
Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa told CNN that banks Barclays Africa (Absa) and First National Bank, as well as auditing firm KPMG have not provided sufficient reasons for cutting ties with the company.
“The banks have been very scarce in their information to us. They’ve primarily told us that in terms of their terms and conditions, they have the right to cancel our banking facilities,” said Howa.
“Not one of them has come forward with anything we’ve done wrong or anything we may not have done correctly in our relationships with them,” he added.
Instead, Howa told CNN’s Richard Quest that the banks have cited “reputational damage” for cutting ties with Oakbay.
Pressed on the ties to Zuma, Howa said: “I think they have nothing to do with the president. [KPMG] have been our auditors for 16 years. In their announcement to the staff they said there is no audit issue at all.
“We’ve got strong relationships with KPMG,” he said, adding that the company may face challenges in paying its 4 500 staff members.
In response to the crisis at Oakbay, Howa communicated with South African political leadership.
“I did indeed this morning write letters to the presidency, to the minister of finance who governs the banking sector, to the minister of labour to warn of the imminent possibility of job losses, and to the minster of mining because we supply a strategic supply of coal to Eskom,” said Howa.
He rejected the view that Oakbay had played a part in the alleged “state capture”, saying that 1% of the firms business came from government, and it was responsible for 5% of coal supply to Eskom.
“It’s not about the Gupta family, it’s about the president. I think we’ve just been caught up in a political war around the future of the presidency — that’s my own reading of it,” Howa said.
Howa has been on strategic media platforms this week — including the Gupta-sponsored SABC breakfast show — to fight a reputation war surrounding the Guptas’ links to Oakbay, the company they started and have majority shares in.
Behind the strategy is cutting-edge UK PR firm Bell Pottinger. A partner at the firm, Victoria Geoghegan, said this week that “Bell Pottinger does not comment on client contracts”.